As this fleet approached Lister Dyb on the west coast of Jutland to rendezvous with the Swedes, it was intercepted by a Danish squadron of equal size commanded by Christian himself. The engagement was a draw with no great damage done to either side.
A second battle in which the merchantmen had numerical superiority was more decisive. The Dutch fleet was badly damaged and saved only because of the Dutch crews’ excellent seamanship. Following this second confrontation the merchantmen withdrew and returned to the Netherlands. Apparently the larger guns and heavier hulled warships of the Scandinavian navies were too much for the merchantmen. The double hulled Danish and Swedish war ships were now superior to the men-o-war of southern European nations. The defeat of the Dutch left Torstensson and Horn stranded on either side of the Danish islands where Christian was holed up. As long as his fleet controlled the sea around those islands he was safe.
In June 1644 the Swedish fleet put to sea, sailing for the south Baltic. On July 1 it met the Danish fleet off Kolberger Heide between Germany and the Danish Islands. The Danes had thirty ships of 300 to 1,300 tons and the Swedes thirty-four of 300 to 1,700. The Swedish fleet had the windward position and attacked four times but failed to close, resulting in an indecisive battle with few casualties. However, the Danish admiral was killed, and the king wounded, receiving shrapnel and losing an eye. But Christian didn’t need a big victory. All he required was to prevent the Dutch or Swedish ships from transporting Swedish troops onto his islands and that he had accomplished.
With a stalemate existing between the Danish and Swedish land forces, Torstensson turned over command of the Jutland front to Wrangle and headed south again for the heart of Germany. In August the Swedish navy returned to Stockholm and Christian, thinking the crisis had passed, decommissioned most of his navy to concentrate resources on his army to recover Skåne.
However, in August a few Dutch hired merchantmen succeeded in getting through the Sound and reached Kalmar. They were finally able to rendezvous with the Swedish fleet in the Baltic. The Swedes could sail the southern Baltic in winter because of their ports in Germany. On October 13 this combined fleet of 14 Swedish ships and 19 Dutch met a Danish squadron of 15 warships. The Danes thought this was an invasion force that had to be stopped. So they gave battle in spite of their numerical disadvantage.
Again the Dutch armed merchantmen fared badly. One ship was sunk and several were severely damaged. But the Swedish fleet captured ten Danish warships and burned two others. The Danish navy ceased to be a factor for the rest of the war except to blockade the Sound. The Dutch sent a fleet of 49 ships to the Sound and forced the Danes to let 300 merchantmen pass without paying the toll. Christian’s islands were now vulnerable to a Swedish invasion. His annihilation seemed only a matter of time, but politics intervened.
On December 8, 1644, Christina came of age and gained legal control of the government. Would she be able to rest power from the regents used to having their way? Did she have the Vasa family characteristic strong will and dominant personality? She faced a determined chancellor and restive Råd. The war weary Estates were nearly in revolt, especially the peasants, who had born the brunt of the war burden. She had the war in Germany which had gone some better since Torstensson’s arrival. There was the Danish war which seemed on the verge of being won. With Sweden’s sudden dominance of the sea, Christian might be crushed and Denmark-Norway absorbed as additions to the Swedish realm. The eighteen-year-old queen had much to deal with and how she conducted her reign would decide the fate of her country.
19. Queen Christina and the Athens of the North
The eighteen-year-old Christina was now queen. She ruled over a kingdom that included the old Swedish-Finnish domain, Estonia, Livonia, Ingria and Karelia. Her armies occupied German Pomerania, Mecklenburg, most of Silesia, Danish Jutland, and Skåne. These last brought with them two wars, the latest Danish war and the final stage of the Thirty Years’ War. The war with Denmark had become a stalemate with Sweden unable to take the Danish islands to complete the conquest and Christian IV too weak to do anything but hold on to those islands and the cities on them, most importantly Copenhagen. It was only in the waning days of 1644 that the Swedish navy had been able to gain control of the Baltic making an invasion of the Danish islands possible.
