In this paper, I analyze the life and collection of Christina, Queen of Sweden (1626-1689), as a complex and shifting performance of gender, authority, and other aspects of identity. I argue that Christina’s education and life experiences actively informed her collecting preferences for certain types of mythological figures, which became an effective tool of her self-fashioning as a ruler who broke away from what she viewed as the confines and expectations of her gender. I will demonstrate how her strategies as an astute patron and collector of the arts were central to her subversive presentation as an almost androgynous self-exiled ruler in Rome, who could emulate both male and female virtues equally in order to transfer her former political power to new social and cultural capital. Christina’s collection, newly assembled in the Palazzo Riario in Rome, served this purpose by creating a controlled environment that enforced particular relationships between collector and spectator, spectator and collected objects, as well as among the objects themselves. This thesis weds the various theories of Queen Christina and her collection into a comprehensive theory of her larger project of self-fashioning, arguing that her collecting practices regarding both ancient and contemporary works followed a cohesive philosophy in her politics of collection and display, even while largely challenging the decorum of female patronage. Christina’s self-promoted identity as Minerva of the North forces the viewer to contemplate the items in the collection both on their own and in conversation with one another as part of a larger display. In the nudes of the Stanza dei Quadri on her second floor, as well as the antiquities featured on the ground floor, Christina used the relationship between images and sculptures to create an allegorical pantheon focused on her own self-control and authority. In understanding objects’ interactivity, it is possible to interpret Christina’s renovations to the Palazzo Riario and the display of her collection as a modern day Parnassus or Arcadia, which she used to establish her Roman home as a primary location of scholarship and creation. The contents and display of her collection extended her desired persona as a leader of wisdom and user of knowledge not easily bound by the constraints of either gender. The metaphorical space of Arcadia that she created strengthened her alignment with Minerva, the goddess of wisdom and warfare, and implicitly also with Apollo, who presided over Parnassus. In the case of Queen Christina, we have found that in addition to the personal prestige associated with obtaining valued items, the display of these items in a kind of curated space added value and meaning to the viewing experience. / Art History

The ancient concept "The world is a theatre" has been used by poets and philosophers at all times when talking about human conflicts or when describing human society. By focusing on the historical function of this use, the present dissertation examines four plays by Pedro Calderón de la Barca in relation to the schism of the Swedish Wasa dynasty: El sitio de Bredá, La protestación de la fe, La vida es sueño, Afectos de odio y amor. A parallel between Calderon's "auto sacramental" El gran teatro del mundo, Descartes' so called "mask" and the Neoplatonic "Art of Memory" (Giulio Camillo, Giordano Bruno, Robert Fludd) is established in order to explore the ontological and social background of the linguistic term "discourse". The heretic picture created by the European Counter Reformation is studied as the mimetic configuration of a collective fetish. Stephen Greenblatt's notion of "social energy" and Julia Kristeva's account of the fetish in poetical language, are, in this context, discussed with the intention to investigate how Calderón, to the Spanish audience, describes Wladislav Sigismund Vasa visit to Breda's siege and Queen Christina's convertion to the Catholic faith. The political and ideological debate of laws ruling the succession in Catholic and Protestant kingdoms are considered when discussing Diego de Saavedra y Fajardo's (from Catholic Spain) and Schering Rosenhane's (from Lutheran Sweden) political reflections on the issue; this is also compared to the ideological foundations of Calderon's play El gran teatro del mundo. Both King Sigismund Vasa's personal struggle to retain the Swedish crown and Queen Christina's abdication, are considered in the light of Calderon's La protestación de la fe and Rosenhane's political vision in his Hortus Regius. A special investigation is dedicated to the striking contrasts between the original emblems of Hortus Regius and those found today in Rosenhane's palace, having been painted there on the initiative of Rosenhane himself. The Catholic agitation against Machiavelli's definition of "virtue" and the Machiavellian and Catholic interpretation of "reason of state", are related to Calderon's theatre with the intention of evaluating the geopolitical aspects of Calderon's most famous play, La vida es sueño, and also with the purpose to initiate a discussion about the theatrical nature of political behaviour. The dissertation concludes by studying and comparing Calderon's, Bernardino de Rebolledo's (Spanish ambassador to Denmark at the time) and Francisco Bances Candamo's views on Queen Christina's personal aversion to marriage, with special attention paid to the symbolic dimensions of Queen Christina's Amaranta Order.

