This Paper examines the minting of coins during the reign of queen Christina of Sweden (Reign 1632-1654) from the area surrounding The Baltic Sea. The coins (seven types) that this essay seeks to analyze are minted in present day’s Estonia and Latvia and shows that even if the wishes of queen Christina are to get the new Baroque fashion to her aid in the making of the coins, they still remain at the style of the Renaissance era at large. Even if the standard of the coins does not reach the standard of the coins made in southern Europe, the various ways queen Christina is portrayed are also not explained solely by lack of monetary means from the Swedish State. Local Baltic resistance or Swedish politics might be reasons for the looks of the images of the monarch as well. The symbols of the coining reveal references to previous protestant heroes aiming to promote the legacy of Monarchy and portraits Christina as a Queen of Peace. By submitting the coining at hand some of the methods contained by the 20th-century thinkers Erwin Panofsky (1892- 1968) and Heinrich Wölfflin’s (1864–1945) theories, underlying features of meaning and understanding is thus possibly revealed.

<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.