Christina Regina: A Timeline

1665: News Update in Europe

Dutch make gains against Spanish, but Portuguese face losses in Iberia

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1665 would finally see an end to the stalemate in the Low Countries. With the Spanish deciding to pursue a strategy of focusing on Portugal, several infantry detachments were withdrawn from the Flemish army and sent to Iberia. Thus, the Dutch decided to make their move. Crossing the river, they laid siege to the recently captured city of s'Hertogenbosch. Within a couple of months, the city had capitulated. The victory of the Dutch was, however, offset by major losses in Iberia. The Spanish army there, bolstered by Flemish reinforcements, headed straight for Lisbon, burning and plundering as they went. Unstoppable, they reached the city by the end of the year and began to make preparations for a siege.

Scottish Highland army eviscerated in a devastating defeat for the Royalists!

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After clearing out most Royalists from England, Fairfax's Roundheads moved north into Scotland to relieve Edinburgh. Warned of their arrival, the Highland chiefs chose to stay and fight rather than flee as cowards. When the Parliamentarians arrived, the battle began. The Highlanders decided to employ the ever faithful highland charge. However, the results of that day were more akin to Flodden than to Bannockburn. The Scots were massacred by a hail of gunfire as they charged forward, most not even reaching the British lines before falling to their deaths. Quickly the battle became a rout, and the Roundheads proceeded to chase the Scots all the way up to the Highlands, massacring and burning along the way. The Royalist cause, now more than ever, is dead in Britain.

Charles II Travels to Rome and marries Finnish Queen Christina!

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Charles II, after converting to Catholicism, was encouraged by his advisers to make the conversion "official" in the minds of the Irish people by embarking on a pilgrimage to Rome. Not wanting to be potentially captured by the English on his journey, the travel was kept secret, only to be announced on his return home. It just so happened that at the same time, Queen Christina of Finland was in the city, as she too hadn't yet visited since her conversion. They were both traveling under secret names so as to avoid attention, with Charles pretending to be an English Royalist exile and Christina playing the part of a minor noblewoman of the Polish branch of the House of Vasa. Soon enough, they ran into each other and fell in love. Charles, it turned out, was the only man able to break Christina's determination to remain unmarried, coaxing her with his charm and flamboyance, while he in turn was attracted to her intellect and wit (her lack of good looks were more than supplanted for by his ample array of mistresses). Before any sort of marriage, though, they revealed their identities, and each was overjoyed to know that they'd be marrying a fellow royal. The marriage rites were given by the Pope himself in St. Peter's Basilica, and afterward the marriage was consummated and, by the end of the year, Christina was pregnant. When both monarchs had returned to their respective countries, the pilgrimage, marriage, and pregnancy were each officially announced.
 
Okay, been a while since I read this TL.

Did Christina achieve anything really? She's a Catholic head of a Protestant church and country. All she did was start a war that basically cut Sweden in half, and based on this update I'm not sure it will stay like that for long. Even if the Finns did desire to be independent, and I'm not sure they did at this point, Christina's heir won't be a Finn now but her child by a foreign monarch. I honestly see Sweden going for Finland in a decade or so. Finland is still considered its eastern half. Sweden proper outnumbers Finland something like 3:1, and Livonia is both more populous and richer than Estonia. While the Swedes might be resentful over the lands they ceded back to Denmark, with Charles XI likely to marry his OTL Danish princess and not coming into his own during the Scanian War, I can see a general improvement in the Danish-Swedish relationship that means Sweden turns back to regaining its eastern realms once it recovers from this war. As there is probably no clear Finnish heir for Christina, and I don't see the Finns being too happy with being in a personal union with Ireland, they might accept Charles XI when that time comes. Sweden will have only really lost Ingria, which is probably a good thing if Peter I still shows up, and has improved relations with Denmark. Might actually end up better off, overall.

Poland appears to be headed for a confrontation with the Austrian Hasburgs, or at least the Sejm might be. There's a Papal Schism. Ireland might actually manage to win its independence though. Portugal appears to be teetering, so Spain will likely be able to support Ireland against Commonwealth Britain. Even France might aid Catholic Ireland, with the Huguenot Uprising probably causing Louis XIV to support Catholicism and place a dagger in the back of Protestant Britain.
 
With Finland major problem is very low population and quiet isolated location. It is very dependent from Russia and Sweden. Poland is close but about that hardly is much help. Swedes and Russians can do pretty much what they want.
 
1666: News Update in Europe

Dutch make gains in Europe, but Lisbon falls to the Spanish Fury!

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In 1666, the Dutch would continue to push south to liberate their country from the Spanish intrusions. Bergen op Zoom, after a short siege, surrendered to the Dutch. But in Iberia, it was a completely different story. The Spanish cannons relentlessly bombarded Lisbon during the siege, and soon enough the whole city had caught on fire. With shells falling all around them and houses burning to the ground, many citizens ran to the sea in panic but drowned. The King was, however, able to escape, making it to the Madeira Islands. In the city, chaos reigned, and after the smoke had cleared Spanish soldiers entered. The child Charles II was crowned as King of Portugal on top the rubble of the Lisbon Cathedral, over 500 years old but now destroyed by the forces of a massive, global Catholic empire.

