Editing Christina, Queen of Sweden (section)

== Visits to France and Italy ==
[[File:Ritratto del cardinale Decio Azzolino - Voet.jpg|thumb|left|Decio Azzolino by [[Jacob Ferdinand Voet]]]]

King [[Philip IV of Spain]] ruled the [[Duchy of Milan]] and the [[Kingdom of Naples]]. The French politician [[Cardinal Mazarin|Mazarin]], an Italian himself, had attempted to liberate Naples from Spanish rule, against which the locals had fought before the [[Neapolitan Republic (1647)|Neapolitan Republic]] was created. A second expedition in 1654 had failed and the [[Henry II, Duke of Guise|Duke of Guise]] gave up. <!--Supported by the [[Francesco I d'Este, Duke of Modena|Duke of Modena]], Mazarin was now considering Christina as a possible queen for Naples.--> Christina's goal was to become a mediator between France and Spain in their contest to control Naples. Her plan detailed that she would lead French troops to take Naples and rule until bequeathing the crown to France after her death. Christina sent home all her Spanish servants, including her confidant Pimentel and her confessor Guêmes.<ref>D. Lanoye, p. 150.</ref> On 20 July 1656 Christina set sail from [[Civitavecchia]] for Marseille where she arrived nine days later. In early August, she traveled to Paris, accompanied by the Duke of Guise. Mazarin gave her no official sponsorship but gave instructions that she be celebrated and entertained in every town on her way north.

On 8 September she arrived in Paris and was shown around; ladies were shocked by her masculine appearance and demeanor and the unguarded freedom of her conversation. When visiting the ballet with [[Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans, Duchess of Montpensier|la Grande Mademoiselle]], she, as the latter recalls, "surprised me very much – applauding the parts which pleased her, taking God to witness, throwing herself back in her chair, crossing her legs, resting them on the arms of her chair, and assuming other postures, such as I had never seen taken but by Travelin and Jodelet, two famous buffoons... She was in all respects a most extraordinary creature".<ref>''Memoirs of Mademoiselle de Montpensier''. H. Colburn, 1848, p. 48.</ref>

Christina was treated with respect by the young [[Louis XIV]] and his mother, [[Anne of Austria]], in [[Compiègne]]. On 22 September 1656, the arrangement between her and Louis XIV was ready.  He would recommend Christina as queen to the Kingdom of Naples and serve as guarantor against Spanish aggression. As Queen of Naples, she would be financially independent of the Swedish king, and also capable of negotiating peace between France and Spain.{{efn|Mazarin however found another arrangement to ensure peace; he strengthened this with a marriage arrangement between Louis XIV and his first cousin, [[Maria Theresa of Spain]] – the wedding took place in 1660. But this was unknown to Christina, who sent different messengers to Mazarin to remind him of their plan.}}

On her way back Christina visited French courtesan and author [[Ninon de l'Enclos]] in the convent at [[Lagny-sur-Marne]]. In early October, she left France and arrived in [[Torino]]. During the winter Christina lived in the [[Ducal Palace of Pesaro|apostolic palace]] in Pesaro, probably to flee the plague which infested several regions including Naples. During the [[Naples Plague (1656)]] almost half of the population died within two years.<ref>{{cite journal | pmc = 3310102 | pmid=22260781 | doi=10.3201/eid1801.110597 | volume=18 | issue=1 | title=Plague epidemic in the Kingdom of Naples, 1656-1658 | journal=Emerg Infect Dis | pages=186–8 | last1 = Scasciamacchia | first1 = S | last2 = Serrecchia | first2 = L | last3 = Giangrossi | first3 = L | last4 = Garofolo | first4 = G | last5 = Balestrucci | first5 = A | last6 = Sammartino | first6 = G | last7 = Fasanella | first7 = A| year=2012 }}</ref> In July 1657, she returned to France, either being impatient or not so anxious to become queen of Naples. <!--It is not known where she stayed that summer. In Madrid and Naples they seem to have had an idea about her plans; 3,000 soldiers are sent to the Kingdom of Naples and new fortifications appear along the coast?  It seems someone informed the Spanish court (and the puritan [[Oliver Cromwell]]?) about her negative image, lifestyle, and future plans.{{Citation needed|date=March 2015}} (In 1654 treaties were signed between Cromwell and Sweden to cover friendship, freer trade, and freer navigation.) Christina planned to visit Scotland in 1656? and Cromwell in 1657? [https://archive.org/stream/christinaofswede002660mbp/christinaofswede002660mbp_djvu.txt]-->

