Editing Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba (section)

=== On Christianity ===
Throughout the 1640s and 1650s, Nzinga began to tentatively adopt [[Christian culture|Christian cultural traditions]], following her conversion to the faith in 1623. This began in 1644 when her army captured a Portuguese priest, and expanded when her forces in Kongo captured two Spanish [[Order of Friars Minor Capuchin|Capuchins]] in 1648; unlike other European prisoners, the queen granted missionaries extended freedoms in her war camp. One of the Spaniards, Father Calisto Zelotes do Reis Mago, would go on to become a longtime resident at her court and her personal secretary.<ref name=":27">Heywood (2017) p. 166, 167, 168</ref><ref>Baur, John. "2000 Years of Christianity in Africa – An African Church History" (Nairobi, 2009), {{ISBN|9966-21-110-1}}, pp. 74–75</ref> Whereas previous missionaries (either parish priests or Jesuits) had been strongly affiliated with the Portuguese and their colonial administration, the Spanish Capuchins were more sympathetic to Nzinga's positions. During the early 1650s, Nzinga sent requests to the Capuchin order for more missionaries and for support against the Portuguese – effectively turning the missionaries into [[de facto]] diplomats between her and the Vatican.<ref name=":27" /> She pursued closer relations with Catholic leaders in Europe for the rest of her life, even receiving correspondence from [[Pope Alexander VII]] in 1661 praising her efforts.<ref name=":30">Heywood (2017) p. 193-210</ref>

In addition to using Christianity as a diplomatic tool, Nzinga adopted Christian customs into her court. From the 1650s onward, she increasingly relied on Christian converts at her court. Just as she had done with the Imbangalan culture several decades before, Nzinga appropriated aspects of Christian ideology and culture, adding these to her existing court traditions to create a new class of Christian councilors loyal to her.<ref name=":28">Heywood (2017) p. 180, 181, 184</ref><ref name=":8" /> She also began practicing Catholic-inspired rituals, placed crosses in places of high honor in her court, and built many churches across her kingdom.<ref name=":31">Heywood (2017) p. 185-192, 222, 223</ref>

Nzinga's efforts to convert her people was not without controversy, and some conservative religious figures pushed back against her policies. In response, Nzinga empowered her Christian priests to burn the temples and shrines of practitioners who opposed her, and ordered that they be arrested and turned over to her for trial. Traditionalists were dismissed from her court, after which she sentenced them to public whippings. Several prominent Mdundu and Imbangala priests were sold as slaves to the Portuguese, with Nzinga personally asking that they be shipped overseas; profits of the sale were then used to furnish a new church.<ref>Heywood (2017) p. 217-221</ref> Some of the wanted priests, however, escaped Nzinga's purge and went into hiding, later working to undermine her legitimacy as queen.<ref name=":32">Heywood (2017) p. 225, 226</ref>