_Period of Political Grandeur--Queen Christine_
Christine was six years old when she succeeded her father. Her armies
stood scattered through foreign lands, surrounded by enemies and
faithless allies. Her country was covered with glory, but in direst
distress. The most remarkable aspect of her father’s greatness now was
to become apparent. Gustavus Adolphus had left behind men whom he had
educated as statesmen, and generals capable of bringing his work to a
successful end. First among the former was the state chancellor, _Axel
Oxenstierna_, the friend and adviser of the hero king. He managed to
keep the Swedish allies together and to establish harmony and unity of
action between the Swedish commanders, supplying funds to carry on the
war and strengthening the government at home with his courage and his
wisdom. Oxenstierna was a statesman of considerable power before the
death of the king; after it he grows in grandeur to carry the burden
of unlimited responsibility placed on his shoulders. His coolness and
dignity were a source of constant irritation to Richelieu, who said
there was “something Gothic and a good deal of Finnish” about his
proceedings in diplomatic affairs, while Mazarin said that if all the
statesmen of his time were to be put aboard of one vessel, Oxenstierna
should be placed at the helm. The great chancellor always upheld the
dignity of his country. When French diplomatists forgot themselves thus
far as to use, in correspondence, their own language, instead of Latin,
the recognized language of diplomacy in that day, Axel Oxenstierna gave
instructions that they should be answered in Swedish.
After the death of Gustavus Adolphus, the war in Germany lost more
and more of its original aspect. The cause of Protestantism was
dropped out of sight for political interests. The battles of Sweden
were, to a great extent, and sometimes altogether, fought by foreign
troops; but Swedish were the generals and statesmen who led the
operations of the armies and the diplomatic deliberations. The success
of Sweden, at first, seemed to have passed away with her great hero
king. The imperialists won a great victory at Nœrdlingen in 1634.
The young archduke, Ferdinand, had succeeded Wallenstein as their
commander-general, the latter having been murdered at the request of
the emperor. Ferdinand marched on the town of Nœrdlingen with an army
of German and Spanish troops, the experienced Piccolomini being at
his side. Duke Bernhard, who with an army had been taking possession
of Franconia in his own personal interests, hastened to support
the town and was joined by Gustavus Horn, who, with another army,
had been stationed in Elsass. Count Horn gave the advice to await
reinforcements, but the excitable Duke Bernhard opened an attack on
the enemy, which necessitated an immediate battle. After eight hours
of hard fighting, the imperialists, who were 30,000 strong, entirely
routed the Swedish army of 18,000 men, not a single Swedish regiment
being among them. Horn was made a prisoner. Duke Bernhard, who soon
afterward with his troops entered French service, acknowledged his
fault, saying: “I was a fool, but Horn a wise man.” Sweden lost through
this terrible defeat an army and two able generals. The Swedish
conquests in South Germany were lost, and the German allies were
scattered, the elector of Saxony joining the cause of the emperor. The
armistice with Poland came to an end in 1635, and it was renewed for
twenty-six years, at the cost of the Prussian seaports, with their
lucrative revenues, which had paid for the expenses of the German war.
Oxenstierna returned to Sweden to gather means wherewith to continue
the war. The ordinary resources of Sweden were drained, and great
sacrifices were needed. The Riksdag declared itself willing to “risk
life, blood and means, until God grants a peace equal to the dignity of
Sweden.”
