Editing Christina, Queen of Sweden (section)

==Departure and exile==
[[Image:Jacob Ferdinand Voet - Queen Christina of Sweden.jpg|thumb|left|Portrait by [[Jacob Ferdinand Voet]]]]

In the summer of 1654, Christina left Sweden in men's clothing with the help of [[Bernardino de Rebolledo]] and rode as [[Christopher Delphicus zu Dohna|Count Dohna]] through Denmark. Relations between the two countries were still so tense that a former Swedish queen could not have traveled safely in Denmark. Christina had already packed and shipped abroad valuable books, paintings, statues, and tapestries from her Stockholm castle, leaving its treasures severely depleted.<ref>Ragnar Sjöberg in ''Drottning Christina och hennes samtid'', Lars Hökerbergs förlag, Stockholm, 1925, page 216</ref>{{sfn|Granlund|2004|pp=56–57}}

Christina visited [[Frederick III, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp]] and, while there, thought that her successor should have a bride.  She sent letters recommending two of the Duke's daughters to Charles. Based on this recommendation, he married [[Hedwig Eleonora]].{{sfn|Granlund|2004|p=58}} On 10 July Christina arrived in Hamburg and stayed with [[Jacob Curiel]] at [[Krameramtsstuben]].
Christina visited [[Johann Friedrich Gronovius]], and [[Anna Maria van Schurman]] in the Dutch Republic.

In August, she arrived in the [[Southern Netherlands]] and settled down in Antwerp. For four months Christina was lodged in the mansion of a Jewish merchant. She was visited by [[Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria]]; the [[Louis, Grand Condé|Prince de Condé]], the ambassador [[Pierre Chanut]], as well as the former governor of Norway, [[Hannibal Sehested (governor)|Hannibal Sehested]]. In the afternoons, she went for a ride, and each evening, parties were held; there was always a play to watch or music to listen to. Christina quickly ran out of money and had to sell some of her tapestries, silverware, and jewelry. When her financial situation did not improve, the archduke invited her to his Brussels palace on [[Coudenberg]]. On  24 December 1654, she converted to the Catholic faith in the archduke's chapel in the presence of <!--the English exiled Catholic Priest Thomas Giles? {{Citation needed|who is he?|date=March 2017}}, (and--> the Dominican Juan Guêmes,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.forgottenbooks.com/readbook_text/The_History_of_the_Popes_from_the_Close_of_the_Middle_Ages_v31_1000810653/63|title=HISTORY OF THE POPES.|access-date=10 July 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924044551/http://www.forgottenbooks.com/readbook_text/The_History_of_the_Popes_from_the_Close_of_the_Middle_Ages_v31_1000810653/63|archive-date=24 September 2015}}</ref>  [[Raimondo Montecuccoli]] and Pimentel.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.koni.onlinehome.de/ausfuehrliche-biographien/christina-von-schweden.htm|title=Königin Christina von Schweden|website=www.koni.onlinehome.de|access-date=10 July 2017|archive-date=11 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160311165954/http://www.koni.onlinehome.de/ausfuehrliche-biographien/christina-von-schweden.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> Baptized as Kristina Augusta, she adopted the name Christina Alexandra.{{efn|Alexandra was a confirmation name in 1654, chosen in honor of the reigning pope, [[Alexander VII]], and one of her heroes, [[Alexander the Great]]. The pope had urged her to also add "Maria" in honor of the [[Virgin Mary|Virgin]], but she refused.<ref>Buckley, p. 15; 182–3.</ref>}} She did not declare her conversion in public, in case the Swedish council might refuse to pay her alimony. In addition, Sweden was preparing for war against [[Pomerania]], which meant that her income from there was considerably reduced. The pope and [[Philip IV of Spain]] could not support her openly either, as she was not publicly a Catholic yet. Christina succeeded in arranging a major loan, leaving books and statues to settle her debts.<ref>{{cite book|last=Lanoye |first=D. |date=2001 |title=Christina van Zweden: Koningin op het schaakbord Europa 1626–1689 |page=114}}</ref>