Queen Christina of Sweden (1626-1689) utilized art in many ways to promote herself and assert power in Baroque Europe. Previous scholars have addressed either Christina’s use of art to safeguard authority as Swedish regnant, or her expressions of sovereignty as an erstwhile Protestant queen in Rome, but no scholarship to date has addressed the topic of how Christina’s patronage developed, or explored how motifs employed early on later reappeared. This dissertation brings together both sides of the equation to provide a comprehensive understanding of how Queen Christina’s patronage developed in Stockholm, and how her approach evolved as she became a fixture in Rome. The deployment of the arts was necessary to assert Christina’s authority in a patriarchal environment and ultimately, to politically legitimize herself as an independent royal woman. An initial review of royal imagery of her father King Gustav II Adolf (1594-1632) provides the background for examination of early patronage promoting Christina, which drew upon Gustav’s precedents while beginning to establish her as a majestic leader in her own right. Originally the queen’s autonomy was limited by a constitutional rewrite as others steered her image for their own benefit, but Christina matured to make her own choices and developed an approach to patronage that continued throughout her life. My research contributes to our understanding of Christina’s development as art patron by examining commissions that counteract this administrative system that restrained her sovereignty. Portraits from her majority rule relied on iconography and visual rhetoric to influence a select audience, while her coronation and abdication proceedings, by contrast, were multisensory public events that broadly proclaimed her capacity to rule. Hence my analysis ranges from the subtle reading of particular images to taking stock of the language of sheer pageantry of those more public visual displays. After abdication Queen Christina had virtually no political clout, but as dowager regnant, she wielded art and patronage to maintain social standing and power. My research considers how Christina deployed the arts to craft her public persona and express her individuality within the male-dominated political structure of the Vatican even as others played off her remarkable abdication with patronage of their own. Christina’s approach was based on precedents developed in Sweden, and she applied them to her Roman situation with varied success. Through many challenges, scandals, and adversities, art was a potent vehicle both for Christina and for those around her to capitalize on her unique status in the history of Baroque Europe.

The aim of the present dissertation is to investigate and discuss the political debate on female monarchs during the early modern era (principally circa 1600 to 1720), while specifically pro- blematizing the relationship between rhetoric and practice. The study consists of three sections. The first comprises a study of regulations concerning female succession in the era, highlighting the relationship between the principles of gender and consanguinuity. The second section studies the debate both for and against female monarchs in general, analyzing the arguments presented by Swedish and English debatteurs and European legislators. The third section discusses the perception of female monarchs in practice. Here the focus is on Queens Christina (1632-54) and Ulrika Eleonora (1719-1720), who are both compa­red with each another and other reigning monarchs, primarily the English Queens Elizabeth I (1558-1603), Mary II (1689-94) and Anna Stuart (1702-14). This section is divided into four the­matic subsections: female monarchs in relation to ascension to the throne; education; war; and marriage. Furthermore, the opinions of Christina and Ulrika Eleonora themselves on female monarchs and female succession are discussed. This study has attempted to show that the question of the gender of the monarch has had significance for both the rhetoric and practice of female monarchy. It has been shown that the arguments used against female rulers have mainly concentrated on the principle of gender by labelling "female/feminine" as the negative polar opposite of "male/masculine". In contrast, the arguments used in favour of female monarchs have attempted to tone down the signficance of the fact that the monarch was a woman. Instead, the matter of the monarch's gender was discu­ssed in relation to other, more overriding principles for the monarchy as an institution, inclu­ding birth, dynastic continuity, royal distinctiveness, education, the preservation of order and legitimate succession to the throne. At the same time, this study has shown that traditionally female characteristics could also have a positive effect. One particular problem, both in rhetoric and practice, seems however to have been how and indeed if a female monarch could coordinate her role as sovreign with that of traditionally subordinate wife. / digitalisering@umu

