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OXENSTJERNA

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Originally appearing in Volume V20, Page 402 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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OXENSTJERNA , an See also:

ancient See also:Swedish senatorial See also:family, the origin of which can be traced up to the See also:middle of the 14th See also:century, which had vast estates in Sodermanland and Uppland, and began to adopt its armorial designation of Oxenstjerna (" Ox-forehead ") as a See also:personal name towards the end of the 16th century. Its most notable members were the following. 1. See also:COUNT AXEL GUSTAFSSON (1583—1654), See also:chancellor of See also:Sweden, was See also:born at FonO in Uppland, and was educated with his See also:brothers at the See also:universities of See also:Rostock, See also:Jena and See also:Wittenberg. On returning See also:home in 1603 he was appointed kammerjunker to See also:King See also:Charles IX. In 16o6 he was entrusted with his first See also:diplomatic See also:mission, to See also:Mecklenburg, was appointed a senator during his See also:absence, and henceforth became one of the king's most trusted servants. In 1610 he was sent to See also:Copenhagen to prevent a See also:war with See also:Denmark, but was unsuccessful. This See also:embassy is important as being the beginning of Oxenstjerna's See also:long diplomatic struggle with Sweden's traditional See also:rival in the See also:north, whose most formidable enemy he continued to be throughout See also:life. Oxenstjerna was appointed a member of Gustavus See also:Adolphus's See also:council of regency. High aristocrat as he was, he would at first willingly have limited the royal See also:power. An See also:oligarchy guiding a limited See also:monarchy was ever his ideal See also:government, but the See also:genius of the See also:young king was not to be fettered, so Oxenstjerna was content to be the colleague instead of the See also:master of his See also:sovereign. On the 6th of See also:January 1612 he was appointed chancellor.

His controlling, organizing See also:

hand was speedily See also:felt in every See also:branch of the See also:administration. For his services as first Swedish plenipotentiary at the See also:peace of Knared, 1613, he was richly rewarded. During the frequent absences of Gustavus in See also:Livonia and See also:Finland (1614—1616) Oxenstjerna acted as his See also:vice-See also:regent, when he displayed manifold abilities and an all-embracing activity. In 162o he headed the brilliant embassage despatched to See also:Berlin to arrange the nuptial See also:contract between Gustavus and See also:Mary Eleanora of See also:Brandenburg. It was his See also:principal See also:duty during the king's See also:Russian and -See also:Polish See also:wars to See also:supply the armies and the fleets with everything necessary, including men and See also:money. By this See also:time he had become so indispensable that Gustavus, in 1622, bade him accompany him to Livonia, where Oxenstjerna was appointed See also:governor-See also:general and commandant of See also:Riga. His services in Livonia were rewarded with four castles and the whole bishopric of See also:Wenden. He was entrusted with the peace negotiations which led to the truce with See also:Poland in 1623, and succeeded, by skilful See also:diplomacy, in averting a threatened rupture with Denmark in 1624. On the 7th of See also:October 1626 he was appointed governor-general of the newly-acquired See also:province of See also:Prussia. In 1629 he concluded the very advantageous truce of Altmark with Poland. Previously to this (See also:September 1628) he arranged with Denmark a See also:joint occupation of See also:Stralsund, to prevent that important fortress from falling into the hands of the Imperialists. After the See also:battle of See also:Breitenfeld (September 7th, 1631) he was summoned to assist the king with his counsels and co-operation in See also:Germany.

During the king's absence in See also:

Franconia and See also:Bavaria in 1632 he was appointed legatus in the See also:Rhine lands, with plenipotentiary authority over all the See also:German generals and princes in the Swedish service. Although he never fought a battle, he was a born strategist, and frustrated all the efforts of the See also:Spanish troops by his See also:wise regulations. His military capacity was strikingly demonstrated by the skill with which he conducted large reinforcements to Gustavus through the See also:heart of Germany in the summer of 1632. But it was only after the See also:death of the king at Lfitzen that Oxenstjerna's true greatness came to See also:light. He inspired the despairing Protestants both in Germany and Sweden with fresh hopes. He reorganized the government both at home and abroad. He See also:united the estates of the four upper circles into a fresh See also:league against the See also:common foe (1634), in spite of the envious and foolish opposition of See also:Saxony. By the patent of the 12th of January 1633 he had already been appointed See also:legate plenipotentiary of Sweden in Germany with See also:absolute See also:control over all the territory already won by the Swedish arms. No Swedish subject, either before or after, ever held such an unrestricted and far-reaching authority. Yet he was more than equal to the extraordinary difficulties of the situation. To him both warriors and statesmen appealed invariably as their natural and infallible arbiter. See also:Richelieu himself declared that the Swedish chancellor was " an inexhaustible source of well-matured counsels." Less See also:original but more sagacious than the king, he had a firmer grasp of the realities of the situation.