The German war, likewise, had no clear winner. France and Sweden held strong hands, able to move their armies almost at will, but could not deliver a knockout punch to the combined strength of the Hapsburgs. The emperor and Spain held on backed by Bavaria, a strengthening Austria and a growing German nationalism which fostered a hatred for all foreigners. The war had devastated the country itself and all parties were searching for a way to end the expensive and inconclusive morass. This war was complicated by the 80 year old war in the Netherlands in which the Dutch were gaining in power against a weakening Spain. There was the civil war in England spreading fear among monarchies all over the continent. For Sweden, the new power in Europe, it was a dangerous world. For the new queen it was certainly a daunting situation, but Christina was not an ordinary woman either in talents or background.
The young monarch acquired a certain amount of prestige as daughter and heir of Gustav Adolf the Great. Her father was the blue eyed, golden maned “Lion of the North,” not only in Sweden and Germany, but to all of Europe. He was the defender of Protestantism who had raised his scarcely considered nation on the very periphery of European consciousness to international prominence. Sweden was now a power to be reckoned with.
Her mother was the princess of Brandenburg, a not inconsequential state surrounding the city of Berlin. At the time, it did not compare to a Rome, Paris or even London, but its snug brick and stone houses arranged on a flat plain were more cosmopolitan than the wooden houses with sod roofs gathered around the Stockholm Castle and business district.
Maria Eleanora was pretty, feminine and emotional to the point of being neurotic. She loved the arts and followed the fashion of the time even to including buffoons and dwarfs in her court. She was fluent in French, the language of the European courts, but never learned to write German correctly or even bothered to become conversant in Swedish. She brought with her German ladies-in-waiting to attend her.
By all accounts she loved Gustav deeply and could hardly be consoled at his absences. They shared a love of music, architecture and art. Gustav, though not a composer like his uncle Eric XIV, did play the lute well. They brought German musicians to the court where orchestral music and dances became the rage. But while this interest in the arts was a large part of Maria Eleanora’s life, they could only be diversions for a king constantly at the battle front. These long separations along with the queen’s delicate health also made the bearing of an heir problematic.
A year after their wedding Maria Eleanora miscarried and was seriously ill. In 1623 a daughter, Christina Augusta, was born, but died within a year. In May 1624 the queen, again pregnant, was in good spirits with Gustav home. She insisted upon accompanying him on a review of the navy when a storm struck, almost capsizing their boat. The queen was rushed to the castle, but a short time later a son was born dead.
The need for an heir was, by now, a matter of concern for the government with the only surviving Vasa with a claim to the throne being Sigismund of Poland. Because of this Gustav allowed Maria Eleanora to join him in Livonia at Reval in January 1626. By April the royal couple was at Åbo on their way back to Stockholm and the queen was pregnant. This time no risks were taken and Christina was born in Stockholm on December 8, 1626.
At birth the princess was covered with hair, so much so that at first it was not clear as to her gender. The queen herself and the court rejoiced at the birth of a healthy heir, but then the truth was discovered and the mood changed to despair. Gustav’s reaction was characteristically optimistic when his sister, Katarina the Countess of Palatinate, brought the baby to him.
“Let us thank God, my sister. I hope that this girl will be worth a son to me.”1 Realizing the difficulty in getting t
he child he added: “I am content. I pray to God that He will preserve her.”2 As if verbalizing a premonition, Gustav continued: “She should be clever, since she has deceived us all.”3
Gustav had the birth celebrated as the birth of a male heir would have been celebrated and she was educated as if she were a Swedish prince. At two years of age the king took Christina to Kalmar Harbor to review the navy. When the ships fired their great guns in salute, Gustav was afraid the child would be frightened, but she showed no sign of fear, only clapping for more. Christina was four when her father gave his great speech to the Estates before his departure to Germany and again the princess accompanied him, giving a little memorized speech following his. When he left she cried inconsolably for three days. Soon her mother would depart as well, leaving her in the care of her aunt (Gustav’s sister) Katarina, wife of Johann Casimir of Palatinate.