<p>In November 1653, a vessel arrived in the harbour town of Gothenburg, on the west coast of the Protestant monarchy of Sweden. Aboard the ship was the newly appointed English Ambassador Extraordinary, Bulstrode Whitelocke (1605-1675); jurist, Puritan and avid diary keeper. In his journal, Whitelocke noted down the entirety of what he was to experience during his stay in Sweden. From the heaps of papers he produced over his lifetime, he later edited this particular record under the title <em>Journal of the Swedish Embassy</em>. Spanning between 1653 and 1654, the pages of the journal contains information of the most mundane kind, as well as eye witness accounts of what must be recognised as a very interesting part of European history. More so, it reveals Whitelocke’s views on the political questions of his time, mainly presented through conversations with important actors from Swedish society, such as Queen Christina, Lord High Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna, and the Archbishop of Uppsala, Johannes Canuti Lenaeus. In the eyes of the Swedes, Whitelocke became a representative not only of the new Commonwealth of England, but of the new ideas that had formed the basis of its government. As such, he was often made to explain the conduct of his country men, as well as defend the recent events in England. Thus, through these recorded exchanges, an image of Whitelocke´s representation and of his views regarding the changes in England emerges from the pages. This Masters Thesis will analyse this image, as well as discuss Whitelocke’s political views, both practical and ideological, at the time of his embassy to Sweden.</p>

In November 1653, a vessel arrived in the harbour town of Gothenburg, on the west coast of the Protestant monarchy of Sweden. Aboard the ship was the newly appointed English Ambassador Extraordinary, Bulstrode Whitelocke (1605-1675); jurist, Puritan and avid diary keeper. In his journal, Whitelocke noted down the entirety of what he was to experience during his stay in Sweden. From the heaps of papers he produced over his lifetime, he later edited this particular record under the title Journal of the Swedish Embassy. Spanning between 1653 and 1654, the pages of the journal contains information of the most mundane kind, as well as eye witness accounts of what must be recognised as a very interesting part of European history. More so, it reveals Whitelocke’s views on the political questions of his time, mainly presented through conversations with important actors from Swedish society, such as Queen Christina, Lord High Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna, and the Archbishop of Uppsala, Johannes Canuti Lenaeus. In the eyes of the Swedes, Whitelocke became a representative not only of the new Commonwealth of England, but of the new ideas that had formed the basis of its government. As such, he was often made to explain the conduct of his country men, as well as defend the recent events in England. Thus, through these recorded exchanges, an image of Whitelocke´s representation and of his views regarding the changes in England emerges from the pages. This Masters Thesis will analyse this image, as well as discuss Whitelocke’s political views, both practical and ideological, at the time of his embassy to Sweden.

This G-3 essay aimed to study how people on three American left leaning social medias appoint queer identities to historical people and the discourse around this appointment. This was studied through the theoretical lenses of queer theory and the use of history. The source material consisted of posts from Tumblr, Twitter and Reddit and it was studied both quantitatively and qualitatively through the method of conceptual history. The historical people examined were Queen Christina of Sweden and King James VI and I of Scotland and England. This essay discovered that a wide variety of queer identities were appointed to the royals. However, all queer identities appointed were identities that matched the discoveries scientists have made about the royals’ lives. Furthermore, between one third and half of all posts used sources to justify the appointment of queer identities. The use of history in all posts were found to be either existential in nature – showing a desire to find connections with other queer people through history – or moral – using history to argue against current injustice against queer people.