Axel Oxenstierna's works and letters
Axel Oxenstierna was the Swedish chancellor from 1612 to 1654. Following his death, his archive was mostly stored at the castle Tidö, before it was acquired by the state and transferred to the National Archives in 1848 and 1967. Despite various losses about 500 archive volumes still remain, which nowadays belong to the Oxenstierna collection and Tidöarkivet in the National Archives. However, there are also many Oxenstierna documents that belong to collections outside the National Archives, particularly in the Swedish Royal Library, Uppsala University Library and the Library of the Diocese of Linköping. Moreover, letters from Oxenstierna can be found in many archives and libraries throughout Europe.
The works and correspondence of Axel Oxenstierna have been published in the edition Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna's writings and correspondence (AOSB). This series comprises a total of 28 volumes that were published in the period from 1880 until 1977. AOSB is divided into two sections: section I, with fifteen volumes, includes historical and political writings and letters of Oxenstierna from the period 1606–1636. Section II, with thirteen volumes, contains letters to the Chancellor from the king Gustav II Adolf as well as from a number of other people of high standing in society.
In collaboration between the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities and the National Archives, the publication of AOSB was taken up again in 1999. The so-called Oxenstierna project ran for six years between 1999 and 2005 and resulted in a database and six text editions.
The Oxenstierna database
contains more than 6,000 posts, including more than 3900 letters from Axel Oxenstierna from the period 1636–1654.
The database includes the following materials:
- Axel Oxenstierna letters and writings from 1636 to 1654. The database covers all currently known letters, drafts, notes and writings from the period 1 July 1636 until the death of Axel Oxenstierna on 23 August 1654.
- Letters to Axel Oxenstierna, included in the text editions.
- Supplements to the older parts of the edition "Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna's writings and correspondence" (AOSB I: 1-15 and AOSB II: 1-12). Registered in the database are documents that were not included in AOSB and have not been published elsewhere (eg in the series
Acta Pacis Westphalicae).
The text editions
includes letters from the Dutch humanist Jan Rutgers (d. 1625), the Scottish officer Sir James Spens (d. 1632), the Swedish resident in Zurich, Carl Marinus, and the Swedish diplomat and plenipotentiary at the Congress of Westphalia, Johan Adler Salvius. There is also a collection of letters from Axel Oxenstierna to different addressees from the years 1636 to 1638, and a selection of ninety-five letters from the correspondence between Oxenstierna and Queen Christina from the years 1633 to 1654.
Contact
Marie Lennersand, e-mail: marie.lennersand[at]riksarkivet.se