Baltic Queen

The project investigates the diffusion of French and Italian cultural practices into the Baltic region during the Swedish Great Power Era (1611-1721) by examining the agency and legacy of Queen Christina. The research asks: how was the Baltic geophysical, cultural, social, and political climate adapted to receive French and Italian traditions, and how was the Swedish influence instrumental to this through Christina’s dynamic role? To answer these questions, the project foregrounds the transnational function of cultural translation, adaptation and reception at both source and target, the latter being the heterogeneous Swedish empire in the Baltic. Three case studies are examined through a shared theoretical framework adapted from translation studies, addressing the material practicalities and symbolic influence of transfer. The terms ‘domestication’ and ‘foreignization’ are used to investigate how Renaissance and Baroque ideals from Southern Europe were afforded new contexts in the Baltic region, where they were rendered familiar while retaining a foreign character. The three case studies are: the notable collection of foreign literature in the Library of Skokloster Castle; the design and construction of gardens in French and Italian style in Baltic castles and estates; and the translation of pastoral drama Pastor Fido by Giovan Battista Guarini into Swedish by Gunno Eurelius Dahlstierna (1690).

At the beginning of Queen Christina’s reign in 1645, the Swedish Realm extended over vast domains, unprecedented in the country’s history, on both sides of the Baltic Sea. Previous research has predominantly focused on the status of these domains as provinces of the Swedish Realm, considered as a conglomerate state in which respective territories stood under different relations to central power. Thus, it has chiefly investigated policy issues connected with economics, bureaucracy and foreign affairs. Sweden’s cultural legacy in the Baltic area during the Early modern period has therefore been largely overlooked.

The project addresses this gap in scholarship by investigating Sweden’s impact on its Baltic dominions through a focus on Queen Christina, the most culturally emblematic Swedish monarch of the period. Specifically, it investigates the diffusion of French and Italian cultural practices into the Baltic region during the Swedish Great Power Era through Christina’s role and legacy. It does so by foregrounding three distinct yet interconnected aspects of her reign: books; nature as art and translation. The project highlights the transnational character of reception and adaptation processes, examining how cultural practices from Southern Europe were translated to Sweden and its Baltic provinces. Through a theoretical framework adapted from translation studies, the project will show how these processes were mediated, facilitated, and domesticated by Christina and her circle, all the while retaining their foreign character. Using translation theory’s key terms domestication and foreignization, the project asks: how did the Baltic geophysical, cultural, social, and political climate receive Southern European cultural traditions, and how was Christina’s agency instrumental in this process?