CHRISTINA (1626-1689), queen of Sweden, daughter of Gustavus Adolphus and Marie-Eleonore of Brandenburg, was born at Stockholm on Dec. 8, 1626. Her father was killed at Lutzen (163 2) when she was only six years old. She was educated princi pally by the learned Johannes Matthiae, in as masculine a way as possible, while the chancellor Oxenstjerna instructed her in politics. Christina became queen in her 18th year (Dec. 8, 1644). Her brilliant and commanding qualities were vitiated by an inor dinate pride and egoism and a prodigality regardless of the ne cessities of the State. She maintained a luxurious court, frequented by French artists, scholars and philosophers; while her unworthy treatment of the great chancellor, Oxenstjerna, was mainly due to her jealousy of his reputation. Recognizing that he would be indis pensable so long as the Thirty Years' War lasted, she used every effort to bring it to an end ; and her impulsive interference seri ously hampered the diplomacy of the chancellor, and materially reduced the ultimate gains of Sweden. Yet she gave fresh priv ileges to the towns; she encouraged trade and manufactures, es pecially the mining industries of the Dales; in 1649 she issued the first school ordinance for the whole kingdom ; she encouraged foreign scholars to settle in Sweden ; and native science and litera ture flourished under her encouragement. The senate and Estates, anxious about the succession to the throne, had repeatedly urged her to marry, and suggested her cousin, Charles Gustavus, as the most suitable consort. Wearied of their importunities Christina settled the difficulty by appointing Charles her successor, and at the Riksdag of 165o the Swedish crown was declared hereditary in Charles and his heirs male. In the summer of 1651 Christina was with difficulty persuaded to reconsider her resolution to abdi cate, but three years later the nation had become convinced that her abdication was highly desirable. Within ten years she had created 17 counts, 46 barons and 428 lesser nobles; and, to provide these new peers with adequate appanages, she had sold or mort gaged Crown property representing an annual income of 1,200, 00o rix-dollars. She may also have been growing weary of the cares of government, while the importunity of the senate and Riksdag on the question of her marriage was a constant source of irritation, and the opportunity of astonishing the world by the unique spectacle of a great queen, in the prime of life, voluntarily resigning her crown, strongly appealed to her vivid imagination. From 1651 there was a notable change in her behaviour. She os tentatiously exhibited her contempt for the Protestant religion. Her foreign policy was flighty to the verge of foolishness. She contemplated an alliance with Spain, a state quite outside the orbit of Sweden's influence, the first-fruits of which were to have been an invasion of Portugal. She utterly neglected affairs in order to plunge into a whirl of dissipation with foreign favourites like Bourdelot. The situation became impossible. On June 6, 1654, Christina abdicated, in the presence of the Estates, at the castle of Uppsala, and it was with an intense feeling of relief that the Swedes saw her depart, in masculine attire, under the name of Count Dohna. At Innsbruck she openly joined the Catholic Church, was rechristened Alexandra and kept up a royal household in Rome, surrounded by cardinals. In 1656, and again in she visited France, on the second occasion ordering the assassina tion of her major-domo Monaldischi for his continuous betrayal of her confidence. Twice she returned to Sweden (166o and 1667) in the vain hope of recovering the succession, finally settling in Rome, where she lived on the charity of the pope and died on April 19, 1689, poor, neglected and forgotten.
See F. W. Bain, Queen Christina of Sweden (189o) ; R. N. Bain, Scandinavia (Cambridge, 1905) ; H. E. Friis, Dronning Christina (Co penhagen, 1896) ; C. N. D. Bildt, Christina de Suede et le conclave de Clement X. (1906) ; Drottning Kristinds sista dagar (Stockholm, 1897). Of the many books telling the fantastic story of Christina's later years see A. Barine, Princesses and Court Ladies (Eng. trans., 1906) ; F. H Gribble, The Court of Christina of Sweden (1913) , and The History of the Intrigues and Gallantries of Christina, Queen of Sweden, and of her Court whilst she was at Rome (translated from the French by P. Hollingworth, 1697 ; repr. 1927).