John Banér was the man who re-established the success of the Swedish
arms. He resembled Gustavus Adolphus in greatness of mind and ability
in war, paying back the execution of his father under Charles IX.,
by loyalty to the illustrious son of the latter. Banér was a typical
soldier of the Thirty Years’ War, amiable, but licentious, and cruel
to his enemies. An able tactician and strategist of inexhaustible
resources, he had distinguished himself in the Polish war and later
held many important commands. The death of Gustavus Adolphus stirred
this strong man to the very depths of his soul. He left his army in
Bavaria and arrived at Wolgast, resolved to leave the army. At the
sight of the body of his beloved king, he was overcome by a paroxysm of
grief. Axel Oxenstierna persuaded him to resume his command in order to
bring the work of their dead master to completion. He marched with his
army through Silesia to Bohemia, encamping before Prague. After the
battle of Nœrdlingen he retreated to Saxony, whose deceitful elector
he reproached with harsh words. Intrigues by the latter to bring the
German troops in Swedish service to mutiny were frustrated by Banér,
who had only 2,000 Swedes and Livonians with him. The Saxon army
followed Banér into Mecklenburg, but suffered a defeat at Dœmitz. Banér
marched eastward and joined the Swedish force, which met him, from
Prussia, commanded by Lennart Torstensson. The elector of Brandenburg
also declared war on Sweden, Banér answering by invading his country.
From the vicinity of Berlin, Banér continued his way through Saxony
back to Mecklenburg, his German troops marauding with such cruelty that
they were sharply remonstrated with by Banér, who said he found it
strange that God did not instantly punish them.
Banér was followed by the united armies of Austria and Saxony, but,
having received reinforcements of Swedish troops, he turned on his
tracks and met the enemy at Wittstock, in Brandenburg, September 24,
1636. The Swedish army consisted of 20,000 men, while the opposing
force was much larger and occupied a favorable position on a hill.
Banér won a glorious victory, thanks to a skilfully executed manœuvre.
It grew dark, and the right wing of the Swedes was leading an almost
forlorn hope against the overwhelming forces, when their left wing,
after a difficult roundabout move, attacked the enemy from behind. Of
the hostile armies every man was killed except a detachment less than
1,000 strong. The baggage, artillery and banners were taken, even the
table silver of the elector and the imperial generals falling into the
hands of the Swedes, who by this victory had regained their supremacy
on German soil.
Banér had commenced the siege of Leipsic, when, upon news of an
approaching army of the imperial allies, he was forced to undertake the
famous “Retreat from Torgau,” which made him more celebrated than any
of his great battles. He with his army was near being surrounded at
the river Oder, but saved himself through a series of movements of the
highest strategic skill. Cardinal Richelieu wrote that “this retreat,
by means of which Banér saved 14,000 men, less a few fugitives and
wounded, with cannon and baggage, against an army 60,000 strong, is to
be compared to the most glorious deeds in history.” The enemy prided
itself on having “caught Banér in a bag.” “Yes,” said Banér later,
“surely they had me there, but they forgot to tie the string around.”
In Pomerania, Banér received the reinforcements from Sweden which
he had awaited, and once more invaded Saxony, where he won a grand
victory at Chemnitz, in 1639. The Swedish army invaded Bohemia, cruelly
devastating the country. Banér made a daring attack upon Regensburg
in order to make the emperor and the whole German diet his prisoners.
Sudden thaws frustrated the plans, making it impossible for the Swedes
to cross the Danube. A superior force was sent to meet Banér, who saved
his army by another famous retreat back to Saxony. On the way Banér
was attacked by a fever and died at Halberstadt, in 1641. When the
imperialists learned of the death of the Swedish Leonidas, they thought
they could easily defeat his army. The Swedes saw the approaching enemy
and collected around the coffin of their dead hero, offering solemn
pledges to fight for the glory of his name. They then made a sudden
attack upon the imperial army, which suffered a thorough defeat at
Wolfenbuttel. John Banér, triumphant in death like his great master,
was buried in the Swedish Pantheon of the Riddarholm.
