Dalarna University's logo and link to the university's website

du.sePublications
Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • chicago-author-date
  • chicago-note-bibliography
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
The Enigma Christina of Sweden (1626 – 1689): sexuality, power and some medical-psychological hypotheses
Center Studio Firmano for the History of Medicine - Fermo, Italy.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-4218-056X
Department of medico-surgical Science and Biotechnology - Sapienza University of Rome, Italy.ORCID iD: 0000-0001-9741-7838
Dalarna University, School of Language, Literatures and Learning, Italian. (ILL)ORCID iD: 0000-0003-0979-4129
2025 (English)In: Medicina nei secoli. Journal of history of medicine and medical humanities, ISSN 0394-9001, Vol. 37, no 1, p. 137-152Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

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.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Rom: Sapienza Università Editrice, 2025. Vol. 37, no 1, p. 137-152
Keywords [en]
Queen Christina of Sweden, Hermaphroditism, Hyperandrogenism, Homosexuality
Keywords [it]
Regina Cristina di Svezia, Ermafroditismo, Iperandroginismo, Omosessualità
National Category
General Literature Studies History
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:du-50499DOI: 10.13133/2531-7288/3099Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-105003976052OAI: oai:DiVA.org:du-50499DiVA, id: diva2:1953300
Available from: 2025-04-19 Created: 2025-04-19 Last updated: 2025-05-21Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

fulltext(284 kB)18 downloads
File information
File name FULLTEXT01.pdfFile size 284 kBChecksum SHA-512
72a696eff0def1923bb74ad638ea61e6fcab6f73312cf9e7eacb9c14a08fdc99dafe0740705e87ce8fa3199971bfbaf2ef35d1ff311f8a5edb73826b1e830ef4
Type fulltextMimetype application/pdf

Other links

Publisher's full textScopus

Authority records

Nigrisoli Wärnhjelm, Vera

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Zurlini, FabiolaIorio, SilviaNigrisoli Wärnhjelm, Vera
By organisation
Italian
General Literature StudiesHistory

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar
Total: 19 downloads
The number of downloads is the sum of all downloads of full texts. It may include eg previous versions that are now no longer available

doi
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

doi
urn-nbn
Total: 67 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • chicago-author-date
  • chicago-note-bibliography
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf