postulated an uninterrupted series of triumphs, whereas a single reverse was likely to be fatal to it. Thus the frightful disaster of Nördlingen (September 6th, 1634; see Sweden: History) brought him, for an instant, to the verge of ruin, and compelled him, for the first time, so far to depart from his policy of independence as to solicit direct assistance from France. But, well aware that Richelieu needed the Swedish armies as much as he himself needed money, he refused at the conference of Compiègne (1635) to bind his hands in the future for the sake of some slight present relief. In 1636, however, he concluded a fresh subsidy-treaty with France at Wismar. The same 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 superior wisdom that for the next nine years his voice, especially as regarded foreign affairs, the plan of the Danish War of 1643–1645, so brilliantly executed by Lennart Torstensson, and had the satisfaction of severely crippling Denmark by the peace of Brömsebro (1645). His later years were embittered by the jealousy of the young Queen Christina, who thwarted the old statesman in every direction. He always attributed the exiguity of Sweden’s gains by the peace of Osnabrück to Christina’s undue interference. Oxenstjerna was opposed at first to the abdication of Christina, because he feared mischief to Sweden from the unruly and adventurous disposition of her appointed successor, Charles Gustavus. The extraordinary consideration shown to him by the new king ultimately, however, reconciled him to the change. He died at Stockholm on the 28th of August 1654.
See Axel Oxenstjernas skriften och brefvexling (Stockholm, 1888 et seq.); A. de Marny, Oxenstjerna et Richelieu à Compiègne (Paris, 1878).
2. Count Johan Axelsson (1611–1657), son of the foregoing, completed his studies at Upsala in 1631, and was sent by his father on a grand tour through France, the Netherlands and Great Britain. He served under Count Gustavus Horn in the Thirty Years’ War from 1632, and was subsequently employed by his father in various diplomatic missions, though his instructions were always so precise and 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 Osnabrück, 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 1650 to 1652 he was governor-general of Pomerania. Charles X. made him earl marshal.
3. Gabriel Gustafsson (1587–1640), brother of (1), was from 1612 to 1618 the chief adviser of Duke John, son of King John III., and Gustavus Adolphus’s competitor for the Swedish 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 senate. In 1634 he was created lord high steward. His special department, “Svea Hofret,” the supreme court of justice, was ever a model of efficiency, and he frequently acted as chancellor and lord high treasurer as well.
See Gabriel Gustafssons bref till Riks Konsler Axel Oxenstjerna, 1611–1640 (Stockholm, 1890).
4. Count Bengt or Benedict Gabrielsson (1623–1702), was the son of Axel Oxenstjerna’s half-brother, Gabriel Bengtsson (1586–1656). After a careful education and a long residence abroad, he began his diplomatic career at the great peace congress of Osnabrück. During his stay in Germany he made the acquaintance of the count palatine, Charles Gustavus, afterwards Charles X., whose confidence he completely won. Two years after the king’s accession (1654), Oxenstjerna was sent to represent Sweden at the Kreistag of Lower Saxony. In 1655 he accompanied Charles to Poland and was made governor of the conquered provinces of 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 city of Thorn, to 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 capitulation ultimately obtained by him were so advantageous that they were made the basis of the subsequent peace negotiations at Oliva, between Poland and Sweden, when Oxenstjerna was one of the chief plenipotentiaries of the Swedish regency. During the domination of Magnus de la Gardie he played but a subordinate part in affairs. From 1662 to 1666 he was governor-general of Livonia. In 1674 he was sent to 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 influence on his future career, and resulted in his appointment as one of the Swedish envoys to the congress of Nijmwegen (1676). His appointment was generally regarded as an approximation on the part of Sweden to Austria and Holland. During the congress he laboured assiduously in an anti-French direction; a well-justified distrust of France was, indeed, henceforth the keynote of his policy, a policy diametrically opposed to Sweden’s former system. In 1680 Charles XI. entrusted him absolutely with the conduct of foreign affairs, on the sole condition that peace was to be preserved, an office which he held for the next seventeen years to the very great advantage of Sweden. His leading political principles were friendship with the maritime powers (Great Britain and Holland) and the emperor, and a close anti-Danish alliance with the house of Holstein. Charles XI. appointed Oxenstjerna one of the regents during the minority of Charles XII. The 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 coalition. Oxenstjerna has been described as “a shrewd and subtle little man, of gentle disposition, but remarkable for his firmness and tenacity of character.”
See F. F. Carlson, Sveriges historia under Konungarne af Pfalziska huset (Stockholm, 1883, 1885); O. Sjögren, Karl den elfte och Svenska folket (Stockholm, 1897); and Négociations du comte d’Avaux pendant les années 1693, 1697–1698 (Utrecht, 1882, &c.). (R. N. B.)
OXFORD, EARLS OF, an English title held successively by the families of Vere and Harley. The three most important earls of the Vere line (see Vere) are noticed separately below. The Veres held the earldom from 1142 until March 1703, when it became extinct on the death of Aubrey de Vere, the 20th earl. In 1711 the English statesman Robert Harley (see below) was created earl of Oxford; but the title became extinct in this
family on the death of the 6th earl in 1853.
OXFORD, EDWARD DE VERE, 17th Earl[1] of (1550–1604), son of John de Vere, the 16th earl, was born on the 12th of April 1550. He matriculated at Queen’s College, Cambridge, but he removed later to St John’s College, and was known as Lord Bolebec or Bulbeck until he succeeded in 1562 to the earldom and to the hereditary dignity of great chamberlain of England. As one of the royal wards the boy came under the care of Lord Burghley, at whose house in London he lived under the tutorship of his maternal uncle, Arthur Golding, the translator of Ovid. His violent temper and erratic doings were a constant source of anxiety to Burghley, who nevertheless in 1571 gave him his eldest daughter, Anne, in marriage. Oxford more than once asked for a military or a naval command, but Burghley hoped that his good looks together with his skill in dancing and in feats of arms would win for him a high position at court. His accomplishments did indeed secure Elizabeth’s favour, but he offended her by going to Flanders without her consent in 1574, and more seriously in 1582 by a duel with one of her gentlemen, Thomas Knyvet. Among his other escapades was a futile
- ↑ I.e. in the Vere line.