At six she received news of her father’s death and experienced all the attention that went with her new status as the “Little Queen.” Upon her mother’s return she was subjected to the queen mother’s excessive mourning. A dark and dreary apartment with humorless buffoons and dwarfs now playing the part of servants was her world. The queen mother, who had shown little interest in her daughter previously, now controlled her every moment. Any attempt by the Regency or Råd to remove the girl to a more healthy environment met with emotional outbursts to the point where the government officials gave in entirely. Thus Christina’s situation stood until Oxenstierna’s return from Germany.
With the chancellor’s arrival Christina’s life changed completely. He had her removed from the queen mother’s care. Maria Eleanora left Stockholm, retiring to Gripsholm and seclusion. It was from here she would take flight to Denmark causing the great scandal. Eventually she left Christian IV’s court for Brandenburg. In 1648, with her daughter then queen, Maria Eleanora returned to Sweden to live out her days. She died in 1655.
Removed from her mother’s care, Christina was placed with Gustav’s half sister Katarina, the only adult Vasa left in Sweden. It was Katarina and her family who Gustav had appointed to take care of his daughter in her childhood when her own royal parents were out of the country. Now Christina was only too glad to be reunited with her foster family.
Katarina was married to Johann Casimir, a count of Palatinate. In 1622 the Thirty Years’ War had forced them to flee Germany. They had taken up residence at the castle in Nyköping where their eldest son was born. Karl Gustav was four years older than Christina and the two had become fast friends. Now she was back with her adopted family and children her own age. Besides Karl there were three other sons and two daughters, Eleanora and Maria Euphrosyne. The last would later become her intimate friend.
Christina’s education now began in earnest. At eight years of age the child queen was already studying twelve hours a day. She had the Vasa brilliant mind driven by her own unquenchable thirst for knowledge. Before his death Gustav had appointed two governors to guide his daughter’s training. One was Axel Banér, brother of the great field marshal and close friend of the king. He was expert in arms and horsemanship, but fond of wine and women. He was always completely honest with the young queen and became a trusted advisor though he would die when she was only thirteen.
The second instructor was Gustav Horn, nephew of the famous general. Unlike Banér, he spoke several languages and had traveled widely, providing Christina with insight into other lands, peoples and especially their governments. In addition she had full access to the Regency appointed to rule in her stead until her maturity.
Here were some of the most illustrious men of her time. There was the chancellor, Alex Oxenstierna, and his brother, Baron Gabriel Gust Oxenstierna, the high steward. He would die in 1641 and be replaced by Per Brahe. There was Gustav’s illegitimate half brother, Baron Karl Karlson Gyllenhielm, natural son of Karl IX. Rounding out the Regency were the grand marshal, Count Jacob de la Gardie, and the grand treasurer, Gabriel Oxenstierna, Alex’s cousin.
Christina’s primary instructor was Johannes Matthiae, a close friend of her father’s, who guided her learning in religion, letters and science. Gustav appointed him not suspecting that he had strong Calvinist leanings and an unusual tolerance for all religions. He would have considerable influence over her and gain her affection above all others. He later became bishop of Strängnäs, but would eventually lose the position due to his religious biases aided, of course, by the jealousies and bigotry of his enemies. Christina would look after him and protect him all his life.
Thus, king and chancellor saw to it the young queen received an education that was ordinarily reserved for male heirs and Christina had the ability, drive and will to take every advantage of it. She also learned to ride well, hunt and shoot superbly. A French ambassador once said of her, “she could hit a running hare quicker than any man.”4 If the child had grown into an attractive young lady these tomboy traits might have disappeared, but Christina grew up to be slovenly in dress; she hated feminine frivolity, could swear like one of her soldiers and took her pleasure in distinctly unfeminine activities, such as riding, racing, and hunting, and when these distractions were not available, she would walk for hours, exhausting those accompanying her.