=== The death of Monaldeschi ===

On 15 October 1657 apartments were assigned to her at the [[Palace of Fontainebleau]], where she committed an action that stained her memory: the execution of marchese Gian Rinaldo [[Monaldeschi]], her [[master of the horse]] and formerly leader of the French party in Rome.<ref>{{cite web|first=Lyndon|last=Orr |url=http://www.authorama.com/famous-affinities-of-history-i-5.html|title=Famous Affinities of History: Queen Christina of Sweden and the Marquis Monaldeschi|publisher=Authorama|access-date=2012-03-09}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1OwTAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA225|title=The Terrific Register: Or, Record of Crimes, Judgments, Providences, and Calamities ...|date=10 July 2017|publisher=Sherwood, Jones, and Company|access-date=10 July 2017|via=Google Books}}</ref> For two months she had suspected Monaldeschi of disloyalty; she secretly seized his correspondence, which revealed that he had betrayed her interests. Christina gave three packages of letters to Le Bel, a priest, to keep them for her in custody. Three days later, at one o'clock on Saturday afternoon, she summoned Monaldeschi into the ''Galerie des Cerfs'', discussing the matter and letters with him. He insisted that betrayal should be punished with death. She was convinced that he had pronounced his own death sentence. After an hour or so Le Bel was to receive his confession. Both Le Bel and Monaldeschi entreated for mercy, but he was stabbed by her domestics – notably Ludovico Santinelli – in his stomach and in his neck. Wearing his [[coat of mail]], which protected him, he was chased around in an adjacent room before they finally succeeded in dealing him a fatal wound in his throat. "In the end, he died, confessing his infamy and admitting [Santinelli's] innocence, protesting that he had invented the whole fantastic story in order to ruin [him]."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.forgottenbooks.com/readbook_text/The_Court_of_Christina_of_Sweden_and_the_Later_Adventures_of_the_Queen_in_1000493935/217|title=Gribble, Francis (2013) The Court of Christina of Sweden, and the Later Adventures of the Queen in Exile, pp. 196–7.|access-date=10 July 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160428064942/http://www.forgottenbooks.com/readbook_text/The_Court_of_Christina_of_Sweden_and_the_Later_Adventures_of_the_Queen_in_1000493935/217|archive-date=28 April 2016}}</ref>

[[File:Palace of Fontainebleau 030.jpg|thumb|Galerie des Cerfs]]

Father Le Bel was told to have him buried inside the church, and Christina, seemingly unfazed, paid an abbey to say a number of Masses for his soul. She "was sorry that she had been forced to undertake this execution, but claimed that justice had been carried out for his crime and betrayal.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M9gIAAAAQAAJ&q=monaldeschi+christina&pg=PA49|title=Christina's revenge; or, The fate of Monaldeschi: with other poems|first=John M.|last=Moffatt|date=10 July 2017|publisher=J.m.moffatt|access-date=10 July 2017|via=Google Books}}</ref>

[[Cardinal Mazarin|Mazarin]], who had sent her old friend Chanut, advised Christina to place the blame due to a brawl among courtiers, but she insisted that she alone was responsible for the act. She wrote to Louis XIV who two weeks later paid her a friendly visit without mentioning it. In Rome, people felt differently; Monaldeschi had been an Italian nobleman, murdered by a foreign barbarian with Santinelli as one of her executioners. The letters proving his guilt are gone; Christina left them with Le Bel and only he confirmed that they existed. Christina never revealed what was in the letters, but according to Le Bel, it is supposed to have dealt with her "amours", either with Monaldeschi or another person. She herself wrote her version of the story for circulation in Europe.

The killing of Monaldeschi in a French palace was legal, since Christina had judicial rights over the members of her court, as her vindicator [[Gottfried Leibniz]] claimed.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.forgottenbooks.com/readbook_text/The_Court_of_Christina_of_Sweden_and_the_Later_Adventures_of_the_Queen_in_1000493935/217|title=Gribble, Francis. (2013). pp. 196–7. The Court of Christina of Sweden, and the Later Adventures of the Queen in Exile.|access-date=10 July 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160428064942/http://www.forgottenbooks.com/readbook_text/The_Court_of_Christina_of_Sweden_and_the_Later_Adventures_of_the_Queen_in_1000493935/217|archive-date=28 April 2016}}</ref> As her contemporaries saw it, Christina as queen had to emphasize right and wrong, and her sense of duty was strong. She continued to regard herself as queen regnant all her life.

She would gladly have visited England, but she received no encouragement from [[Oliver Cromwell|Cromwell]] and stayed in Fontainebleau as nobody else offered her a place. [[Anne of Austria]], the mother of Louis XIV, was impatient to be rid of her cruel guest; Christina had no choice but to depart. She returned to Rome and dismissed Santinelli in 1659, claiming to be her ambassador in Vienna without her approval.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://drs.library.yale.edu/HLTransformer/HLTransServlet?stylename=yul.ead2002.xhtml.xsl&pid=beinecke:castle&query=&clear-stylesheet-cache=yes&hlon=yes&big=&adv=&filter=&hitPageStart=&sortFields=&view=c01_5|title=Guide to the Italian Castle Archive|first1=Mark W.|last1=Rabuck|date=1 December 1997|access-date=10 July 2017}}</ref>