Banér had expressed the wish that Lennart Torstensson should succeed
him as commander-general of the Swedish armies. Lennart Torstensson was
a greater warrior even than John Banér; no Swedish general, Gustavus
Adolphus not excepted, ever reaching higher skill or perfection in the
science of war than this crippled hero. Torstensson was of a noble
although not influential family. He entered the service of Gustavus
Adolphus as a body page to the king, later distinguishing himself as an
artillery commander. Torstensson took an honorable part in the battle
of Breitenfeld, but made a prisoner at Nuremberg, he lost his health,
during one year’s captivity, in a miserable dungeon. During his later
brilliant career he suffered greatly from rheumatism, and was mostly
carried around in a litter throughout the battles which covered his
name with undying fame. He was a pious man of a gentle and cheerful
disposition, who tried his utmost to reintroduce among his troops the
excellent moral behavior and severe discipline which had been lost
after the death of Gustavus Adolphus.
Torstensson with rigor suppressed the intrigues against Sweden which
were secretly carried on within the army. Brandenburg received a new
elector in Frederic William, who, ambitious and far-seeing, entered an
alliance with the victorious power of the North. Torstensson now was
enabled to invade the imperial crown lands, commencing with Silesia;
but finding it necessary to force a battle he met the imperialists
at Breitenfeld. October 23, 1642, the second great victory of
Breitenfeld was won by Swedish arms. Archduke Leopold and Piccolomini
led the imperial army, the latter general fighting as a common
soldier to inspire courage by his example, but with no effect. The
Swedes captured the baggage, cannon and banners of the enemy, taking
5,000 prisoners and leaving as many dead imperialists on the field.
Torstensson conquered Leipsic on the following day.
Torstensson marched through Bohemia and Moravia with the rapidity which
characterized all his military movements, and penetrated to the very
gates of Vienna, the emperor with difficulty saving himself from being
made his prisoner. But suddenly he left and marched through Silesia
to North Germany. He had received an order from the state council to
attack Denmark. The great chancellor was out of patience with the
perfidy and intrigues of Christian IV., who stood in secret connection
with every one of Sweden’s enemies. No previous declaration of war was
made. Torstensson captured the Danish duchies of Schleswig and Holstein
before any one could prevent it, his army then taking possession of all
Jutland. Gustavus Horn invaded Scania, almost completely capturing the
whole province in spite of bands of freebooters among the peasants,
called _Snaphaner_.
Denmark was in danger of its very existence, but King Christian IV.
did not forget his old wish to destroy the town of Gothenburg, whose
growing prosperity caused him envy. He approached Gothenburg with
a fleet, and viewed the town from the overlooking mountain of the
Ramberg. His demands for a surrender were refused. Patriotic Louis de
Geer had ordered from Holland a fleet at his own expense, which was
to go to the support of Gothenburg. It did not arrive in time, but
King Christian left to meet it, and it later proved of great value in
the Swedish movements at sea, joining the Swedish fleet in the Sound.
The latter, consisting of twenty-two ships under the command of Clas
Fleming, sailed to the Danish waters, capturing the island of Femern,
supported by Torstensson. An invasion of the island of Funen was
planned, but could not be effected. A great naval battle between the
Swedish and Danish fleets was fought July 6th. It caused great loss on
either side, without being decisive. King Christian, who commanded his
naval forces, lost one eye and received over twenty different wounds.
The Swedes kept the place of battle, but sought the Bay of Skiel for
repairs, where they were hedged in by the Danish fleet. Clas Fleming
encouraged his followers to cut through the line, in which they were
successful. A month later he was killed by a shot from the coast of
Holstein, where the Danes had erected a fort. The Swedes avenged the
death of their valiant commander by destroying the fort and killing
its defenders. Fleming was succeeded by Charles Gustavus Wrangel, who
saved the fleet to Sweden, returning to Femern in the autumn, joined
by the Dutch fleet of Louis de Geer. The Danish fleet was met with
October 13th, and at once scattered. The swift-sailing Dutch ships went
in pursuit and destroyed all the seventeen Danish ships but two, which
brought the news of the disaster to Copenhagen.