In September, she left for Italy with her entourage of 255 persons and 247 horses. The pope's messenger, the librarian [[Lucas Holstenius]], himself a convert, waited for her in [[Innsbruck]]. On 3 November 1655, Christina announced her conversion to Catholicism in the [[Hofkirche, Innsbruck|Hofkirche]] and wrote to Pope Alexander VII and her cousin Charles X about it. To celebrate her official conversion, {{lang|it|[[L'Argia]]}}, an opera by [[Antonio Cesti]], was performed. [[Ferdinand Charles, Archduke of Austria]], already in financial trouble, is said to have been almost ruined by her visit. Her departure was on 8 November.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SJxEw4nVDXQC&q=8+November+1655+Christina&pg=PA752|title=Rome and the Counter-Reformation in Scandinavia: The Age of Gustavus Adolphus and Queen Christina of Sweden, 1622-1656|first=Oskar|last=Garstein|date=10 July 1992|publisher=BRILL|access-date=10 July 2017|via=Google Books|isbn=9004093958}}</ref>

=== Setting off to Rome ===
[[File:Christina barberini.jpg|thumb|left|Celebrations for Christina at [[Palazzo Barberini]] on 28 February 1656]]

The southbound journey through Italy was planned in detail by the [[Holy See|Vatican]] and included brilliant triumphs in Ferrara, Bologna, [[Faenza]] and Rimini. In [[Pesaro]], Christina became acquainted with the handsome brothers [[Santinelli]], who so impressed her with their poetry and adeptness of dancing that she took them into service, as well as a certain Gian Rinaldo Monaldeschi. <!--On 20 December she reached the Vatican, the last distance in a [[litter (vehicle)|sedan]] chair designed by [[Bernini]]. She was granted her own wing inside the Vatican, decorated by Bernini. When the pope spotted the inscription symbolizing the northern wind, ''Omne malum ab Aquilone'' (meaning "all evil comes from the North"), he ensured that it was rapidly covered with paint.--> The official entry into Rome took place on 20 December, in a sedan chair designed by [[Bernini]]<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fa7pI9NXeLsC&pg=PA359|title=The Life of Gian Lorenzo Bernini|first1=Domenico|last1=Bernini|first2=Gian Lorenzo|last2=Bernini|first3=Franco|last3=Mormando|date=10 July 2017|publisher=Penn State Press|access-date=10 July 2017|via=Google Books|isbn=978-0271037486}}</ref> through [[Porta Flaminia]], which today is known as [[Porta del Popolo]].{{efn|Bernini had decorated the gate with Christina's coat of arms (an ear of corn) beneath that of Pope Alexander (six mountains with a star above). Also today one can read the inscription ''Felici Faustoq Ingressui Anno Dom MDCLV'' ("to a happy and blessed entry in the year 1655").}} Christina met Bernini on the next day, she invited him to her apartment the same evening and they became lifelong friends. "Two days afterwards she was conducted to the Vatican Basilica, where the pope gave her confirmation. It was then that she received from the pope her second name of Alexandra, the feminine form of his own."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/People/Pope_Alexander_VII/Montor_bio*.html|title=Pope Alexander&nbsp;VII • Biographical Sketch by Montor|website=penelope.uchicago.edu|access-date=10 July 2017}}</ref> She was granted her own wing inside the Vatican, decorated by Bernini.

Christina's visit to Rome was the triumph of Pope [[Alexander VII]] and the occasion for splendid [[Baroque]] festivities. For several months, she was the only preoccupation of the Pope and his court. The nobles vied for her attention and treated her to a never-ending round of fireworks, [[jousts]], mock duels, acrobatics, and operas. On 31 January ''Vita Humana'' an opera by [[Marco Marazzoli]] was performed. At the [[Palazzo Barberini]], where she was welcomed on 28 February by a few hundred privileged spectators, she watched an amazing carousel in the courtyard.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j8qvCwAAQBAJ&q=28+February+1656+Rome&pg=PA58|title=The Early Baroque Era: From the late 16th century to the 1660s|first=Curtis|last=Price|date=9 November 1993|publisher=Springer|access-date=10 July 2017|via=Google Books|isbn=9781349112944}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://exhibitions.europeana.eu/exhibits/show/festa-in-roma/carnival/the-giostra-dei-caroselli-1656|title=Exhibitions|website=Europeana Exhibitions|access-date=10 July 2017}}</ref>

