Editing Christina, Queen of Sweden (section)

== Regency ==
In June 1630, when Christina was three years old,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://runeberg.org/nfbn/0740.html|title=1415-1416 (Nordisk familjebok / Uggleupplagan. 14. Kikarsikte - Kroman)|date=19 February 1911|website=runeberg.org|accessdate=19 February 2024}}</ref> Gustavus Adolphus left for Germany to defend [[Protestantism]] and became involved in the [[Thirty Years' War]]. He secured his daughter's right to inherit the throne, in case he never returned, and gave orders to Axel Gustafsson Banér,<ref name="Script from Clark.edu" /> his marshal, that Christina should receive an education of the type normally only afforded to boys.<ref>{{Cite CE1913|wstitle=Christina Alexandra}}</ref>

[[File:Axel Oxenstierna2.jpg|thumb|200px|Axel Oxenstierna]]
When Gustavus Adolphus did not come home as expected after the summer campaign of 1630, Maria wrote to [[John Casimir, Count Palatine of Kleeburg|John Casimir, her brother-in-law]] that she could not stand it; she wanted to die. She begged him to try to persuade the king to come home. It was decided that Maria would travel to Germany the following spring.<ref name="sok.riksarkivet.se">[https://sok.riksarkivet.se/Sbl/Presentation.aspx?id=9106 Maria Eleonora, queen of Sweden, urn:sbl:9106, Svenskt biografiskt lexikon (art by Maureen Kromnow) from 2022-12-02]</ref> She arrived on 10 July 1631, to [[Wolgast]] in Pomerania. On 11 January 1632, she met with her spouse near [[Hanau]]. The couple were spotted for the last time on 28 October 1632 at [[Erfurt]]. The very next day, Gustavus Adolphus broke camp and left. On 3 November, Maria wrote to Axel Oxenstierna: "without [[His Royal Majesty|H.R.M.]]'s presence, I am worth nothing, not even my life."<ref name="sok.riksarkivet.se"/>

[[Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg]], her mother, the member of the [[House of Hohenzollern]], was said to be the most beautiful queen in Europe, but she was also considered hysterical, unstable and overly emotional.<ref name="TsG7BAAAQBAJ p. 17"/><ref>Peter H. Wilson (2010) Europe's Tragedy: A New History of the Thirty Years' War, p. 16</ref> It has been suggested that [[Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg|she]] inherited madness, from both the paternal and maternal lines.<ref name="sok.riksarkivet.se"/> However, this image of the hysterical, depressive and profligate queen dowager, which has become part of [[historiography]], has been put into perspective in more recent research, first in the 1980s by the archivist Åke Kromnov,<ref name="sok.riksarkivet.se"/> among others, and more recently in the monograph "Drottningen som sa nej" by [[Moa Matthis]], published in 2010.

After the king died on the battlefield on 6&nbsp;November 1632, Maria Eleonora returned to Sweden with the embalmed body of her husband. The 7-year-old Queen Christina came in solemn procession to [[Nyköping]] to receive her mother. Maria Eleonora declared that the burial should not take place during her lifetime - she often spoke of shortening her life - or at least should be postponed as long as possible.<ref name="sok.riksarkivet.se"/> She also demanded that the coffin be kept open and went to see it regularly, patting it and taking no notice of the [[putrefaction]]. They tried to persuade Maria not to visit the corpse so often. [[Axel Oxenstierna]] managed to have the corpse interred in [[Riddarholmen Church]] on 22&nbsp;June 1634, but had to post guards after she tried to dig it up.<ref>Peter Englund: ''Sølvmasken'' (s. 159), edited by Spartacus, Oslo 2009, {{ISBN|978-82-430-0466-5}}</ref>