King Christian, who had in vain expected support from the emperor,
found himself defeated on every point, and had no other choice than
to make peace. The treaty was signed August 13, 1645, at Brœmsebro,
Denmark ceding the provinces of Jemtland and Herjedal and the islands
of Gothland and Œsel. The province of Halland was to remain for thirty
years in the possession of Sweden, which country was exempt from duties
of toll for the traffic in the Sound. Denmark disavowed all claims of
supremacy over Holstein, the duke of said country two years later
formally placing himself under Swedish protection.
Lennart Torstensson had fulfilled his task in Denmark and returned
to Germany. At Jueterbogk, in Brandenburg, he met the imperial army,
which had been sent to cut off his retreat from Denmark, and entirely
routed it. After this victory Torstensson hastened to Bohemia, resolved
to “attack the emperor in his heart and force him to make peace.” At
Jankowitz, in Bohemia, Torstensson administered a new and crushing
defeat to the imperialists, in 1645. The emperor, who himself had
ordered his army to battle, had arrived in Prague to witness the defeat
of the Swedes, which the Holy Virgin had promised him in a dream. He
soon learned the news, which was quite different from that expected.
The imperial commander-general, five generals and eight colonels were
made prisoners by the Swedes, who captured the artillery and baggage of
the enemy. The health of Torstensson was at that moment so good that he
was able to lead the movements on horseback. He said that such a bloody
battle would not be seen for a long time.
Torstensson invaded Moravia, the fortresses surrendering and the
inhabitants fleeing in terror. For a second time he stood at the walls
of Vienna. The very fortifications which protected the bridge across
the Danube were captured by the Swedes. The enemy, whom the elector
of Saxony had promised to chase out of Germany, was now knocking at
the gate of the emperor, who heard the report with consternation. But
Lennart Torstensson was forced to surrender to a perfidious enemy, who
came to his door without knocking. His rheumatic ailment returned with
such violence that he was obliged to renounce his command and return
from the fields where he had led none but victorious armies. He was
succeeded by Charles Gustavus Wrangel. The latter had to give up the
siege of Vienna, but maintained, in connection with the French, the
supremacy in Germany until an honorable peace was won. Upon his return
to Sweden, Lennart Torstensson was covered with distinctions, being
made a baron and a count on one and the same day. He was appointed
governor-general of West Gothland, Vermland, and the lately conquered
Halland, with his seat at Gothenburg, where he built himself a palace
(still the official residence of the governor of Gothenburg and
Bohuslæn). Lennart Torstensson died in 1651, leaving behind the fame of
one of the greatest warriors known to history, and a spotless memory.
The treaty of peace of Westphalia was signed in October, 1648. The
representatives of Sweden were John Oxenstierna, a son of the great
chancellor, and Adler Salvius. Sweden received, as a reward for her
decisive and glorious part in the Thirty Years’ War, the following
possessions: West Pomerania, with the islands of Rugen and Usedom;
the western part of East Pomerania, with the island of Wollin; the
town of Wismar, with surrounding territory, and the bishoprics of
Bremen and Verden. With these German possessions followed three votes
at the German Diet. The Swedish government was to receive a sum of
several millions to defray the army expenses, of which Queen Christine
recklessly ceded the larger part.
Through these glorious conditions of peace Sweden rose to the rank
of one of the mightiest of European empires, which held the balance
of power in Northern Europe. Her possessions made the Baltic almost
an “inland lake of Sweden,” and efforts soon followed to make it
completely so. Sweden exerted a beneficent influence throughout her
large possessions, which, from a cultural point of view, hardly can
be overestimated. Her methods of planting the seeds of culture, by
establishing Swedish and German universities, and by abolishing serfdom
in the conquered lands, are worthy of the highest respect. But with
her new political grandeur Sweden acquired formidable enemies; she had
not the resources to sustain or defend her great possessions, and the
development of the mother country was for a time misdirected by dreams
of vain glory.
