Christina Swedish : Kristina ; 18 December [ O. Christina is remembered as one of the most erudite women of the 17th century, wanting Stockholm to become the "Athens of the North" [ 8 ] and was given the special right to establish a university at will by the Peace of Westphalia. Her lavish spending habits pushed the state towards bankruptcy, sparking public unrest. Christina argued for peace to end the Thirty Years' War and received indemnity.
Following scandals over her not marrying and converting to Catholicism, she relinquished the throne to her cousin Charles X Gustav and settled in Rome. Pope Alexander VII described Christina as "a queen without a realm, a Christian without faith, and a woman without shame.
Christina, who was the guest of five consecutive popes [ 13 ] and a symbol of the Counter-Reformation , is one of the few women buried in the Vatican Grottoes. Christina was born in the royal castle Tre Kronor. They had already had three children: two daughters a stillborn princess in , then the first Princess Christina, who was born in and died the following year and a stillborn son in May When the baby was born, it was first thought to be a boy.
It was "hairy" and screamed "with a strong, hoarse voice. She showed little affection for her daughter and was not allowed any influence in Christina's upbringing. The king was worried that her instability might pass on to their daughter. The Crown of Sweden was hereditary in the House of Vasa , but following the reign of Christina's grandfather r. Gustavus Adolphus's legitimate younger brothers had died years earlier. The one legitimate female left, his half-sister Catharine , came to be excluded in when she married John Casimir, Count Palatine of Kleeburg , a non-Lutheran.
Christina became the undisputed heir presumptive. From Christina's birth, King Gustav Adolphus recognized her eligibility even as a female heir, and although she was called "queen," the official title the Riksdag gave at her coronation in February was "king". When Gustavus Adolphus did not come home as expected after the summer campaign of , Maria wrote to John Casimir, her brother-in-law that she could not stand it; she wanted to die.
