Christina of Sweden

Christina (Kristina) (December 18, 1626 – April 19, 1689), later known as Maria Christina Alexandra and sometimes Count Dohna, was Queen regnant of Sweden from 1632 to 1654. She was the only legitimate child of King Gustav II Adolf. As the heiress presumptive she succeeded her father to the throne of Sweden upon his death at the Battle of Lützen (November 6, 1632) during Sweden's intervention in Germany in the Thirty Years' War.

Abdication

Christina came under the influence of Catholics and then abdicated her throne on June 5, 1654 in favour of her cousin Charles Gustavus in order to either practice openly her previously secret Catholicism, or to accept the same publicly so as to be at the center of a scientific and artistic renaissance.

Related Topics:
Catholics - June 5 - 1654 - Charles Gustavus - Renaissance

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The sincerity of her conversion has been disputed. Actually, in the eyes of her critics, there were many causes which might ostensibly have predisposed her to what was, after all, anything but an act of self-renunciation. First of all she could not have ignored the increasing discontent with her arbitrary and wasteful ways. Within ten years she had created 17 counts, 46 barons and 428 lesser nobles; to provide these new peers with adequate appanages, she had sold or mortgaged crown property representing an annual income of 1,200,000 rix-tollars. There were clear signs that Christina was growing weary of the cares of what remained a provincial government; even if with large conquered territory.

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Political contributions

The importunity of the senate and Riksdag on the question of her marriage was a constant source of irritation. In retirement she could devote herself wholly to art and science, 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. It is certain that towards the end of her reign she behaved as if she were determined to do everything in her power to make herself as little missed as possible. From 1651 there was a notable change in her behaviour. She cast away every regard for the feelings and prejudices of her people. She ostentatiously 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 her foreign favorites. The situation became impossible, and it was with an intense feeling of relief that the Swedes saw her depart, in masculine attire, under the name of Count Dohna.

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