Christina och politiken i Rom
Christina and the Papal Court (1655 – 1689)
Marie-Louise Rodén
My studies of Queen Christina’s Roman period began with my doctoral thesis at Princeton University which was presented in 1992. I was curious about how Christina’s career as a politician had continued after her abdication from the Swedish throne in 1654. Twentieth-century Swedish scholarship had focused on the underlying reasons for Christina’s abdication; particularly how her decision to remain unwed and her conversion to Catholicism had contributed to her renunciation of the throne. There were some fine studies highlighting Christina’s patronage of scholars and artists, both during her period as Queen of Sweden and during her later years in Rome, but the most recent studies of Christina’s role in church politics were almost a century old when I began my research. Two works written by Baron Carl Bildt became the point of departure for my studies. The first, Christine de Suède et le Cardinal Azzolino (Paris 1899) treated the partnership of Christina and Cardinal Decio Azzolino (1623-89) in ecclesiastical politics as well as their private friendship during a crucial period in the mid-1660’s. The second, Christine de Suède et le Conclave de Clément X (Paris 1906) studied their collaboration during the four-month long conclave that followed the death of Pope Clement IX in 1669.
In the latter part of the seventeenth century, the Roman Papacy was undergoing important changes both in regards to internal administration and external political relations. Internally, there was a process of professionalization not dissimilar to that which was taking place in the secular governments of the era. During the pontificate of Innocent X (Pamphili, r. 1644-55) the College of Cardinals developed in the direction of a meritocracy with the appointment of a number of young cardinals who received the title primarily because of their qualifications. The lengthy process that would lead to the formal suppression of institutionalized nepotism was initiated when Innocent appointed Giovanni Giacomo Panciroli as his Secretary of State. The functions of the office had existed since the early sixteenth century and the title “Secretary of State” can be traced to the beginning of the seventeenth century, when it was used to describe “those who engage in the diplomatic service under the direction of the Papal Nephew”. (Del Re 1970, p. 66). The system of institutionalized nepotism regulated that specific offices within the Papal States, both secular and ecclesiastical, be occupied by a relative of the reigning pope. Until 1644, the Papal Nephew had formally been in charge of the Secretariat of State while directing the office together with an official appointed by the pope. Innocent’s innovation was not that of significantly altering the functions of the department, but rather that of appointing an official with the title Secretary of State who, in the first place, was not a papal relative and in the second, was also a cardinal. Giovanni Giacomo Panciroli is thus rightly identified as the first official Secretary of State of the Vatican. The process continued throughout the course of the century and Innocent XI (Odescalchi, r. 1676-89) did not appoint a Papal Nephew at all. Institutionalized nepotism was finally suppressed through the bull Romanum decet Pontificem in 1692.
The second development was the Papacy’s readjustment to political relations with the secular states of Europe in light of the consequences of the Westphalian Peace settlement of 1648. The Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century had already weakened the Papacy, and the clear defeat of the Catholic / Imperial coalition in the Thirty Years’ War marked an end to an order which had existed throughout the Middle Ages and into the Early Modern Period. The authority of both Pope and Emperor were effectively circumscribed and the Papacy was now completely dominated by the Catholic powers – France, Spain and Empire. In the conclave following the death of Innocent X in 1655, a new faction in the College of Cardinals arose and their main purpose was that of restoring the Papacy’s lost independence in relation to the Catholic secular powers. The faction, originally consisting of eleven cardinals, soon received the nickname Squadrone Volante, since they in the College of Cardinals, having 70 members, would function as a swing group. They would have to align themselves with one of the larger French- or Spanish-oriented coalitions in order to achieve their goals. Their first victory was the election of Fabio Chigi – previously papal nuncio in Cologne, mediator at the Westphalian Peace and successor to Panciroli as Secretary of State – as pope. Chigi assumed the name Alexander VII and would reign from 1655 until 1667.