The government of Sweden during Christine’s minority, according to the
directions left by her father, consisted of the five highest officials
of the realm. Among these the chancellor, through his experience and
his former intimacy with Gustavus Adolphus, was the leading spirit,
king in all except the name, and deserving the honorable surname of
“our greatest civilian,” given him by Swedish historians. Unlike the
majority of other uncrowned or crowned rulers, he did not use his power
to secure wealth or distinction for himself and his family until upon
his retirement. Offers to make him a ruling prince of Germany, and the
young queen his son’s consort, were coldly refused. While the war was
going on he strengthened the foundations of the centralization of the
state by the government regulations of 1634. At the side of the supreme
court of Stockholm another was established at Jœnkœping, for Gothaland,
with a state councillor as president. The system of various government
departments was enlarged upon.[2] The most important of these was the
chancery, in which all business to come before the government was
prepared. Departments for commerce and for mining were established.
Sweden was divided into eleven administrative districts, _læn_,
later increased to sixteen, each of these having a governor. Finland
was divided into five districts. Count Peter Brahe the Younger, as
governor-general of Finland, did more for this neglected country than
was ever done before to right wrongs and foster prosperity. Livonia and
Ingermanland received each their governor-general, the latter province,
by repeated wars brought into a devastated condition, serving as a
place of deportation. This system of administration won the admiration
of the Continent and was in many instances copied as a pattern of
perfection. The Swedish army was considered the finest in the world,
and troops better trained or more victorious did not exist. At the end
of the Thirty Years’ War about 100,000 men were under Swedish command.
The majority of these were foreigners, who afterward were enlisted
for continual service. Their officers were raised in great numbers to
the rank of nobles and endowed with dignities and estates. The army
was divided into twenty regiments, seven of which were Finnish. The
town and coast population regularly furnished able men for the navy.
Much was done to improve the interior communications by means of new
roads and canals. A postal route was established between Stockholm and
Gothenburg, and others followed. A Swedish postmaster in Hamburg had
charge of the foreign mails. Newspapers were published, the government
shaping for itself an organ for official announcement which is yet
published.
Great improvements were made in the mining industry, thanks principally
to the efforts of the noble immigrant, Louis de Geer and his Walloons,
who made the mines of Dannemora a source of riches. Weapons and cannon
were manufactured not only for the army, but for exportation also. The
brass foundries were excellent. The towns began to flourish, especially
Stockholm and Gothenburg, through commerce with Holland and the Baltic
States. A Swedish colony, planned by Gustavus Adolphus through the
South Company, created by him in Gothenburg, was founded in North
America. In 1638 two ships, “Kalmar Nyckel” and “Fogel Grip,” arrived
at the mouth of the Delaware River, where territory was procured
through honest purchase from the Indians. The Dutch in neighboring
colonies tried to persuade the Indians to oust the newcomers, but the
Swedish governor, Peter Menuet, won their goodwill by fair dealing. The
members of the colony of New Sweden were honest, upright people, who
dwelt in peace with the natives. They accepted a governor appointed
by the government, in the person of John Printz, but refused to
tolerate among themselves criminals who later were despatched to their
colony, and these had to be taken back. New Sweden after a few decades
became the prey of the Dutch, but many American families point with
justifiable pride to their descent from these honest and industrious
Swedish settlers. A Swedish colony on the coast of African Guinea
existed between 1650 and 1663, but was through treacherous dealings
turned over to the Dutch.
Much was done to build up the educational system, several new
colleges were established, and regulations made to instruct the
peasants. Peter Brahe founded the University of Abo, in 1640, while
in Finland, and the German University of Greifswald, in Swedish
Pomerania, was re-established. Swedish men of learning began to
attract attention, such as John Skytte, who was considered the most
brilliant Latin scholar of Europe in his day, Stiernhœk, the jurist,
Bureus and Messenius, the historians, and Georg Stiernhielm, poet and
antiquarian. The old Icelandic literature was discovered and began to
exert a strong influence on literature and science, to a great extent
strengthening their chauvinistic spirit. The Swedish poets Stiernhielm,
Runius, Holmstrœm, Lucidor and the poetess Brenner, from the Eddic
songs, which contain some of the oldest humorous poems in existence,
learned how to write in a humorous vein, something entirely unknown in
the German and French literatures of that day.
