I was surprised to learn that 10,000+ Scottish troops from the Royal Scots, fought for the Swedish King. They were with him when he died in the 30 years War here is an excerpt from an exhibition at Edinburgh castle. Strong links

by nserious_sloth

17 comments

  1. Yes, 2 of my ancestors came over during that time, from Clan Mackay. They got fleeced for their payment and never left 🙂

  3. Glenn is also a common name in the second biggest Swedish city. It was founded by the same king and a lot of his Scottish veterans were allowed to settle there.

  4. Wow that’s awesome, I’m half Scottish half Swedish actually never knew this! Lived in Edinburgh for 5 years visited castle few times but must’ve missed this

  5. Yes, Leslie was a crucial in the later english civil war, too!

  6. Steve Murdoch has written a lot about this! I was at a conference with him in Orkney when I was a masters student (I presented a paper about how Orkneymen were perceived as more Swedish than Scottish during the fur trade in the 1600s and 1700s.) look up some of Steve’s work! He’s a great historian and nice guy

  7. Gustav Adolf and Scots figure prominently in the alternative history books started by late Eric Flint. In those books Gustav didn’t die in Lützen. A small American rural town is temporally displaced back in time to 1632 Europe. Quite engaging. Many other authors have, and are, contributing to that alternative history, using actual historical persons, wars and relations.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1632_series

  8. The 30 years’ war was fought with a lot of mercenaries. They started with many swedish soldiers but in the end the mercenaries, mostly german apart from the scots, outnumbered the home grown soldiers.

  9. Check out the battle of Kringen, Norway. A large contingent of Scottish troops landed on the west coast of Norway in 1612, with the intention of marching through the country to join the Swedish army. They didn’t get that far.

  10. Interesting 🤔 did not know this! Thanks for sharing 👍

  12. Scotts were extremely common as mercenaries in most European armies, which also was the case in Sweden, and a lot of them settled in Sweden after serving in the army.

    However, some Scotts became part of the nobles in Sweden thanks to their participation in the thirty year war. Some families are already mentioned as Leslie, but also Spens and Hamilton served and became part of the nobles of Sweden and were very influential. Others, like King(James King), were buried in the Riddarholmkyrkan were only royals are typically buried.

  13. Depends on what you mean by “with him when he died” as the king was leading the Småland cavalry when he died.

  14. Off topic but how can anyone find it acceptable to have the phone manufacturer’s logo and advertisement burnt into every photo they take?

  15. Im not a historian but i see a pattern if warriors for hire throughout our history.

    And they were hired because of a reason.

    Very calm and resonable but smart and ferocious.

  16. One of my ancestors maried someone named Mary in the middle of Småland in the 1600s, so there is a high likelihood she was the daughter of scottish soldier

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