Alexander VII, elected pope in April of 1655, would also welcome Queen Christina to Rome in December of that year. Christina had stood under the protection of the Spanish king in connection with her abdication and resided in the Spanish Netherlands while the practical terms of her economic subsidies in Sweden were settled. She converted to Catholicism privately on Christmas Eve 1654 in Brussels. When her intention to come to Rome and perhaps even settle there was known, Alexander VII demanded that she publicly accept the Catholic faith before entering the Papal States. This occurred in Innsbruck on November 3, 1655 and thereafter Christina initiated something like a triumphal journey through the Papal States on her way to Rome, where she arrived on December 20. During this journey she met several representatives of the Squadrone Volante and was impressed by their program from the start. When she arrived in Rome, she also met the leader of the faction, Cardinal Decio Azzolino, who had been assigned to introduce Christina to the Roman court during her first days. The personal friendship which arose at their first meeting sealed Christina’s commitment to support the Squadrone Volante.
In order to understand Christina’s role in the politics of the papal court of her time, it is necessary to return to the issue of papal nepotism. In spite of policies and decisions on the part of Innocent X that contemporary historians would view as constructive or even progressive, Giambattista Pamphili was hampered by his advanced age and his family circumstances. For that reason, his sister-in-law Olimpia Maidalchini took over some of the functions that normally would have been exercised by the Papal Nephew. When the faction Squadrone Volante made their debut in the papal election of 1655, they did not have a Papal Nephew as a leader of that faction, but rather Decio Azzolino as their spokesperson. As the institution of papal nepotism was breaking down, Azzolino and Christina came to share the functions that traditionally had been exercised by the Papal Nephew. Azzolino was their spokesperson and Christina their patron.
The question remains whether Queen Christina of Sweden had any noticeable or lasting impact on ecclesiastical politics during her many years in Rome. The answer to this question is both yes and no. It can be demonstrated without a doubt that Christina took the initiative for a collaboration between the Squadrone Volante and the court of France for the papal election of 1667. She was herself in Hamburg at that time for her last sojourn in Northern Europe. Thanks to the initiative of Christina, Giulio Rospigliosi, a late adherent to the Squadrone Volante, was elected pope (Clement IX, r. 1667-69) and Decio Azzolino became the fourth official Secretary of State of the Vatican. The death of Rospigliosi after a brief pontificate prevented the Squadrone Volante from attaining even greater influence than that which they had already achieved. In the following papal election, the Spanish-oriented Emilio Altieri (Clement X, r. 1670-76) was elected to the pontificate in spite of the exertions of Azzolino’s faction to retain their influence. The conclave lasted for more than four months and has been well documented through the correspondence of Christina and Azzolino, published in Bildt 1906.
During the 1670’s and 1680’s both Christina and Azzolino were less politically active. Azzolino continued his work in the congregations and committees within the Curia to which he belonged. Both wrote some of their major literary works during this period. In Christina’s case, we have her lengthy though incomplete memoirs, two series of maxims in French, a number of essays and a wealth of letters. For Azzolino, we have several weighty treatises in the area of ecclesiastical politics which were composed at this time.
As you contemplate the history of Queen Christina’s Roman period, it is indeed a disappointment that Pope Clement IX had such a brief pontificate. You might wonder how the Roman Papacy had evolved if the influence of the Squadrone Volante had not been so short-lived. That having been said, we must be satisfied with the dictum of Lord Acton: “History never reveals its alternative.”
References
Bildt, Carl. Christine de Suède et le Cardinal Azzolino. Paris: Librairie Plon, 1899.
Bildt, Carl. Christine de Suède et le Conclave de Clément X. Paris: Librairie Plon, 1906.
del Re, Niccolò. La Curia Romana. Roma: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura 1970.
Rodén, Marie-Louise. Church Politics in Seventeenth-Century Rome: Cardinal Decio Azzolino, Queen Christina of Sweden and the Squadrone Volante. Stockholm Studies in History 60. Stockholm: Almkvist & Wiksell, 2000.
Rodén, Marie-Louise, Drottning Christina. En biografi. Stockholm: Prisma, 2008.