The excellent government, of which Axel Oxenstierna was the leading
spirit, had its defects. In its perfect system of administration, which
in the main features stands unshaken to this day, there appeared to be
no room for the people themselves to be governed. On account of the
great allowances made to the nobles it was necessary to increase the
taxes of the peasants. Many had to leave their homes and farms for
want of resources to pay their taxes; others were forced away from
their property by the nobles. There was danger of the destruction of
the free, self-dependent yeomanry. A hatred against the nobility grew
up. The great lords returned from the wars laden with booty, erected
fine castles, and continued the high living to which they had become
accustomed while abroad. The power of the nobility was increased by
lavish donations from Queen Christine and by the appropriation of
other crown lands which the government was forced to sell or mortgage
on account of the wars. The clergy were the spokesmen of the peasant
class at the Riksdag, every year demanding with greater emphasis a
restitution to the crown of its property, which was held by the nobles.
Queen Christine herself took the reins of government, in 1644, at the
age of eighteen. She had inherited from her illustrious father some
of his genius, and from her mother, Marie Eleonore of Brandenburg, a
peculiar nervous disposition. Her mother took no interest in her until
the death of Gustavus Adolphus, when a flood of exalted tenderness
suddenly was let loose over her. Count Jacob de la Gardie took the
lead in opposing the undesirable and unstable character of this
relation, Christine being separated from her mother and educated by
the Countess-Palatine Catherine, a pious and noble woman, the older
sister of Gustavus Adolphus. Greatly offended, Marie Eleonore left the
country never to return. Queen Christine showed a remarkable faculty
of absorbing knowledge. Well versed in a great number of languages,
and well read in various sciences, particularly mathematics, she soon
acquired fame as the most learned woman of her time. She was of frank
countenance, slept little, cared little for dress, and was passionately
fond of hunting and riding on horseback. Queen Christine possessed
a sharp intellect, was daring and resolute, but headstrong, fickle,
extravagant, and but little particular in her choice of favorites. Her
vanity and egotism knew no bounds. At the beginning of her reign she
took pains to give serious attention to the affairs of state. The great
chancellor had been her instructor in economics and statecraft, but
she repaid him by open coldness and secret antagonism. Her ambition to
surround herself with scientists of note, particularly foreigners who
flattered her vanity by blowing her fame to the four corners of the
earth, killed her interest for politics. Later she was seized by the
evil spirit of frivolity, abandoning herself to empty pleasures and to
excesses of extravagance when her learned admirers were forgotten for
unworthy favorites. Among the latter, Count Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie
was for a long time all-powerful. The grandson of General Pontus and
a daughter of John III., he was the son of Count Jacob de la Gardie
and Ebba Brahe, and one of the most brilliant noblemen of Europe. In
his youth he formed an intimate friendship with the dauphin of France,
later Louis XIV., who throughout his life honored him with the title
of “Mon Cousin,” or “Mon cher Cousin.” His ambition to become Queen
Christine’s consort was never satisfied, nor was he allowed to accept
the rank of a prince from the German emperor, but the queen made him
the richest man in her realm. Magnus de la Gardie did not possess the
sterling qualities of his ancestors, but was of great patriotism and
lavishly liberal toward educational institutions, in this respect
without a peer in Swedish history. In 1666 he founded the Academy of
Antiquities, which was the first archæological institution in Europe,
the Swedish antiquarians of the day, principal among them Bureus and
Stiernhielm, doing valuable antiquarian research. In 1664, Count de la
Gardie donated to the University Library of Upsala a highly valuable
collection of manuscripts and books, chiefly from Iceland. In the
collection was also the Gothic Bible translation of Bishop Wulfila
in the only copy extant. Liberal with his silver, Count de la Gardie
gave to the precious book a silver binding, as he had in earlier years
presented to Queen Christine a silver throne (which is still in use).