Gustavus would not only have aggrandized Sweden, he would have transformed the German See also:

empire. Oxenstjerna wisely abandoned these vaulting ambitions. His See also:country's welfare was his See also:sole See also:object. All his efforts were directed towards See also:pro-curing for the Swedish See also:crown adequate See also:compensation for its sacrifices. See also:Simple to austerity in his own tastes, he nevertheless recognized the See also:political See also:necessity of impressing his See also:allies and confederates by an almost See also:regal show of dignity; and at the abortive See also:congress of See also:Frankfort-on-See also:Main (See also:March 1634), held for the purpose of uniting all the German Protestants, Oxenstjerna appeared in a See also:carriage See also:drawn by six horses, with German princes attending him on See also:foot. But from first to last his policy suffered from the slenderness of Sweden's material resources, a See also:cardinal defect which all his See also:craft and tact could not altogether conceal from the vigilance of her enemies. The success of his See also:system postulated an uninterrupted See also:series of triumphs, whereas a single See also:reverse was likely to be fatal to it. Thus the frightful disaster of See also:Nordlingen (September 6th, 1634; see SWEDEN: See also:History) brought him, for an instant, to the See also:verge of ruin, and compelled him, for the first time, so far to depart from his policy of See also:independence as to solicit See also:direct assistance from See also:France. But, well aware that Richelieu needed the Swedish armies as much as he himself needed money, he refused at the See also:conference of See also:Compiegne (1635) to bind his hands in the future for the See also:sake of some slight See also:present See also:relief. In 1636, however, he concluded a fresh See also:subsidy-treaty with France at See also:Wismar. The same See also:year he returned to Sweden and took his seat in the Regency. His presence at home overawed all opposition, and such was the general confidence inspired by his See also:superior See also:wisdom that for the next nine years his See also:voice, especially as regarded See also:foreign affairs, was omnipotent in the council of See also:state.

He See also:

drew up beforehand the See also:plan of the Danish War of 1643—1645, so brilliantly executed by Lennart See also:Torstensson, and had the See also:satisfaction of severely crippling Denmark by the peace of Bromsebro (1645). His later years were embittered by the See also:jealousy of the young See also:Queen See also:Christina, who thwarted the old statesman in every direction. He always attributed the exiguity of Sweden's gains by the peace of See also:Osnabruck to Christina's undue interference. Oxenstjerna was opposed at first to the See also:abdication of Christina, because he feared See also:mischief to Sweden from the unruly and adventurous disposition of her appointed successor, Charles Gustavus. The extraordinary See also:consideration shown to him by the new king ultimately, however, reconciled him to the See also:change. He died at See also:Stockholm on the 28th of See also:August 1654. See Axel Oxenstjernas skriften och brefvexling (Stockholm, 1888 et seq.) ; A. de Marny, Oxenstjerna et Richelieu d Compiegne (See also:Paris, 1878). 2. COUNT JOHAN AXELSSON (161I-1657), son of the foregoing, completed his studies at See also:Upsala in 1631, and was sent by his See also:father on a See also:grand tour through France, the See also:Netherlands and See also:Great See also:Britain. He served under Count Gustavus See also:Horn in the See also:Thirty Years' War from 1632, and was subsequently employed by his father in various diplomatic See also:missions, though his instructions were always so precise and See also:minute that he was little more than the executor of the chancellor's wishes. He was one of the commissioners who signed the truce of 1635 with Poland, and in 1639, much against his father's will, was made a senator. Along with Salvius he represented Sweden at the great peace congress of Osnabruck, but as he received his instructions direct from his father, whereas Salvius was in the queen's confidence, the two " legates " were constantly at variance.

