Queen Christina of Sweden
by One of my favorite female figures in history.
Inheriting the throne of Sweden at he age of six, this only child received a boy’s upbringing while several regents managed for kingdom.
She was crowned in 1644 and started a reign fraught with war, economic crisis, dissension and revolt. Expanding the power of the crown, she forced Swedish witch-hunters to end their abuses. She also restricted the use of the death pentalty for certain murders. She was a renowned patron of the humanities and embraced the work of French pilosopher Rene’ Descartes.
In 1654, she selected a successor and abdicated, leading to speculation that she preferred not to fulfill her royal obligation to marry and bear children. She subsequently converted to Roman Catholicism and moved to Italy, where she tried to take the throne of Naples amd then Poland. A patron of Bernini, Corelli and Scarlatti, she died in genteel poverty.
Liked it
