Hedwig Eleonora, Lund University, and the Learned

As a queen, a woman in the pre-modern period could interact with the learned society in several ways, either as a learned woman, or - like Hedwig Eleonora - by patronizing and participating actively in the intellectual culture of her time as a donor, an employer, and a foundress of learned institutions. In doing this, she sometimes accentuated her personal sympathies, be they in history, theology, or education. She acted within the selfsufficient framework of the Lutheran household, oth as a mother, caring for her subjects in the realm, and in a decisive position as the authoritative representative of the deceased or juvenile father.