Open AccessQueen Christina’s esoteric interests as a background to her Platonic Academies
Author(s) -
Susanna Åkerman
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
scripta instituti donneriani aboensis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2343-4937
pISSN - 0582-3226
DOI - 10.30674/scripta.67324
Subject(s) - queen (butterfly) , abdication , throne , doctrine , christianity , original sin , philosophy , art , classics , religious studies , theology , law , political science , politics , hymenoptera , botany , biology
In 1681 the blind quietist, Francois Malaval, stated that Queen Christina of Sweden late in life had ‘given up’ [Hermes] Trismegistos and the Platonists, in favour of the Church fathers. The statement does not explain what role the Church fathers were to play in her last years, but it does show that Christina really had been interested in the rather elitist and esoteric doctrine of Hermetic Platonic Christianity. In this article the author looks at her library to show the depth of this Hermetic involvement. Her interest serves as a background to her life as ex-queen in Italy after her famous abdication from the Swedish throne in 1654, when she was 27 years old.