This book has an interesting history of its own.
Codex Argenteus, the silver book, thus called on account of its
silver binding, contains fragments of the four Gospels in the Gothic
language. The translation was made from the Greek original by Bishop
Wulfila (b. 318-d. 388), the apostle of the Goths. The writing is done
in so-called encaustum (printing with heated stamps) of gold and
silver letters on vellum of scarlet color. This copy is considered to
have been made toward the end of the fifth or in the beginning of the
sixth century, when the East Goths still held sway in Italy. Its early
fortunes are unknown, but it is supposed that the book was found in
the possession of the Visigoths (or West Goths) when their empire was
seized by the Franks, and donated to the monastery of Verden by some
munificent Frankish chief. Here, in the Benedictine abbey of Verden,
on the river Ruhr, in Westphalia, the book was discovered at least as
early as 1554, when the scholars Cassander and Gualther of Cologne are
known to have had copies which can have been made from no other source.
After the outbreak of the Thirty Years’ War, the Codex was transmitted
to Prague for safety. In the year of 1648, Prague, or rather the older
portion of the town, was captured by the Swedish general, Count Hans
Christopher Kœnigsmark, who, among the vast treasures of the Bohemian
capital, found also the Codex Argenteus which he presented to Queen
Christine. All the books and manuscripts of the queen were in the care
of her librarian, Isaac Vossius, a learned but eccentric scholar of
Dutch parentage. Vossius was at first Queen Christine’s teacher of
Greek, not a very agreeable position, for the queen called him to the
castle at three o’clock in the morning for her first hour. In 1650 he
had to leave court and country on account of a quarrel with that light
of learning, Claude de Saumaise (Salmasius), another one of the foreign
scholars in favor with the queen. In 1653 he was called back, and again
took charge of the books of the queen, but soon returned to Holland.
Before his departure he gathered several costly books and manuscripts,
among which Codex Argenteus, with or without the queen’s private
permission, taking them with him. In 1670, Vossius came to England,
where he died, in 1688, as court chaplain at Windsor. King Charles II.
of England said of him: “Vossius believes in anything but the Bible.”
When in Holland, the Codex Argenteus passed out of the hands of Vossius
after his uncle Franziskus Junius had made a complete copy of it.
Junius, called the “grandfather of modern philology,” published the
first edition of Codex Argenteus at Dortrecht, in 1665, providing the
beautiful fac-simile with parallel Old English texts and a Gothic
glossary. In Holland the Codex changed hands repeatedly until found
in Brabant by Samuel Pufendorff, in 1661, who, in the following year,
bought it for Count de la Gardie, paying a sum of something like $1,200
for it.
Once more in Sweden the Codex Argenteus was made the subject of close
attention, a new edition of it being published, in 1671, by Georg
Stiernhielm, the innovator of Swedish language and literature.[3]
That Bishop Wulfila’s Bible should ultimately harbor in Sweden does
not seem out of place, for of all languages now spoken the Swedish
comes closest to the language of the Goths as crystallized during its
classical epoch. The interest taken by Swedish scholars in the book has
always been great and fruitful of results, in times when it was thought
to be written in the mother tongue of all the Teutonic languages, as
well as later, when Gothic was found to be, not the mother, but the
oldest sister in the family.