=== Palazzo Farnese ===
[[File:Letters 1666 1668 Queen Christina to Decio Azzolino National Archives Sweden K394 038 297.png|thumb|upright|Letter from Queen Christina to Decio Azzolino in the [[National Archives of Sweden]]]]

Christina finally settled down in the [[Palazzo Farnese]], which belonged to the [[Duke of Parma]]. Every Wednesday she held the palace open to visitors from the higher classes who kept themselves busy with poetry and intellectual discussions. Christina opened an academy in the palace on 24 January 1656, called [[Academy of Arcadia]], where the participants enjoyed music, theater, and literature. The poet [[Reyer Anslo]] was presented to her. Belonging to the Arcadia-circle was also [[Francesco Negri (travel writer)|Francesco Negri]], a Franciscan from [[Ravenna]] who is regarded as the first tourist to visit [[North Cape, Norway]].{{efn|Negri wrote eight letters about his walk through Scandinavia all the way up to "Capo Nord" in 1664.}} Another [[Franciscan]] was the Swede Lars Skytte, who, under the name pater Laurentius, served as Christina's confessor for eight years.{{efn|He too had been a pupil of Johannes Matthiae, and his uncle had been Gustavus Adolphus's teacher. As a diplomat in Portugal, he had converted and asked for a transfer to Rome when he learnt of Christina's arrival.}}

Twenty-nine-year-old Christina gave occasion to much gossip when socializing freely with men her own age. One of them was [[Cardinal (Catholicism)|Cardinal]] [[Decio Azzolino]], who had been a secretary to the ambassador in Spain, and responsible for the Vatican's correspondence with European courts.<ref name=bargrave>''Pope Alexander the Seventh and the College of Cardinals'' by [[John Bargrave]], edited by [[James Craigie Robertson]] (reprint; 2009)</ref> He was also the leader of the ''[[Squadrone Volante]]'', the [[free-thinking]] "Flying Squad" movement within the Catholic Church. Christina and Azzolino were so close that the pope asked him to shorten his visits to her palace, but they remained lifelong friends. In a letter on 26 January 1676<ref>D. Lanoye, p. 157.</ref> to Azzolino Christina writes (in French) that she would never offend God or give Azzolino reason to take offense, but this "does not prevent me from loving you until death, and since piety relieves you from being my lover, then I relieve you from being my servant, for I shall live and die as your slave." As he had promised to remain celibate, his replies were more reserved.{{efn|Christina wrote him many letters during her travels. After her death, Azzolino burnt most of their correspondence; about 80 have survived. Some details were written in a code that was decrypted by [[Carl Bildt (1850–1931)|Carl Bildt]], in Rome around 1900.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://livrustkammaren.se/en/exhibitions/christinas-letters|title=Christina's letters|access-date=10 July 2017|archive-date=21 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170621011306/http://livrustkammaren.se/en/exhibitions/christinas-letters|url-status=dead}}</ref>}} In the meantime Christina learned that the Swedes had confiscated all her revenue as the princess had become a Catholic.
<!--At times, things got a bit out of hand. On one occasion the couple had arranged to meet at the [[Villa Medici]] near [[Monte Pincio]], but the cardinal did not show up. Christina hurried over to [[Castel Sant'Angelo]], firing one of the [[cannon]]s. The mark in the bronze gate in front of Villa Medici is still visible.<ref>Ola Åmodt: ''Roma – legender og merkverdigheter''</ref>--><!--Perhaps the most illustrious of the eminent figures befriended and patronized by Christina was the sculptor-architect-painter, [[Gian Lorenzo Bernini]], the greatest artistic genius of the century, to whom the queen showed the highest of personal honors by visiting his home-studio on more than one occasion. "Whoever does not esteem Bernini is not worthy of esteem himself," she is quoted as saying by [[Domenico Bernini]] in his biography, ''The Life of Gian Lorenzo Bernini.''<ref>Ed. and trans. by Franco Mormando, Penn State University Press, 2011, p. 175. For Christina's friendship with Bernini, see Franco Mormando, ''Bernini: His Life and His Rome'' (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011), pp. 218-26.</ref>-->