Editing Axel Oxenstierna (section)

==Early life and education==
Oxenstierna was born on 16 June 1583, at [[Enköping Municipality|Fånö]] in [[Uppland]], the son of Gustaf Gabrielsson Oxenstierna (1551–1597) and Barbro Axelsdotter Bielke (1556–1624), as the oldest of nine siblings.<ref name="Oxenstierna Family Website - Axel Gustafsson Oxenstierna af Södermöre">{{cite web|url=http://www.oxenstierna.org/person_card.php?lang=en&pid=243&show_life_events=1&show_literature=1&show_properties=1&sum_properties=1&show_images=1&session_id= |title=Oxenstierna Family Website – Axel Gustafsson Oxenstierna af Södermöre |work=oxenstierna.org |language=sv, en |access-date=25 June 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727161048/http://www.oxenstierna.org/person_card.php?lang=en&pid=243&show_life_events=1&show_literature=1&show_properties=1&sum_properties=1&show_images=1&session_id= |archive-date=27 July 2011 }}</ref> His parents belonged to the ancient and influential high noble families of [[Oxenstierna]] and [[Bielke]], both of which had held high offices in the state and the church for generations. After the death of her husband Gustaf, Axel's mother Barbro decided to let Axel and his brothers Christer and Gustaf finish their studies abroad. Thus, the brothers received their education at the universities of [[Rostock]], [[Wittenberg]] and [[Jena]]. On returning home in 1603 he took up an appointment as [[valet de chambre]] ''(kammarjunkare)'' to King [[Charles IX of Sweden]].<ref name="Svenskt biografiskt handlexikon - Axel Gustafsson Oxenstierna">{{cite web|url=https://runeberg.org/sbh/b0252.html|title=Svenskt biografiskt handlexikon – Axel Gustafsson Oxenstierna|last=Hofberg|first=Herman |author2=Frithiof Heurlin |author3=Viktor Millqvist |author4=Olof Rubenson|year=1906|work=Svenskt biografiskt handlexikon at runeberg.org|language=sv|access-date=2 July 2009}}</ref>

One of Oxenstierna's more unusual intellectual qualifications was his knowledge of the [[Scots language]], reflecting the importance of the Scottish expatriate community in Sweden at that time. As Chancellor, he would regularly receive correspondence in Scots from his agent [[James Spens (diplomat)|Sir James Spens]], and he ventured into the language himself for an official letter to his Scottish counterpart, the [[John Campbell, 1st Earl of Loudoun|Earl of Loudoun]].<ref name="Nostra Vulgari Lingua">{{cite web|url=http://www.scots-online.org/airticles/eurlang.htm|title=Nostra Vulgari Lingua: Scots as a European Language 1500–1700|last=Horsburgh|first=David|year=1999|work=Scottish Language 18 pp. 1–16, reprinted at scots-online.org|language=sco, en|access-date=30 June 2011| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110716163137/http://www.scots-online.org/airticles/eurlang.htm| archive-date= 16 July 2011 | url-status= live}}</ref>