In stature she was small and plump, though she would grow thin at times due to ill health, with a classic feminine neck and bosom. She had a perfect complexion though she made no attempt to take care of it and shunned any kind of make-up except on special state occasions, and then would tolerate only the very basics. Her most attractive attributes were her full, lustrous eyes that hinted at her intelligence. Her main imperfection was a shoulder that was lower than the other, a defect she blamed on being dropped as an infant. She worked at disguising this malformation. She generally dressed in mostly masculine clothing, flat shoes, plain gray jacket, velvet cavalry cap, ruffles at her wrist and hair plainly braided. Her only concession to her sex was a skirt and that was short by the day’s standards. She once said, “Some people are silly enough to be slaves and martyrs to clothes and fashion and are unhappy if they do not spend their lives between the mirror and the comb. Tidiness is only for the idle.”5
As the young queen entered her late teens there was much speculation as to a proper marriage. Candidates abounded, both domestic and foreign. Christina had, however, already made some progress in this field. Her close friendship with Karl Gustav, oldest of the Palatine children, had developed into something more. He was handsome with dark hair, a natural leader of the Palatine band of children. He must have been a dashing figure in his cavalry uniform, donned in his late teens when he entered military service. He and Christina certainly had some kind of understanding, perhaps a secret engagement. The relationship might have developed into an early marriage, something Johann Casimir was promoting, but in 1642 Karl left Sweden to join Field Marshal Lennart Torstensson’s army in Germany. Endearing letters were traded between the two during this separation. Because of Karl’s abilities as an officer, he quickly rose to command a cavalry regiment under Torstensson.
Changes were occurring in the Swedish government, changes that would affect Christina’s position as queen. The 1634 Riksdag made law the Form of Government, a constitution written by Alex Oxenstierna. It fixed the Riksdag as the parliament or congress though it could not initiate legislation. The king proposed laws in writing to the Estates Assembly in the Hall of State. No copies were allowed to be taken out of the building and no non-member was allowed to be present except the sons of nobles. This legislative body was composed of 500 representatives from the four Estates (nobility, clergy, burghers and peasants) placed in a systematic seating arrangement. Upon receiving the proposed legislation from the king, the Estates separated to debate and returned with written replies. They were free to accept or reject the monarch’s proposals, but they had to come to an agreement amongst themselves.
The king could still issue ordinances, proclamations and grant privileges which had the effect of law, but the crown could not raise or establish ne
w taxes or tolls without the consent of the Riksdag. The king might still get around this law by negotiating directly with the provinces, but this was difficult and produced inconsistent results.
The nobility was divided into three classes, each having a vote in the Riksdag. Thus, the nobility had the same number of votes as the other three Estates combined. The highest class of nobility was limited to families with the title of count or baron, some twelve members in 1626. The second class was composed of members of the Råd or families of former members. In 1626 there were twenty-two of these families. The third class, of ninety-two families, was composed of those that claimed the position through ancient lineage or recent government service. Economically these families might be no more affluent than the higher classes of peasants.
The Form of Government of 1634 also established a military structure that would exist until the 1925 great reduction of the armed forces. The army would consist of eight regiments of cavalry and twenty-three of infantry. Five horse and thirteen foot came from Sweden proper and the rest from Finland and other Swedish controlled territories. Each regiment was drawn from a designated recruiting area, usually a province, and the regiment would be named for the area. Thus, there was the Småland Cavalry Regiment, the Östergötland Foot, etc.
Since the time that Gustav and Oxenstierna established the regionally supported regimental recruiting system, including cavalry regiments, the old definition of nobility as families who supplied men-at-arms no longer applied. Membership was through heredity, but upward mobility was available through government or military service. The old county squire type of nobility had been replaced with “gentlemen” who were the civil servants and supplied the military officer corps. Likewise, the sons of burghers or prosperous peasants who could afford an education might rise through public service. Scholarships were available for gifted students. And in the military even the uneducated, but talented, might rise in social status. If Swedish born, the ambitious might even attain the Råd. The system wasn’t perfect, but it did allow many of the brightest, most talented and industrious to rise to positions where they could do the most good for the country. In the last six years of Gustav’s reign the nobility expanded from 126 families to 187.
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