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The controversial figure of Queen Christina of Sweden (1626-1689) has been the subject of a wide historical literature, particularlyin relation to her strong choices, such as the abdicationfrom the throne of Sweden and the conversion to RomanCatholicism. Certain historians wanted to identify the reasonsfor these choices in her sexual ambiguity - a presumed homosexuality- and congenital sexual anomalies, such as hermaphroditismand hyperandrogenism.The article analyses psychological and medical theories onthe Queen’s sexuality in the essays, published from the Nineteenthcentury up to now, integrating research with unpublishedarchival documentation - letters by court doctors, privatecorrespondence and the Queen’s autobiography. The aimof the article is to restore the truth about the Queen’s sexualorientation. The anthropological examination, carried out onthe Queen’s skeleton, confirms typical female features, just asthe analysis of the recently discovered archival documentationshows a heterosexual orientation. Christina had a masculineattitude more because of the male education she received, thevirile role she assumed as a sovereign, her proud nature asa lover of freedom, her adherence to libertine thought and,above all, the male language of power during the modern agerather than for presumed sexual anomalies.

Introduction: Cardinal Decio Azzolino Jr. (1623-1689), a leading figure at the Roman curia in the 17th century met in 1655 queen Christina of Sweden, arrived in Rome after her conversion to Roman Catholicism. The queen appointed the cardinal as her universal testamentary heir before her death on April 16th, 1689. Azzolino died of a sudden death shortly after, on June 8th. The article aims to question Azzolino's sudden death through the analysis of the cardinal's illnesses from which he was afflicted in the last decades of his life, examining the most likely causes of his demise.

Methodology: Various unpublished epistolary letters were analysed, according to the chronological order of production between 1660 and 1689. A philological approach coupled with clinical-medical hypothesis inferable by the examined sources.

Results: The cause of death is identified as an unexpected dropsy in some letters and the death certificate. The analysis of the letters allows the reconstruction of Azzolino' state of health and illnesses in the last two decades of life: bilious excesses, inflammations, podagra and gout, which appeared with the inflammation of the knee and walking difficulties, and, finally, asthenia, dyspnea and a probable stroke.

Conclusion: The dropsy is a symptom underlying various possible pathologies. The cardinal's state of health had been precarious and already marked by various symptoms, which were progressively worsening over the last decades of his life. The hypothesis of a stroke is also plausible. His death was not sudden as the Roman curial environments lead us to believe. 

Background Queen Christina of Sweden, a prominent Early Modern European character, died in Rome on April 19, 1689. The scarce literature published about her illness and death agrees about the cause of the death in the diagnosis of erysipelas, that did not appear externally with an ulcer, but became manifest in her blood, causing an inflammation of heart and lungs. The article underlines the essential contribution of the learned surgeons to the development of practical anatomy in the late Seventeenth century as illustrated by the specific case of the Queen's autopsy report by the court surgeon Alessio Spalla.

Methods The study is based on the analysis of the published literature and the comparison of archival sources as the anonymous report of the Queen's autopsy, preserved in Vienna and the unknown autopsy by Spalla, discovered in a private archive.

Results The comparison of Spalla's autopsy with the Viennese report of an anonymous practical doctor -suspected to be Marcello Malpighi-, who also participated in the Queen's dissection highlights how the two perspectives of investigation - the surgical-morphological and the medical-practical ones - are integrated in the theoretical and practical dimension of practical anatomy.

Conclusions The unpublished report of the surgeon Spalla integrates the knowledge of the queen's illness and death, stands as an example of a private autopsy performed by a court surgeon in the late Seventeenth-century Rome and as a case study on the development of new hybrid areas of knowledge, such as practical anatomy.

Background and aim: Court doctors have long been a neglected topic for medical historians as theyoften represent minor figures with a little editorial production at a scientific level, more relevant for the politicaland diplomatic role played at court rather than for their medical one. Only recently, medical historianshave understood their importance, starting to investigate the relationship between court medicine and themedical context of the society of the time. Among these still little-known figures, to whom historiography ispaying attention, there is Cesare Macchiati (1629-1675), a doctor at the Roman court of Queen Christina ofSweden from 1659 to 1675. Materials and Methods: As a court doctor, Macchiati joined the Queen on twojourneys to Northern Europe, towards Sweden, respectively between 1660 and 1668, leaving about fifty letters,addressed to Cardinal Decio Azzolino Jr, as a documentation of these journeys. Results: From the studyof these letters, it is possible to deduce some biographical information on court medical practice, the queen’stemperament and illnesses and the circulation of a new medical knowledge at the court, which was favouredby the journey. Conclusions: The biography highlights how the role of a court doctor, which was consolidatedby the experience of the journey to Europe in Macchiati’s case, becomes a prerequisite for a professional riseon his return to Rome in the most important city medical institutions, such as the university, the Romanmedical college at the pontifical curia, characterized by a cosmopolitan context thanks to the internationalprofessional background, developed at the Queen’s court.

Recensione al volume illustrato Lo Stoccafisso: dalle Lofoten a Fermo.

The controversial historical figure of the Queen Christina of Sweden attracted the attention of medical historiography mainly from an anthropological perspective during the second half of the Twentieth century in Sweden. Even though these first investigations were born in the cultural context of historical revisionism of the Queen’s figure, they still represent the essential point of departure to be considered by the medical historians. The recent Italian studies focused on the Queen’s court physicians opened new perspectives and new sources for a more objective medical historical investigation.