CHRISTINA, Queen of Sweden; born in 1626. She was the daughter of the great Gustavus Adolphus, and on her father's death, in 1632, was crowned queen, being then only six years of age, with the five principal ministers of state appointed by Parliament her guardians. Christina was educated under the eye of the celebrated Swedish chancellor Oxen stiern, and early showed great avidity for learning, as well as a considerable share of moral eccentricity. She was fond of wearing men's apparel, and of following masculine habits and pursuits; hence she acquired quite an Amazonian reputation. On the termination of her minority, in 1644, she entered upon administrative business with a zeal and an ability which astonished her people. She put an end to the war with Denmark, begun that year; and in 1645, by the treaty of Bromsebro, obtained some new provinces. She next turned her attention to the pro motion of the interests of commerce, education, and learning. She was herself, perhaps, the most accomplished woman of that age, understanding no fewer than six languages, and maintaining an auto graph correspondence with the most learned men of foreign nations. She
studied chemistry, astronomy, and even alchemy and astrology, with the most celebrated professors. Having, in 1649, settled the regal succession in favor of her cousin, Prince Carl Gustav of Pfalz Zweibrticken, she for some time con ducted her government in a manner that promised the surmounting of the tem porary difficulties of the realm; but, hav ing resolved to abandon Protestantism, she, in 1654, in an assembly of the states at Upsala, abdicated her crown, reserv ing to herself an annual income of $200, 000. In 1656 she went to France, where she lived principally at Fontainebleau, Compiegne, and Paris. During the year following, she excited universal horror and disgust by the assassination of her master of the horse, the Marquis Monal deschi. In 1660 her successor on the Swedish throne died, and she thereupon repaired to Sweden to claim it for her self; hut her conversion to the Roman Catholic Church proved a bar to her re sumption of the crown, and she was com pelled to return to Rome in 1668, where she died in 1689.