English fleet crushed by Spaniards, plan to invade Ireland foiled!

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After relieving Edinburgh, Ireland was the only royalist holdout left to be cleared. The English armies moved west to the Scottish coast, where a massive English fleet was waiting to ferry them across the North Channel. But the Spaniards had intelligence informing them of the English movements, and so a large fleet with fully decked warships was sent to meet the English straightaway. When the English fleet departed from the coast, they were shocked and dismayed to see a massive array of Spanish flags in the distance. Soon the Spaniards closed in on them, and the Battle of the North Channel, one of the largest naval battles yet, was fought. The fighting was fierce, but after several hours it was clear that the Spaniards had the upper hand. The English gunnery, less powerful than that of the Spanish, proved no match, and soon the English were in a full retreat. By the time the smoke had cleared, the English fleet had been eviscerated. Over half of the ships had been destroyed and tens of thousands of men had died, while on the Spanish ship only a few ships and few thousand men were lost. Now, Ireland finally appears safe from English attack.


Queen Christina gives birth to son James and disinherits Gustav Evertsson Horn

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In 1666, Queen Christina would give birth to a son, called James. Charles agreed that he could be raised by her in Finland, but he would come over when he could to visit. It was already known that James would be the heir to the Irish throne, but Christina went a step further by disinheriting Gustav Evertsson Horn. There was some initial consternation, but Horn thus far has stayed quiet on the matter. Only time will tell whether Christina overplayed her hand or made a successful gamble.
 
So we've got an independent Ireland under the Stuarts, a British Commonwealth that no longer has a strong navy, Portugal conquered by a resurgent Spanish Empire under a physically deformed Charles II, the Hasburgs pressing their influence into Poland, Finland in a personal union with Ireland by marriage, a likely revanchist Sweden looking to retake Finland and Estonia in 5-10 years, a Russia that regained Ingria but suffered numerous defeats to Poland and Finland-Sweden, and Denmark-Norway having satisfied its own revanchist sentiments on Sweden and thus probably open to either starting colonial ventures in North America with England knocked out of naval affairs for a while the Dutch distracted or Denmark-Norway could choose to ply its position to help one of its Protestant neighbors; Sweden, the Netherlands, or British Commonwealth.

Wonder how it will all turn out.
 
1667: News Update in Europe

Peace at last! Treaty guarantees an independent Ireland, but Portugal is reabsorbed by Spain

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The bloody and wearisome worldwide conflict, now called The Five Years' War, would at last come to an end in 1667. Notably, the Kingdom of Ireland was officially granted independence under the Stuarts, and Portugal , with all its colonies, was reabsorbed into the Spanish Empire. In the Low Countries, a status quo antebellum prevailed between the Spanish and Dutch.

Queen Christina overthrown by Gustav Horn! Flees to Ireland to rule as Queen Consort

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Gustav Horn would finally act in 1667 against his disinheritance. The people, too, were angry with their ruler’s unpopular decision. Soon, Christina had an open uprising on her hands. The palace was surrounded by an angry mob, and many of her own palace guards joined the revolt too. The palace was raided and Horn, with his armed retinue, presented the abdication papers to the embattled Queen. It was clear that Christina had overplayed her hand, and she had no choice but to sign the papers. Afterwards, Horn was duly crowned as King Gustav I of Finland. Christina was given safe passage to Ireland, which she arrived in with her son in tow to rule as Queen Consort to her husband.




Epilogue

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By the time of Christina’s death in the last years of the century, much had changed in Europe, and yet much remained the same. Over the few preceding decades, France and Spain had fought several wars for dominance in which France gained the upper hand, annexing Brazil and several Italian territories. The French were also able to help their new Polish ally in the east throw off the yoke of the Austrian Habsburgs. The British, with their navy greatly weakened, signed a treaty whereby they would provision English troops in the Netherlands in exchange for Dutch ships. With the French and Spanish focusing on fighting each other, the Dutch naval support proved much more helpful than the English army support, especially considering the series of Danish attacks on England’s colonies. Nonetheless, the Danish were still able to capture all of New England other than Massachusetts, though the British still held the Middle and Southern colonies. Ireland stayed afloat largely off of Danish support, as the Spanish were no focused on the French and now longer saw England as a threat. In exchange for support from the Danish, the Irish were asked to be a thorn in the side of the English, a request which they gladly obliged. In the east, Finland was miraculously able to survive due to the cunning diplomacy of Gustav I, who played the Swedes and Russians off of each other.


As for Christina, well, some may point to her military defeats and judge her a failure. Others may critique her for her several political and religious blunders. Even so, she had outdid all expectations and achieved some extraordinary things. She had ruled over 3 separate kingdoms, and she had no regrets over her rulership in each case. She had followed her conscience on matters of religion, even when the Swedes pressured her to conform. She had given freedom to the Finnish people and, even though she was deposed, she would always remain in their hearts. She was beloved by the Irish for her piety, and she in return had embraced her adopted country, feeling much closer to its inhabitants through religious bonds than she did to her Scandinavian kin. She had refused to take part in an arranged marriage and instead married for love. Above all, at the moment of death she was at peace with God, ready to depart from this world and continue into the next life.
 
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