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The Forms of Queen Christina’s Academies

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The Shapes of Knowledge from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment

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Abstract

At the time of her coronation in 1650 the Swedish Queen, through her promises of learned patronage, had become known as a “Semiramis of the North” and a “Minerva of the Parnassus” — or even as the “Queen Sheba at Solomon’s court.” In keeping with her self-styled role as “Christina Alexandra,” she planned an “Alexanderplatz” in Stockholm with equestrian statues reminiscent of Bucephalos, the horse of the Macedonian king. Her imagery was promoted by scholars who sought to interest the Queen in their books and who summarized new research in laudatory epigrams. Flattery like this can be found among the letters of Milton, Marvell, and Pascal; but they reached a peak in Alexander Morus’s rhetorical encomium, when in 1656 he saw the Swedish Queen as leading the restitution of the Golden Age by gathering in the tribes of learning from their dispersion.1

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Authors
  1. Susanna Åkerman
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Donald R. Kelley Richard H. Popkin

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Åkerman, S. (1991). The Forms of Queen Christina’s Academies. In: Kelley, D.R., Popkin, R.H. (eds) The Shapes of Knowledge from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment. Archives Internationales d’Histoire des Idées / International Archives of the History of Ideas, vol 124. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-3238-1_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-3238-1_10

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