From 165o to 1652 he was governor-general of See also:

Pomerania. Charles X. made him See also:earl See also:marshal. 3. See also:GABRIEL GUSTAFSSON (1587-1640), See also:brother of (1), was from 1612 to 1618 the See also:chief adviser of See also:Duke See also:John, son of King John III., and Gustavus Adolphus's competitor for the Swedish See also:throne. After the duke's death he became, virtually, the locum-tenens of the chancellor (with whom he was always on the most intimate terms) during Axel's frequent absences from Sweden. He was also employed successfully on numerous diplomatic missions. He was most usually the intermediary between his brother and the riksdag and See also:senate. In 1634 he was created See also:lord high steward. His See also:special See also:department, " Svea Hofret," the supreme See also:court of See also:justice, was ever a See also:model of efficiency, and he frequently acted as chancellor and lord high treasurer as well. See Gabriel Gustafssons See also:beef till Riks Konsler Axel Oxenstjerna, 1611—164o (Stockholm, 1890). 4. COUNT BENGT Or See also:BENEDICT GABRIELSSON (1623—1702), was the son of Axel Oxenstjerna's See also:half-brother, Gabriel Bengtsson (1586—1656).

After a careful See also:

education and a long See also:residence abroad, he began his diplomatic career at the great peace congress of Osnabruck. During his stay in Germany he made the acquaintance of the count See also:palatine, Charles Gustavus, after-wards Charles X., whose confidence he completely won. Two years after the king's See also:accession (1654), Oxenstjerna was sent to represent Sweden at the Kreistag of See also:Lower Saxony. In 1655 he accompanied Charles to Poland and was made governorof the conquered provinces of See also:Kulm, Kujavia, Masovia and Great Poland. The firmness and humanity which he displayed in this new capacity won the affectionate gratitude of the inhabitants, and induced the German portion of them, notably the See also:city of See also:Thorn, to See also:side with the Swedes against the Poles. During Charles's absence in Denmark (1657), Oxenstjerna, in the most desperate circumstances, tenaciously defended Thorn for ten months, and the terms of See also:capitulation ultimately obtained by him were so advantageous that they were made the basis of the subsequent peace negotiations at See also:Oliva, between Poland and Sweden, when Oxenstjerna was one of the chief plenipotentiaries of the Swedish regency. During the domination of See also:Magnus de la Gardie he played but a subordinate See also:part in affairs. From 1662 to 1666 he was governor-general of Livonia. In 1674 he was sent to See also:Vienna to try and prevent the threatened outbreak of war between France and the empire. The connexions which he formed and the sympathies which he won here had a considerable See also:influence on his future career, and resulted in his See also:appointment as one of the Swedish envoys to the congress of See also:Nijmwegen (1676). His appointment was generally regarded as an approximation on the part of Sweden to See also:Austria and See also:Holland. During the congress he laboured assiduously in an See also:anti-See also:French direction; a well-justified distrust of France was, indeed, henceforth the keynote of his policy, a policy diametric-ally opposed to Sweden's former system.

In 168o Charles XI. entrusted him absolutely with the conduct of foreign affairs, on the sole See also:

condition that peace was to be preserved, an See also:office which he held for the next seventeen years to the very great See also:advantage of Sweden. His leading political principles were friendship with the maritime See also:powers (Great Britain and Holland) and the See also:emperor, and a See also:close anti-Danish See also:alliance with the See also:house of See also:Holstein. Charles XI. appointed Oxenstjerna one of the regents during the minority of Charles XII. The See also:martial proclivities of the new king filled the prudent old chancellor with alarm and anxiety. His protests were frequent and energetic, and he advised Charles in vain to accept the terms of peace offered by the first anti-Swedish See also:coalition. Oxenstjerna has been described as " a shrewd and subtle little See also:man, of See also:gentle disposition, but remarkable for his firmness and tenacity of See also:character." See F. F. Carlson, Sveriges historia under Konungarne of Pfalziska huset (Stockholm, 1883, 1885); O. Sjogren, Karl den elfte och Svenska folket (Stockholm, 1897) ; and Negotiations du See also:comte d'Avaux See also:pendant See also:les annees 1693, 1697—1698 (See also:Utrecht, 1882, &c.). (R. N.

End of Article: OXENSTJERNA

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