Otto Arnold von Paykull (c.1662 – 4 February 1707) was a Livonian

officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," fro ...

in the service of the

Electorate of Saxony The Electorate of Saxony, also known as Electoral Saxony ( or ), was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire from 1356 to 1806 initially centred on Wittenberg that came to include areas around the cities of Dresden, Leipzig and Chemnitz. It was a ...

Early life

Otto Arnold von Paykull was born around 1662 in

Swedish Livonia Swedish Livonia () was a dominion of the Swedish Empire from 1629 until 1721. The territory, which constituted the southern part of modern Estonia (including the island of Ösel ceded by Denmark after the Treaty of Brömsebro) and the northe ...

. He was a page at the Royal Court of Saxony in 1677 and in 1678 he joined the Saxonian Guard.

Military career

After some years in French service von Paykull returned to Saxony where he eventually became Lieutenant

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

around 1700. He was part of the Saxonian army that tried to stop the Swedish Crossing of the Daugava in 1701. He was injured during this fight and left the service for some years, but returned in 1704 to command a cavalry regiment. Execution of Otto Arnold von Paykull

In 1705, von Paykull was captured by the Swedes at the Battle of Warsaw. He was brought to Stockholm where he was executed on 4 February 1707 for high treason due to his service for Saxony, though being born in a Swedish province. Known as an

alchemist Alchemy (from the Arabic word , ) is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practised in China, India, the Muslim world, and Europe. In its Western form, alchemy is first ...

, he tried to escape execution by promising annual deliverance of gold to king

Charles XII of Sweden Charles XII, sometimes Carl XII () or Carolus Rex (17 June 1682 – 30 November 1718 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.), was King of Sweden from 1697 to 1718. He belonged to the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, a branch line of the House of ...

but was rebuffed.

References

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Otto Arnold Paijkull
in

Nordisk Familjebok (, 'Nordic Family Book') is a Swedish language, Swedish encyclopedia that was published in print from between 1876 and 1993, and that is now fully available in digital form via Project Runeberg at Linköping University. The public domain edit ...

(1914). 1660s births 1707 deaths Baltic-German people People from Swedish Livonia People executed by the Swedish Empire Executed German people Executed Swedish people 18th-century executions by Sweden German alchemists 17th-century alchemists 18th-century alchemists {{Sweden-bio-stub

Early life

Military career

See also

References