Christiana Oxenstierna
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Christiana Juliana Oxenstierna (23 September 1661 – 27 February 1701) was a Swedish
noble A noble is a member of the nobility. Noble may also refer to: Places Antarctica * Noble Glacier, King George Island * Noble Nunatak, Marie Byrd Land * Noble Peak, Wiencke Island * Noble Rocks, Graham Land Australia * Noble Island, Great B ...
. She was the center of a great social
scandal A scandal can be broadly defined as the strong social reactions of outrage, anger, or surprise, when accusations or rumours circulate or appear for some reason, regarding a person or persons who are perceived to have transgressed in some way. Th ...
when she married a non-noble against her family's consent. Her case caused a debate about the law for marriage between nobles and non-nobles.


Biography

She was the daughter of statesman and marshal
Count Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...
Gabriel Gabrielsson Oxenstierna (d. 1673) and Countess Maria Christiana von Löwenstein und Scharfeneck (d. 1672; in turn she was the only surviving daughter of Countess Elisabeth Juliana of Erbach –later wife of the Swedish
Field Marshal Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, ordinarily senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army and as such few persons are appointed to it. It is considered as ...
Johan Banér Johan Banér (23 June 1596 – 10 May 1641) was a Swedish field marshal in the Thirty Years' War. Early life Johan Banér was born at Djursholm Castle in Uppland. As a four-year-old he was forced to witness how his father, the Privy Councillou ...
– in her second marriage) and sister of Count Gustaf Adolf Oxenstierna. As an
orphan An orphan (from the el, ορφανός, orphanós) is a child whose parents have died. In common usage, only a child who has lost both parents due to death is called an orphan. When referring to animals, only the mother's condition is usuall ...
, she was taken care of by her paternal aunt, Countess Anna af Dohna. The vicar (since 1687) of the French Lutheran church in
Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
, Nikolaus Bergius, was lodged in the
palace A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence, or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome which ...
of Dohna. Bergius suffered from severe depression and Dohna asked her niece to comfort him. Oxenstierna and Bergius fell in love and Bergius proposed, but Oxenstierna declined, as she knew she would be an outcast from her family and the nobility if she consented. Her family found out and banned every plans of a marriage. Bergius was separated from her in 1688–89. Their relationship was eventually taken up again. After a priest had agreed to conduct the ceremony, Oxenstierna and Bergius were married in 1691. The marriage was kept a secret, and she remained with her unknowing family. In 1692, she became pregnant; she moved to her spouse, and everything was made public. It became a great scandal. Her family contested the legality of the marriage, and her brother, the count, reported them to
Hovrätt The courts of appeal in Sweden and in Finland'','' also known as Hovrätt ( fi, 'Hovioikeus', Swedish: Hovrätt) (literally "Royal Court") deal with appeals against decisions of the district courts. They also are responsible for supervi ...
en, to the Swedish House of Lords and presented the
monarch A monarch is a head of stateWebster's II New College DictionarMonarch Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. Life tenure, for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority ...
with an appeal to bring the couple to court for committing a criminal act by breaking:
common law, guardian law, noble privileges, the law of the church as well as Your Majesty’s law of illegal marriages", by: "having dared to harm the rank of nobility by such a illegal act, in the Kingdom as well as abroad, and damaging its privileges, of such a degree that, if it is not made an example of, would unavoidably have the scandalous effect to break the public order, that a noblewoman, regardless of what kind, should be liberated.
He also suggested that the law should be enforced against marriages between nobles and non-nobles (1693). Christiana Oxenstierna replied to her brother:
If You wish Your hatred and persecution to last as long as our lives, so it will; You will with no doubt be spared the burden soon enough and harm Yourself as much as others; I will not loose a thing thereby. If You will be as a Christian, it will be as dear to me as the wish that you will give your children treasures which rust and moths can not alter, and that we will one day meet were a Count and a master Bergius will weigh as much.
The court of the Swedish House of Lords made the verdict that a serious crime had been committed, but as the King had commented that the matter was but a private affair, the case was not pursued further. She broke off her contact with her family and the nobility and spent the rest of her life with her spouse, spending her time as a teacher for poor children. In 1701, she died in childbirth, giving her spouse all her assets in her will, because their four children (three sons and a daughter) all died in infancy. Her family demanded she be buried discreetly, and denied her a place in her father's
crypt A crypt (from Latin ''crypta'' "vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, sarcophagi, or religious relics. Originally, crypts were typically found below the main apse of a chur ...
, but as she was the only person to have repaired and taken care of the crypt, her right to be buried there could not be denied. At her funeral, "Two Countesses Oxenstierna and one Miss Banér as well as other noblewomen prepared her corpse and lifter her with their own hands in to the coffin".


In culture

In 1704, as a reply to the debate and slander which were still very much alive about her controversial person, her former spouse published her biography: ''Kort Beskrifning af then Högwälborna Frus, Fru Christina Juliana Oxenstiernas Lefwernes Lopp'' (A description of the life of the honorable lady, lady Christina Juliana Oxenstierna) (1704). It was reprinted by Pehr Adolph Sondén as: ''Minne af Christiana Juliana Oxenstjerna'' (Memory of Christina Juliana Oxenstierna) (1836).


See also

*
Marie Grubbe Fru Marie Grubbe (1643–1718) was a member of the Danish nobility who drew a lot of attention by her many extramarital affairs. She has been the inspiration for books, plays and operas. Biography Daughter of the statesman and nobleman Erik Gru ...
*
Margareta Brahe Margareta Abrahamsdotter Brahe (28 June 1603, Rydboholm – 15 May 1669, Weferlingen) was a Swedish aristocrat and court official, Landgravine of Hesse-Homburg by marriage to Frederick II, Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg. She aroused a lot of attentio ...


References


Citations


Sources

* * *


Further reading

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Oxenstierna, Christiana 1661 births 1701 deaths 17th-century Swedish people Deaths in childbirth Swedish countesses Christiana People of the Swedish Empire 17th-century Swedish women