At the Riksdag of 1649 considerable dissatisfaction was directed
against the nobility and the extravagance of the queen in deeding over
to favorites all the possessions of the crown, in form of counties and
baronies. The nobility sided against the queen, desirous of reducing
her power. But Queen Christine received gracefully the complaints
made, and promised to institute a reduction of taxes and payments. In
the following year the commotion increased when the same taxes were
asked as in time of war. The queen continued her policy of earnestly
considering the requests of the lower Estates, thus gaining the
controlling power. The nobility, suffering strife between its various
classes, was forced to seek a shelter in the royal power it desired
to crush, and humiliated itself before the queen. Christine received
a joint appeal from the lower Estates for a restitution to the crown
of all property illegally turned over to the nobility, but she managed
to have the reform postponed upon promise of some minor privileges and
a reduction of taxes. She refused the appeals of the nobility to have
the clergymen and others punished who had used hard language against
the aristocrats. But the discontent was spreading and turned against
the queen personally. The ministers preached against the wrongs and
violence of the mighty ones; the nobles and the peasants threatened
each other. Peasants in Finland refused to work for aristocratic
masters, and a general rebellion seemed imminent. In the meantime
Queen Christine was crowned at Upsala amid great display and elaborate
festivities, the count-palatine Charles Gustavus, her cousin, being
installed as heir-apparent to the throne.
But Queen Christine was not able to still the storm around her. The
finances of the crown were utterly ruined by her extravagance, and
she dared not take by violence from the nobility what she had given
by grace. In 1651 she declared it to be her intention to leave the
government, but was persuaded to remain. Her cousin was placed in a
very difficult position, apparently taking no interest in what was
going on, but following everything with the keenest attention. The
son of John Casimir, count of Palatinate-Zweibrucken, and Princess
Catherine, he was born at Nykœping in Sweden, in 1622, and designated
as the future consort of Queen Christine. Charles Gustavus was
educated in simplicity and rigor, and was, as his father before him,
utterly neglected by Axel Oxenstierna and the government. He slept in
a room without wallpaper, and when through with his lessons he sawed
wood with his teacher, Professor Lenæus. Burning with ambition, and
perhaps also in love with his brilliant cousin, he proposed to her
repeatedly, but in vain. After several years of extensive travel he
joined Lennart Torstensson, refusing a command and working himself up
through the military degrees. He took an honorable part in the victory
at Jankowitz, and was appointed supreme commander of the Swedish armies
shortly before the close of the German war. When the opposition against
Christine reached its climax a good deal was expected from Charles
Gustavus, which he, on account of his singular position, could not
undertake to do. A petition replete with abusive language about the
queen was sent him, asking him to take hold of the government. Charles
turned the document over to the queen. Its author, the promising young
Arnold Messenius, and his father, an able historian, suspected as
having inspired his son, were accused of high treason, condemned to
death and executed.
This act of force produced an impression, and the new taxes demanded
at the next Riksdag were granted without opposition. But the queen
felt that the discontent was only subdued, not suppressed, and, having
no further means to keep up a luxurious court, she did the wisest act
of her reign, that of resigning, at Upsala, in June, 1654, Charles
Gustavus being crowned the same day. The scene of her abdication was
very impressive, Queen Christine carrying herself with noble and lofty
dignity, an inheritance from her father which she made use of when she
saw fit. Leaving the crown and the royal emblems, one by one, to the
Riksdrotset, she descended the throne, from the lowest steps of which
she spoke an eloquent and touching farewell to the four Estates of the
Riksdag. She suddenly left the country after having secured for herself
a princely income. At Innsbruck, the daughter of Gustavus Adolphus
joined the Catholic church, thereby, and by her fame as a learned
woman, creating a sensation. She died in Rome in 1689, after having
made two unsuccessful attempts to regain her Swedish throne, and one
equally unsuccessful to succeed the last king of the Polish line of the
Vasa dynasty, and was buried in the church of St. Peter.
Among the many learned men who at one time surrounded Christine were
Vossius, Heinsius, Salmasius, Huet, Freinshemius, Loccenius, Meibom,
Bœclerus, Ravius, Schefferus, and others. The greatest of them all, the
philosopher Cartesius (René Descartes), died in Stockholm, in 1650.
After the love-story of Gustavus Adolphus had come to an end, he long
felt a disinclination to marry. His sister Catherine is said to have
tried to rouse him to the necessity of choosing a consort. His answer
was always: “Never mind, dear sister, you shall yourself bring up a
son to inherit the crown and continue my work.” This son of Catherine
became Queen Christine’s successor.