Queen Christina’s heroic virtue and its religious implications

Abstract

Heroic virtue is a recurrent theme in poems and panegyrics written for Queen Christina of Sweden, both before and after her abdication.

This article focus on the use of heroic virtue in some poems and academic discourses dedicated to Christina, both before and after her conversion to Catholicism, taking a particular interest in its religious implications.

The claim for heroicity stands as a political argument during the queen’s time in Sweden and as a programmatic position for her academy in Rome, Accademia Reale, both in its philosophical and poetical activity.