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.

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.

[1] 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.