SCOTS IN SWEDISH BREMEN AND VERDEN 16451712
Kathrin Zickermann
In the fourtieth year of his life he died in that unfortunate and miser- able hole of Burgk in 1654; he that had been present at so many famous battles, skirmishes and mighty attacks, and earned so much undying honour and glory therein. His loss has been grieviously felt by all, and he has been wept over by two kings.1 Th e above quotation concludes the memoirs of William Forbes, a Scot in Swedish service from 1634, who died during a military con- fl ict between that kingdom and the city of Bremen twenty years later whilst in charge of the fortifi cation of Burg.2 Th e fact that his fate was mourned by two diff erent monarchs—the Swedish king Charles X Gustav (1654–1660) and the Stuart king Charles II (1660–1685)— reveals Forbes’s integration into the Swedish military elite as well as his sympathy for the cause of the exiled British monarch. Given the research conducted by historians like Alexia Grosjean, it is not surprising that we fi nd William Forbes together with other individuals of Scottish descent within the Swedish army. Scots had served that crown since the sixteenth century as common soldiers and offi cers, the latter oft en profi ting from the policy of rewarding the military elite in the form of land donations and ennoblement.3 Th e
1 Th omas Fischer, Th e Scots in Sweden (Edinburgh: 1907) 128; Alistair and Henrietta Tayler, Th e House of Forbes (Bruceton Mills: 1987) 201. Th e memorial is preserved in the library in Lund. Th e author of its last lines is unknown. Th e original German text has been published in Detlev Pleiss, ‘Das Kriegsfahrtenbuch des schwedischen Offi ziers William Forbes. Von seiner Landung an der Unterelbe im Sommer 1634 bis zu seiner Rückkehr nach Stade im Winter 1649/50’, in Stader Jahrbuch, Neue Folge 85 (1995), 133–153. 2 Tayler, House of Forbes, 201; Henning Eichberg, Militär und Technik: Schweden- festungen des 17. Jahrhunderts in den Herzogtümern Bremen und Verden (Düsseldorf: 1976) 36. 3 Alexia Grosjean, An Unoffi cial Alliance: Scotland and Sweden 1569–1654 (Leiden: 2003); Alexia Grosjean, ‘A Century of Scottish Governorship in the Swedish Empire, 1574–1700’, in A. Mackillop and Steve Murdoch, eds., Military Governors and Imperial Frontiers c. 1600–1800 (Leiden: 2003); Alexia Grosjean, ‘Royalist Soldiers and Cromwellian Allies? Th e Cranstoun Regiment in Sweden 1656–1658’, in Steve Murdoch and A. Mackillop, eds., Fighting for Identity: Scottish Military Experience c. 1550–1900 (Leiden: 2002) 61–82; Alexia Grosjean, ‘Scotland: Sweden’s Closest Ally?’, 162 kathrin zickermann employment of Scots by the Swedish monarchs had reached its peak aft er the entry of the Swedes into the Th irty Year’s War when their army provided an outlet for military offi cials motivated to serve the cause of the Stuart princess Elizabeth, married to the ‘winter king’ Frederick V.4 Moreover, Scottish involvement in Swedish service did not stop aft er peace had been concluded in 1648, but continued, with Scots serving in a variety of functions, not only in Sweden itself but also in newly acquired territories in Western Pomerania and in Bremen-Verden. Th is was even true for the period of the Cromwellian occupation which changed the Scottish-Swedish relationship signifi - cantly, providing a diffi cult situation for Scottish Royalist soldiers in the service of the Swedish Crown, now an ally of the Protector.5 Despite this previous research, a detailed study on Scots in military and civic functions within Swedish Bremen-Verden is so far miss- ing. It is true that some Scotsmen working for the Swedish govern- ment have received some attention from scholars like Klaus-Richard Böhme, Fritz Danner, Henning Eichberg or Beate-Christine Fiedler in their analyses of the nature of Swedish civic and military admin- istration in the duchies.6 However, these historians largely ignore their origin or only mention it in passing without analysing its sig- nifi cance. Th is may be justifi ed in some respects as the lengthy serv- ice of Scottish offi cers in Sweden and their ennoblement meant that they oft en became integrated into the Swedish army and society to a large extent.7 Nevertheless, there is overwhelming evidence that Scots in foreign service did not lose interest in their home country despite their absence from it, which could last for several decades or
in Steve Murdoch, ed., Scotland and the Th irty Years’ War (Leiden: 2001), 143–172; Jonas Berg and Bo Lagercrantz, Scots in Sweden (Stockholm: 1962). For older research see Jonas Berg and Bo Lagercrantz, Scots in Sweden (Stockholm: 1962); Th omas Fischer, Th e Scots in Sweden (Edinburgh: 1907). 4 Grosjean, ‘Scotland: Sweden’s Closest Ally?’, 148–151; Grosjean, ‘A Century of Scottish Governorship’, 76. 5 A Grosjean, ‘Royalist Soldiers and Cromwellian Allies?’, 61–83. 6 Klaus-Richard Böhme, Bremisch-Verdische Staatsfi nanzen 1645–1676: Die schwe- dische Krone als deutsche Landesherrin (Uppsala: 1967); Fritz Danner, Beiträge zur Geschichte der Stader Garnison (Stade: 1987); Henning Eichberg, Militär und Technik: Schwedenfestungen des 17. Jahrhunderts in den Herzogtümern Bremen und Verden (Düsseldorf: 1976); Beate-Christine Fiedler, Die Verwaltung der Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden in der Schwedenzeit 1652–1712: Organisation und Wesen der Verwaltung (Stade: 1987). 7 Grosjean, ‘Scotland: Sweden’s Closest Ally?’, 144.