Carl Piper Explained

Honorific Prefix:His Excellency, Count
Carl Piper
Order:Marshal of the Realm
Term Start:October 1705
Term End:29 May 1716
Predecessor:Johan Gabriel Stenbock
Successor:Nicodemus Tessin the Younger
Order1:Chancellor of Uppsala University
Term Start1:29 August 1702
Term End1:29 May 1716
Monarch1:Charles XII
Predecessor1:Bengt Gabrielsson Oxenstierna
Successor1:Arvid Horn
Order2:Royal Councilor and Minister
Term Start2:31 December 1697
Term End2:29 May 1716
Monarch2:Charles XII
Order3:State Secretary
Term Start3:14 March 1689
Term End3:October 1705
Monarch3:Charles XI
Birth Date:29 July 1647
Birth Place:Stockholm, Sweden
Death Place:Schlüsselburg, Russia
Spouse:Christina Törne
(13 February 1690)
Children:8
Parents:Carl Piper
Ingrid Charlotta Ekenbom

Count Carl Piper (July 29, 1647, Stockholm  - May 29, 1716, Schlüsselburg) was a Swedish statesman. He entered the foreign office after completing his academical course at Uppsala, accompanied Bengt Gabrielsson Oxenstierna on his embassage to Russia in 1673, and attracted the attention of Charles XI during the Scanian War by his extraordinary energy and ability.

Life

In 1679, he was appointed secretary to the board of trade and ennobled. In 1689, he was made one of the secretaries of state, and Charles XI recommended him on his deathbed to his son and successor, Charles XII. Piper became the most confidential of the new sovereign's ministers. In 1697 he was made a senator and set over domestic affairs while still retaining his position as state-secretary.

In 1698, he was made a count. In 1702 he was appointed chancellor of Uppsala University, and during the first half of the Great Northern War, as the chief of Charles' perambulating chancellery. It was his misfortune, however, to be obliged to support a system which was not his own.

He belonged to the school of Bengt Gabrielsson Oxenstierna and was therefore an avowed advocate of a pacific policy. He protested in vain against nearly all the military ventures of Charles XII; these included the war against Augustus II in Poland, the invasion of Saxony, and the campaign into Ukraine. Again and again, he insisted that the pacific overtures of Peter the Great should at least be fairly considered, but his master was always immovable. Piper's career came to an end with the Battle of Poltava (1709), where he was among the prisoners. The last years of his life were spent in captivity in Russia. He died in Schlüsselburg Fortress in 1716.

Carl Piper was the son of Carl Piper and Ingrid Charlotta Ekenbom and was married to Christina Törne.

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