222 



CHRISTINA CHRISTMAS. 



the undeserving, and jealousy produce*! murmurs, 

 complaints, and factions. In tins state of confusion, 

 the queen declared her intention of abdicating the 

 crown. The old ministers, honouring the memory 

 of Gustavus Adolphus, remonstrated in the strongest 

 terms, and, above all, Oxenstiern expressed himself 

 tvith so much energy, that the queen desisted from 

 IHT resolution. She now grasped with more firmness 

 the reins of government, and dissipated, for a time, 

 the cloiuN which had darkened her throne. She oc- 

 cupied herself again with study, bought paintings, 

 medals, manuscripts, books, maintained a correspond- 

 ence with many learned men, and invited several 

 to her court. Descartes, Grotius, Salmasius, Bo- 

 chart. Hurt, rhevrcau, Namle, Vossius, Conring, 

 Meibom, appeared in Stockholm, and the queen con- 

 vei-M-d familiarly with them on literary and philoso- 

 phical subjects. Among the literary nmusements 

 which she united with serious studies, was the Gre- 

 cian dance, which she caused to be exhibited by 

 Meibom (q. v.) and Naude. But new troubles oc- 

 curred ; and the conspiracy of Messenius threatened 

 not only the favourites of the queen, but the queen 

 herself. Christina, who loved whatever was uncom- 

 mon, resumed her determination to resign the 

 crown. 



In 1654, at the age of twenty-nine, she assembled the 

 states-general at Upsal, and, in their presence, laid 

 aside the insignia of royalty, to surrender them into 

 the hands of prince Charles Gustavus. She reserved 

 to herself a certain income, entire independence, and 

 full power over her suite and household. A few 

 days after, she left Sweden, and went through Den- 

 m;irk and Germany to Brussels, where she made a 

 public entry, and remained for some time. There 

 she made a secret profession of the Catholic religion, 

 which she afterwards publicly confirmed in Inspruck 

 a step which excited great astonishment, and of 

 the causes of which nothing certain is known. Chris- 

 tina went from Inspruck to Rome, which she entered 

 on horse-back, in the costume of an Amazon, with 

 great pomp. When the pope Alexander VII. con- 

 firmed her, she adopted the surname of Alessandra. 

 She visited the monuments of the city, and attentive- 

 ly examined every thing which could awaken histori- 

 cal recollections. In 1656, she visited France, and 

 remained at Fontainebleau, at Compiegne, where the 

 court was then held, and at Paris. Her dress and 

 manners produced an unfavourable impression, but 

 her talents and knowledge were generally admired. 

 She offered to mediate between France and Spain ; 

 but Mazarin declined the offer, and succeeded hi ac- 

 celerating her departure from France under various 

 pretexts. In the following year, she returned. This 

 second residence in France was rendered remarkable 

 by the execution of her grand equery, Monaldeschi, 

 who had enjoyed her entire confidence, but whom she 

 accused of treason. This act of vengeance, though 

 defended by Leibnitz, is a stain on the memory of 

 Christina. The French court testified its displeasure, 

 and two months passed before the queen showed her- 

 self publicly in Paris. In 1658, she returned to 

 Rome, where she received very unpleasing news 

 from Sweden. Her revenue was not transmitted to 

 her, and nobody would make her advances. Alex- 

 ander VII. relieved her from this embarrassment by 

 a pension of 12,000 scudi (dollars). After the death 

 of Cliarles Gustavus, in 1660, the queen made a visit 

 to Sweden, under pretence of wishing to arrange 

 her private affairs ; but it was soon perceived that 

 she had other views. As the crown-prince was very 

 young, she declared, that, in case of his death, she 

 should lay claim to the throne. This project was un- 

 favourably received, and she was compelled to sign a 

 formal act of abdication. Other unpleasant circum- 



stances induced her to abandon Stockholm. Sh 

 visited Sweden a second time in 1666, but returned 

 to Hamburg without reaching the capital, having 

 heard that the public exercise of her religion would 

 not be allowed her. About this time, she aspired to 

 the Polish crown, but the Poles took no notice of her 

 wishes. Finally, she returned to Italy, where she 

 passed the remainder of her life, at Rome, in the cul- 

 tivation of the arts and sciences. She founded an 

 academy, collected valuable manuscripts, medals and 

 paintings, and died, after having experienced many 

 vexations, April 19, 1689. She was interred in the 

 church of St Peter, and the pope erected a monu- 

 ment to her with a long inscription. She had asked 

 only for these few words: Vixit Christina unnas 

 LXI1I. Her principal heir was the cardinal Azzo- 

 lini, her intendant. Her library was bought by pope 

 Alexander VIII., who placed 900 manuscripts of thi< 

 collection in the Vatican, and gave the remainder of 

 the books to his family. Odescalchi, the nephew of 

 Innocent XL, purchased the paintings and antiqui- 

 ties. The duke of Orleans, regent of France, bought 

 a part of the paintings for 90,000 scudi, in 1722. 

 The value of these collections may be learned from 

 the two works which give a description of them, 

 namely, Havercamp's Nummophylacium Regince 

 Christina, and the Museum Odescalcum. 



The life of Christina presents a series of inconsis- 

 tencies and contradictions : we see, on one side, mag. 

 nanimity, frankness, mildness ; on the other, vanity, 

 severity, revenge, and dissimulation. Her knowledge 

 of the world, her acuteness and penetration, did not 

 preserve her from visionary projects, from the dreams 

 of alchemy and astrology, and other illusions. She 

 left some small works, in which her character and 

 manner of thinking are perceptible, and which, for 

 the most part, are contained in Archenholz's Me- 

 moirs of this princess (1751, 4 vols. 4to.). The au- 

 thenticity of the letters which appeared in 1762, un- 

 der her name, is not proved. 



CHRISTMAS, the feast of Christ's birth, was, ac- 

 cording to many critics, not celebrated in the first 

 centuries of the Christian church, as the Christian 

 usage, in general, was, to celebrate the death of re- 

 markable persons rather than their birth. The death 

 of the martyr Stephen, and the massacre of the inno- 

 cents at Bethlehem, had been already long celebrat- 

 ed, when, perhaps in opposition to the doctrine of 

 the Manichaeans respecting the birth of the Saviour, 

 a feast was established, in memory of this event, in 

 the 4th century. In the 5th century, the Western 

 church ordered it to be celebrated for ever on the 

 day of the old Roman feast of the birth of Sol, on 

 the 25th of December, though no information re- 

 specting the day of Christ's oirth existed. In the 

 East, Christmas was celebrated on the 6th of Janu- 

 ary. From the gospel of St Luke, it was known that 

 Christ was born during the night, and therefore di- 

 vine service was performed in the night of Dec. 24 

 25, from which circumstance Christmas is called, in 

 German, Weihnachten, i. e. Holy or Consecrated 

 Night. The feasts of the martyr Stephen and the 

 evangelist St John were united with it, and a feast 

 of three days' continuance was thus formed. In the 

 ecclesiastical year, this festival gives name to a pe- 

 riod extending from the first Sunday of Advent to 

 the feast of Epiphany, Jan. 6. Some say that Christ- 

 mas has always been celebrated in the church. In 

 the Catholic church, three masses are performed 

 one at midnight, one at daybreak, and one in the 

 morning. In the Greek and Roman churches, the 

 manger, the holy family, &c., are sometimes repre- 

 sented at large. Some convents in Rome, chiefly 

 the Franciscans, are famous for attracting many peo- 

 ple by such exhibitions. The church ofEngland ce- 





