Introduction

Biography

Son of a mer­chant, Spe­gel lost both par­ents at age se­ven, and was raised by a dist­ant re­la­tive in Äl­me­bo­da, Swe­den.

At age 13, he be­gan stu­dy­ing in Lund. Four years lat­er, he went abroad and vis­it­ed Ger­ma­ny, Hol­land and Eng­land.

He then en­rolled at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Wit­ten­berg, Germany, and up­on re­turn to Swe­den, com­plet­ed his theo­lo­gic­al stu­dies at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Lund.

In 1671, he was or­dained a min­is­ter of the Church of Swe­den. In 1675, he be­came court chap­lain and per­son­al con­fess­or of King Charles XI of Swe­den, who had great con­fi­dence in him.

Spegel lat­er served as su­pe­rin­ten­dent in Vis­by (1680), Bi­shop of Ska­ra (1685), Bi­shop of Lin­köp­ing (1693), and Arch­bi­shop of Upp­sa­la (1711).