Axel Wachtmeister

Baron Axel Wachtmeister zu Björkö , since 1683 Count zu Mälsåker ( Swedish Axel Wachtmeister formerly af Björkö, greve Wachtmeister af Mälsåker ; born January 13, 1643 in Stockholm ; † July 24, 1699 in ibid.) Was a Swedish field marshal .

Life

family

Axel Wachtmeister was a member of the Barons Wachtmeister af Björkö , who originally came from the island of Dagö and later spread across Sweden . His parents were the Swedish major general and imperial councilor Hans Wachtmeister zu Björkö (1609–1652) and Agnes Margareta, née von Helmstedt (1613–1666). The Swedish Admiral Hans Wachtmeister zu Johannishus (1641-1714), the Swedish Lieutenant General Bleckert Wachtmeister (1644-1701) and the Swedish Major General Fritz Wachtmeister (1646-1723) were his brothers, the Swedish statesman Bengt Oxenstierna (1623-1702) his brother-in-law .

In 1682 he married Baroness Anna Maria Soop af Limingo (1660-1735). The marriage had five children.

Axel Wachtmeister was raised to the Swedish count status as Count zu Mälsåker in 1693 and introduced to the count class (No. 39) of the Swedish knighthood . The male line of this line, which he founded , already expired in 1708.

Career

Wachtmeister first undertook a comprehensive grand tour through Europe together with his brother Hans before joining Wolmar Wrangel's regiment as a lieutenant in 1666 . A little later he went into French military service and took part in the war of devolution until its end in 1668. In 1675 he rejoined the Swedish army and was immediately able to distinguish himself in Pomerania and Bremen-Verden during the Northern War , so that he was promoted to colonel in 1676 . In Skåne he was briefly taken prisoner of war in 1677. In the same year he stood again with distinction in the battle of Landskrona and the siege of Kristianstad . At the beginning of 1679 he was promoted to major general of the cavalry and was sent to England on a diplomatic mission . On the Swedish Diets in 1680 and 1682 he was one of the king's supporters . Only because of the reduction in his goods in Livonia there was a brief phase of upheaval with the king, whose taste and attention he otherwise enjoyed throughout. Wachtmeister was promoted to field marshal in 1693 and was raised to the status of a Swedish count. From 1697 he was President of the War College.

Since his sons only survived him for a few years, his daughter Eleonora brought Mälsåker Castle to the Swedish lieutenant general and statesman Hans Reinhold von Fersen (1683–1736).

literature

• Gabriel Anrep : Svenska adelns ättartaflor. Volume 4, Stockholm 1864, p. 528 (Swedish)
• Biographiskt lexicon öfver namnkunnige svenska men , Volume 19, Upsala 1853, pp. 135-138 (Swedish).

Web links

• Axel Wachtmeister af Mälsåker on adelsvapen.com (= Gustaf Elgenstierna : Den introducerade svenska adelns ättartavlor. Stockholm 1925–1936; Swedish).
• Axel Wachtmeister . In: Theodor Westrin, Ruben Gustafsson Berg, Eugen Fahlstedt (eds.): Nordisk familjebok konversationslexikon och realencyklopedi . 2nd Edition. tape 31 : Ural vertex . Nordisk familjeboks förlag, Stockholm 1921, Sp. 225 (Swedish, runeberg.org ).
• Axel Wachtmeister , portrait from 1680 by David Klöcker Ehrenstrahl , Swedish National Museum (Swedish).
• Axel Wachtmeister , biogram on historiesajten.se (Swedish)
• Axel Wachtmeister . In: Herman Hofberg, Frithiof Heurlin, Viktor Millqvist, Olof Rubenson (eds.): Svenskt biografiskt handlexikon . 2nd Edition. tape 2 : L – Z, including supplement . Albert Bonniers Verlag, Stockholm 1906, p. 666 (Swedish, runeberg.org ).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Otto Magnus von Stackelberg (edit.): Genealogical manual of the Baltic knighthoods part 2, 1.2: Estland, Görlitz 1930, pp. 265–266.
2. ↑ Anton von Stiernman: matrikel öfwer Swea rikes ridderskap och needle. Stockholm 1754, p. 32.