Baron Gabriel Gustafsson Oxenstierna (June 15, 1587 – November 27, 1640) was a Swedish

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 statesman.

Born either in Tyresö, Sweden, or in Reval (modern Tallinn

Tallinn

Tallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia. It occupies an area of with a population of 414,940. It is situated on the northern coast of the country, on the banks of the Gulf of Finland, south of Helsinki, east of Stockholm and west of Saint Petersburg. Tallinn's Old Town is in the list...

, Estonia

Estonia

Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...

), he was the son of Privy Councillor

Privy Council of Sweden

The High Council of Sweden or Council of the Realm consisted originally of those men of noble, common and clergical background, that the king saw fit for advisory service...

 Gustaf Gabrielsson Oxenstierna and Barbro Axelsdotter Bielke. As such he was brother of, among others, Lord High Chancellor

Lord High Chancellor of Sweden

The Lord High Chancellor was a prominent and influential office in Sweden, from 1561 until 1680, excluding periods when the office was out of use. The office holder was a member of the Privy Council of Sweden...

 Axel Oxenstierna

Axel Oxenstierna

Axel Gustafsson Oxenstierna af Södermöre , Count of Södermöre, was a Swedish statesman. He became a member of the Swedish Privy Council in 1609 and served as Lord High Chancellor of Sweden from 1612 until his death. He was a confidant of first Gustavus Adolphus and then Queen Christina.Oxenstierna...

.

Career

Oxenstierna began studying in Uppsala. He continued to study abroad, in German towns Rostock, Wittenberg and Jena. After his return to Sweden, he was in the service of King Charles IX

Charles IX of Sweden

Charles IX of Sweden also Carl, was King of Sweden from 1604 until his death. He was the youngest son of King Gustav I of Sweden and his second wife, Margaret Leijonhufvud, brother of Eric XIV and John III of Sweden, and uncle of Sigismund III Vasa king of both Sweden and Poland...

 from 1604. From 1612 he was chancellor and chief adviser of Duke John, son of former King John III

John III of Sweden

-Family:John married his first wife, Catherine Jagellonica of Poland , house of Jagiello, in Vilnius on 4 October 1562. In Sweden, she is known as Katarina Jagellonica. She was the sister of king Sigismund II Augustus of Poland...

. Also in 1612, Oxenstierna was appointed governor of Estonia. In 1617 he became a Privy Councillor and a marshal of the court of King Gustavus Adolphus.

Being a close confidant of older brother Axel Oxenstierna (Lord High Chancellor 1612-1654) as well as of the king, Gabriel Oxenstierna was used as a diplomatic representative on numerous occasions. He was sent as a legate to Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

 both in 1622 and 1625, and during the latter year he also visited Lübeck

Lübeck

The Hanseatic City of Lübeck is the second-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany, and one of the major ports of Germany. It was for several centuries the "capital" of the Hanseatic League and, because of its Brick Gothic architectural heritage, is listed by UNESCO as a World...

, Hamburg

Hamburg

-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

, Mecklenburg

Mecklenburg

Mecklenburg is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Vorpommern...

, Brandenburg

Brandenburg

Brandenburg is one of the sixteen federal-states of Germany. It lies in the east of the country and is one of the new federal states that were re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former West Germany and East Germany. The capital is Potsdam...

, Pomerania

Pomerania

Pomerania is a historical region on the south shore of the Baltic Sea. Divided between Germany and Poland, it stretches roughly from the Recknitz River near Stralsund in the West, via the Oder River delta near Szczecin, to the mouth of the Vistula River near Gdańsk in the East...

, the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 and England.

After the death of Gustavus Adolphus in 1632, Oxenstierna travelled to Germany to meet his brother Axel. Gabriel then became responsible to transport the body of the king back to Sweden. In 1634, he became Lord High Steward

Lord High Steward of Sweden

The Lord High Steward or Lord High Justiciar was a highly prominent member of the Swedish Privy Council from the 13th century until 1809, excluding periods when the office was out of use....

 (riksdrots), making him head of Svea Court of Appeal

Svea Court of Appeal

The Svea Court of Appeal , located in Stockholm, is one of six appellate courts in the Swedish legal system. It was founded in 1614 and was the highest court in Sweden until 1789, when the Supreme Court of Sweden was established....

 (Svea Hovrätt) and as such supervisor of justice in Sweden.

Family life

In 1611, Oxenstierna married Märta Bielke, daughter of Privy Councillor Ture Bielke and Margareta Sture. Märta gave birth to seven children, two of which died at an early age. In 1620, Märta died. Two years later, in November 1620, Oxenstierna married again, this time with Margareta Bielke, daughter of Claes Nilsson Bielke and Elin Fleming. Margareta died in 1629 and two years later, Oxenstierna married for the third time, now with Brita De la Gardie, daughter of Pontus De la Gardie

Pontus De la Gardie

Pontus De la Gardie was a French nobleman and general in the service of Denmark and Sweden.He was born Ponce De La Gardie in Russol , Languedoc, as a son of Jacques De la Gardie and Catherine de Sainte-Colombe. As a youngster, he wanted to become a priest and was educated in a monastery...

 and, as such, sister to Lord High Constable

Lord High Constable of Sweden

The Lord High Constable was a prominent and influential office in Sweden, from the 13th century until 1676, excluding periods when the office was out of use. The office holder was a member of the Swedish Privy Council and, from 1630 and on, the head of the Swedish Council of War...

 Jacob De la Gardie

Jacob De la Gardie

Field Marshal and Count Jacob Pontusson De la Gardie was a statesman and a soldier of the Swedish Empire....

. Oxenstierna's two last marriages were both childless.

Gabriel Gustafsson Oxenstierna died in Von der Linderska Palace, Stockholm

Stockholm

Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

 on November 27, 1640.

Legacy

Oxenstierna has been described as "reasonable, honest, jovial and outspoken, loved by high and low". Because of his service and loyalty to his home country, his children and grandchildren were created counts, under the name Oxenstierna of Croneberg.

After inheriting Tyresö in the 1620s, Oxenstierna ordered a reconstruction of Tyresö Palace as well as the building Tyresö Church

Tyresö church

Tyresö church is a 17th century church in Tyresö, Sweden, belonging to the Tyresö parish. The church is located near Tyresö Palace, which was built during the same era....

. The church was inaugurated with his own burial in 1641.