41 Facts About Axel Oxenstierna

Axel Oxenstierna became a member of the Swedish Privy Council in 1609 and served as Lord High Chancellor of Sweden from 1612 until his death.

Axel Oxenstierna was a confidant of King Gustavus Adolphus and then Queen Christina, for whom he was at first regent.

Axel Oxenstierna played an important role during the Thirty Years' War and was appointed Governor-General of occupied Prussia; he is credited for having laid the foundations of the modern central administrative structure of the State, including the creation of counties.

Axel Oxenstierna's parents belonged to the ancient and influential high noble families of Oxenstierna and Bielke, both of which had held high offices in the state and the church for generations.

Henceforth, Axel Oxenstierna became one of the king's most trusted servants.

Together with other councillors, Axel Oxenstierna tried to warn the king of Denmark and the intentions of Danish King Christian IV.

In 1610, Axel Oxenstierna travelled to Copenhagen with the aim of preventing war with the neighbours, but unsuccessfully.

Axel Oxenstierna's controlling, organizing hand soon became apparent in every branch of the administration.

Negotiations began in Knared and Axel Oxenstierna was first Swedish plenipotentiary.

One assignment Axel Oxenstierna received while the king was in Livonia, was the task to finalize the negotiations regarding the marriage of John Casimir and the king's sister, Princess Catharina.

Axel Oxenstierna played the leading organizational and administrational role in Prussia, as he had done earlier in Livonia.

Axel Oxenstierna was in charge of, for example, tolls, fortifications and the entire state grain trade.

When Sweden entered the Thirty Years' War in the summer of 1630, tolls from Axel Oxenstierna-controlled Prussia, as well as food supplies acquired by Axel Oxenstierna, were pivotal assets.

Axel Oxenstierna had obtained credits from foreign businessmen, ensuring large sums of money making it possible to hire mercenary soldiers to the army used in Germany.

Axel Oxenstierna managed to conduct large reinforcements to King Gustavus through the heart of Germany in the summer of 1632.

Axel Oxenstierna moved his headquarters to Mainz, which in practice became the new Swedish capital.

Axel Oxenstierna was now absolute ruler of the significant area that the Swedish army had conquered in Germany.

Axel Oxenstierna was offered the position as prince-elector of Mainz, but, after serious considerations, the offer was turned down.

Some of Axel Oxenstierna's colleagues recommended that Sweden should seek peace and withdraw from the war in Germany, not least after the defeat at Nordlingen in 1634.

Axel Oxenstierna left Germany and returned to Stockholm in 1636, after ten years duty as premier Swedish representative in Prussia and Germany.

Whatever the reason, Axel Oxenstierna considered the time was right to finally settle the score with Denmark.

Axel Oxenstierna was personally involved in the negotiations leading to the Treaty of Bromsebro at a creek in Blekinge.

Shortly after the peace treaty, Axel Oxenstierna was created Count of Sodermore.

Axel Oxenstierna died two months after the ascension of the new king.

Axel Oxenstierna's body was then moved to Jader Church close to the Oxenstierna estate at Fiholm, in present-day Eskilstuna Municipality, where a vault had been built in accordance with his wishes.

Axel Oxenstierna was in possession of large estates and many mansions.

Axel Oxenstierna is perhaps most remembered for the establishment of a uniform administrative system.

Axel Oxenstierna was ever-present during the vast reforms of the 1610s and 1620s, when the Swedish government was hugely modernized and made more effective.

From 1612, when Axel Oxenstierna was appointed Lord High Chancellor, until 1632, when King Gustavus Adolphus died, the two men struck a long and successful partnership.

When it came to entering the Thirty Years' War, Axel Oxenstierna was not as enthusiastic as the king, but since the king's will was decisive, Axel Oxenstierna accommodated himself to Gustavus's wish.

At times, Axel Oxenstierna stepped in to ease tense relations that the harsh behaviour of the king had caused.

Axel Oxenstierna regularly received the highest praise for his work from the king and there was almost no area in which King Gustavus did not consult his Lord High Chancellor Oxenstierna.

Axel Oxenstierna pushed through the Instrument of Government, but not without opposition.

Axel Oxenstierna claimed that the new form of government reflected the will of the late King Gustavus, making himself the interpreter of the king's thoughts and wishes, and leaving the opposition no possibility to control the truth in this.

Axel Oxenstierna is regarded as a brilliant pragmatist, willing to reconsider his positions.

Axel Oxenstierna was a supporter of mercantilism and a believer in immigration and free enterprise.

Pope Urban VIII claimed that Axel Oxenstierna was one of the most excellent men the world had seen.

Axel Oxenstierna has been portrayed on the stage and on the screen several times, mainly due to his role as mentor and guardian to the enigmatic Queen Christina.

Axel Oxenstierna was played by Lewis Stone in Rouben Mamoulian's 1933 Hollywood movie Queen Christina, with Greta Garbo as the female lead role, by Cyril Cusack in Anthony Harvey's The Abdication and by Michael Nyqvist in Mika Kaurismaki's The Girl King.

Samuel Ahlgren played Axel Oxenstierna in Drottning Kristina, by the King Gustav III of Sweden who was an active playwright.

The bass part of Axel Oxenstierna was first performed by Giovanni Carlo Casanova in Jacopo Foroni's 1849 opera Cristina, regina di Svezia.