Maria Eleanora had been indifferent to her daughter, but after Gustavus Adolphus's death, Christina became the center of her mother's attention. Gustavus Adolphus had decided that in the event of his death, his daughter should be cared for by his half-sister, [[Catherine of Sweden (1584-1638)|Catherine of Sweden]]{{efn|She was married to [[John Casimir, Count Palatine of Kleeburg]] and moved home to Sweden after the outbreak of the Thirty Years' war. Their children were [[Countess Palatine Maria Eufrosyne of Zweibrücken|Maria Eufrosyne]], who later married one of Christina's close friends [[Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie]], and [[Charles X Gustav of Sweden|Karl Gustav]], who inherited the throne after Christina.}}  and half-brother [[Carl Gyllenhielm]] as regent. This solution did not suit Maria Eleonora, who had her sister-in-law banned from the castle. In 1634, the [[Instrument of Government (1634)|Instrument of Government]], a new constitution, was introduced by Oxenstierna. The constitution stipulated that the "King" must have a [[Privy Council of Sweden|Privy Council]], which Oxenstierna himself headed.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Christina-queen-of-Sweden|title=Christina Queen of Sweden|last=Stephan|first=Ruth|website=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=2015-12-07}}</ref>
Maria Eleonora was considered very difficult,<ref>Dr. Severin Bergh in ''[[Historisk Tidskrift]]'' 1902 [https://libris.kb.se/bib/1966566 Libris listing] p. 13 ff</ref> and in 1636 she lost her parental rights to her daughter.  The [[Riksråd]] justified its decision by asserting that she neglected Christina and her upbringing and that she had a bad influence on her daughter. <ref>Maria Eleonora, drottning, http://www.skbl.se/sv/artikel/MariaEleonoradrottning, Svenskt kvinnobiografiskt lexikon (article by Karin Tegenborg Falkdalen), retrieved 2022-12-17.</ref> Chancellor Oxenstierna saw no other solution than to [[exile]] the widow to [[Gripsholm]] castle, while the governing regency council would decide when she was allowed to see her daughter.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.windweaver.com/christina/people.htm#Maria |title=Who's Who in Queen Christina's Life by Tracy Marks |publisher=Windweaver.com |date=2001-03-30 |access-date=2012-03-09}}</ref>{{Efn|Maria Eleonora complained to [[George William, Elector of Brandenburg|her brother]] about her treatment. In July 1640, she secretly left Sweden to escape to her family. With the consent of King [[Christian IV of Denmark]], under adventurous circumstances, she first fled to [[Gotland]] and then stayed at the Danish court in [[Nykøbing Falster]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-BFbAAAAcAAJ&dq=maria+eleonora++Gotland+1640&pg=PA214|title=Gotland och dess fornminnen: Anteckningar rörande öns historia, folksägner, språk, seder och bruk samt minnesmärken|first=Maria Octavia|last=Carlén|date=19 February 1862|publisher=S. Flodin|accessdate=19 February 2024|via=Google Books}}</ref> In 1648, she returned to Sweden and lived at [[Nyköping]].}} For the subsequent years, Christina thrived in the company of her aunt Catherine and her family.

In 1638, after the death of her aunt and foster mother, the Royal Regency Council under Axel Oxenstierna saw the need to appoint a new foster mother to the underage monarch, which resulted in a reorganization of the queen's household.  To prevent the young queen from being dependent upon a single individual and favorite mother figure, the Royal Council decided to split the office of head lady-in-waiting (responsible for the queen's female courtiers) and the office royal governess (or foster-mother) in four, with two women appointed to share each office. Accordingly, [[Ebba Leijonhufvud]] and [[Christina Natt och Dag]] were appointed to share the position of royal governess and foster mother with the title ''Upptuktelse-Förestånderska'' ('Castigation Mistress'), while [[Beata Oxenstierna]] and [[Ebba Ryning]] were appointed to share the position of head lady-in-waiting, all four with the formal rank and title of ''Hovmästarinna''.<ref name="Marie-Louise Rodén 2008 p. 62">Marie-Louise Rodén: Drottning Christina : en biografi (2008) p. 62</ref>

The Royal Council's method of giving Queen Christina several foster mothers to avoid her forming an attachment to a single person appears to have been effective, as Christina did not mention her foster mothers directly in her memoirs and did not seem to have formed an attachment to any of them; in fact, with only a few exceptions, including [[Ebba Sparre]], [[Lady Jane Ruthven]] and [[Louise van der Nooth]], Christina did not show any interest in any of her female courtiers. She generally mentions them in her memoirs only to compare herself favorably toward them by referring to herself as more masculine than they.<ref name="Marie-Louise Rodén 2008 p. 62"/>

Christina was educated as a royal male would have been. The theologian [[Johannes Matthiae Gothus]] became her tutor; he gave her lessons in religion, philosophy, [[Greek language|Greek]] and [[Latin]]. Chancellor Oxenstierna taught her politics and discussed [[Tacitus]] with her. Oxenstierna proudly wrote of the 14-year-old girl that "she is not at all like a female" and had "a bright intelligence." Christina seemed happy to study ten hours a day. Besides [[Swedish language|Swedish]] and [[German language|German]], she learned at least six more languages: [[Dutch language|Dutch]], [[Danish language|Danish]], [[French language|French]], [[Italian language|Italian]], [[Arabic language|Arabic]] and [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]].{{efn|Letters still exist, written by her in German to her father when she was five.{{where|date=December 2022}} When the ambassador of France, [[Pierre Hector Chanut]], arrived in Stockholm in 1645, he stated admiringly, ''"She talks French as if she was born in the [[Louvre Palace|Louvre]]!"'' (According to B. Guilliet, she spoke French in a kind of [[Liège]] dialect.)}}