Release date is 2025-06-08

Tuula Temonen

"Kristiina kuningatar : Vuosisatansa merkillisin nainen" by Adolf Borstendörfer is a historical novel written in the early 20th century. It dramatizes the life of Sweden’s Queen Christina, tracing her resolve to abdicate, her intellectual and spiritual restlessness, her conversion to Catholicism, and the intrigues and romances that follow her across European courts. The opening of the book moves from Uppsala’s court to grand public spectacle and then into continental intrigue. Chancellor Schering Rosenhane informs Dowager Queen Maria Eleonora that Christina intends to abdicate, while an alternative suitor (Count Tott) is floated to block her plan; Christina confides instead in Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie that she will renounce the crown and faith and depart. We witness her formal abdication before the estates at Uppsala, a secret, tender farewell with Magnus, and then her entry into Brussels, where Jesuits and Spanish grandees celebrate her reception and a charismatic Italian, Count Sentinelli—armed with a papal recommendation—wins her favor, provoking Magnus’s jealous alarm. Parallel scenes introduce a clandestine illuminati-like society that condemns Christina to death and, in Innsbruck, a petty official stirs anti-royal sentiment while conspirators prepare to strike, as Christina reads a troubled letter from her old tutor warning of mounting hostility. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Originally published: Helsinki: Kustannus Oy Minerva, 1929