One I have been looking for awhile for, this is a Queen Christina of Sweden 1 Ore coin from 1639. Of course this coin probably had an Ore worth of bronze in it, given the size of it, it measures in at 47 millimetres, or just shy of 2" in diametre. Christina was a particularly fascinating monarch, and had she ruled in Britain or Spain her reign would be more well known today. But she ruled in the relatively small populationed Sweden. She never married during her reign, and in fact due to her religious beliefs, and conversion to Roman Catholicism gave up her throne and entered a convent in Rome. She lived another 30+ years in and around Rome, and only visited Sweden very briefly in the 1660's.
I don't have the references in front of me, but it seems pretty ironic to me, this story of Christina. The Thirty Years War (1618 -1648) was a massive bloodbath wherein the Holy Roman Empire and associated monarchs of Europe attempted to wipe out Protestant Germans, English, and their lowland allies. As I recall, King Adolph Gustaf (or Gustaf Adolph?) of Sweden played a prominent (and fatal) role in the effort to stop the Catholic carnage along the Baltic coast. He was killed, but Wallenburg (sp?) and the Catholics finally went home because of the massive human and treasure cost of the War. The King of Sweden was a heroic field warrior for the Protestant side. I assume the Christina was his daughter or niece. Don't know, but odd. dd:
Children turning religion during the 17th century was not at all unusual, James II of England, and perhaps even his elder brother, Charles II were Catholic children of a Protestant monarch. It may have had an element of rebellious nature to switch ones religion then.
