OXENSTIERNA, Axel, Count of (1583-1654), Swedish statesman, was born at Fanö in Upland on the 16th of June 1583. He studied theology at Rostock, Wittenberg, and Jena; and in 1602, having spent some time in visiting German courts, he returned to Sweden to take the oath of allegiance to Charles IX., whose service he entered. In 1606 he was sent as ambassador to the court of Mecklenburg, and in 1609 he became a member of the Swedish senate. When Gustavus Adolphus succeeded to the throne, in 1611, Oxenstierna was appointed chancellor, and in 1613 he was plenipotentiary in the negotiations for the conclusion of peace between Sweden and Denmark. In 1614 he went -with the king to Livonia, and helped to bring about the cessation of hostilities between Sweden and Russia. After the intervention of Gustavus in the Thirty Years’ War, Oxenstierna was made governor-general of all the districts in Prussia which had been overrun by the Swedes; and, when the Imperialists were preparing to besiege Stralsund, he negotiated with the duke of Pomerania for the substitution of Swedish for Danish troops in the town, going subsequently to Denmark to obtain the sanction of the Danish king. While Gustavus pushed on to Franconia and Bavaria, Oxenstierna was entrusted with the supreme direction of affairs, both political and military, in the Rhine country, and he took up his headquarters at Mainz. In 1632, when Gustavus fell at the battle of Liitzen, the responsibility for the maintenance of the Protestant cause fell chiefly upon Oxenstierna; and in one of the greatest crises in the history of the world he displayed splendid courage, discretion, and resource. At a congress held in Heilbronn he was appointed director of the evangelical confederation, and in this capacity he went to France and ...