Col. Archibald Ruthven

From the English Wikipedia page on the Treaty of Berwick of 1560, negotiated in part by Archibald's father, Patrick (on behalf of James Hamilton, Duke of Chatelherault):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Berwick_(1560)

Articles of the treaty

On the 27 March 1560, Mary of Guise wrote to her brothers, the Cardinal and Duke of Guise, that she never saw anything so shameful as the Articles.[14]

The Berwick articles[15] included:

• 1. The belief of Elizabeth that France intended to conquer Scotland, and offered her protection to its nobility during the marriage of Mary to Francis II of France.
• 2. Elizabeth would send an army with all speed to join with Scots.
• 3. Any forts won by the English force would be immediately destroyed by the Scots, or delivered to the Duke of Châtellerault.
• 4. The Scots will aid the English Army.
• 5. All enemies of England are enemies of both.
• 6. Scotland shall be no further united to France than by Mary's marriage.
• 7. Scotland will help repel French invasions of England.
• 8. The Earl of Argyll will help English rule in the north of Ireland.[16]
• 9. The Scots will offer hostages or 'pledges'. These hostages were at Newcastle by 10 April 1560, attended by Ninian Menville of Sledwick Hall.[18] Châtellerault wrote to Elizabeth on 21 December 1561, asking for the return of these pledges, as they were meant to stay in England only until a year after the end of Mary's French marriage.[19] Those sent in April 1560 included:[17]:
  • 1. Claud Hamilton, 1st Lord Paisley, Châtellerault's son, aged 14.
  • 2. Master Alexander Campbell, first cousin to the Earl of Argyll.
  • 3. Master Robert Douglas half-brother of Lord James.
  • 4. Master James Cunningham, son of Earl of Glencairn.
  • 5. Master George Graham, son of the Earl of Menteith, aged 5.
  • 6. Master Archibald Ruthven, son of Lord Ruthven, aged 14.
• 10. The treaty to be signed by the Duke after the hostages are delivered. There is no due obedience withdrawn from Mary or the French king.

The treaty was signed and sealed by 30 of the Lords of the Congregation at the 'camp before Leith' (Pilrig) on 10 May 1560.[20]

Footnotes:

• 14. Calendar of State Papers Foreign, 1559–60, London (1865), 481 (no. 906, para. 4).
• 15. Donaldson, Gordon, A Source Book of Scottish History, vol. 2, Thomas Nelson (1953), 159–60, citing Foedera, vol. 15, 569–70: Laing, David, ed., Works of John Knox: History, vol.2 (1846), 46-52
• 16. See Dawson, Jane E. A, The Politics of Religion in the Age of Mary, Queen of Scots: The Earl of Argyll and the Struggle for Britain and Ireland, Cambridge (2002); prologue, pp.5-10; & pp. 96-101
• 17. Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 1 (1898), 344–5.
• 18. Dynfnallt Owen, ed., HMC 58, Manuscripts Marquess of Bath, vol. 5 (London, HMSO, 1980), p. 155
• 19. Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 1, (1898), nos. 1052–53, pp. 580–1
• 20. Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 1 (1898), 403: cf. Ridpath, George, Border History, Mercat (1848/1979), 412 note.

---

According to his father's Wikipedia page, he attended during his year as a pledge the Westminster School, re-founded in 1560 by Queen Elizabeth.

---

From Scots in Sweden, by Jonas Berg and Bo Lagercrantz, on Electric Scotland:

http://www.electricscotland.com/history/sweden/16-1.htm

In 1563 Eric XIV wrote to an agent in Scotland and requested the enlistment of 2000 men. In this year the Scandinavian Seven Years’ War broke out between Sweden and Denmark. No mention is found of any Scottish infantry on Sweden’s side during this war, and it is uncertain whether the King’s letter had any result. On the other hand, a troop of Scottish cavalry appears as early as in 1565, and five years later there were at least three troops, under Willem Cahun, Robert Crichton and Andrew Keith. In 1568 Eric XIV was deposed and imprisoned, and the throne occupied by his brother John III. After bringing the war to an end in 1570, John was concerned to discharge his foreign cavalry, which by then numbered seven troops (3 Scottish, 1 English and 3 German) but in the case of the Scottish troops at least this seems to have been a long drawn-out procedure.

Meanwhile, relations with Russia became strained, and in 1573 foot soldiers were enlisted in Scotland on a large scale. In June of that year there arrived a large contingent, perhaps as many as 4000 men. This troop, which was under the command of Colonel Archibald Ruthven, marched through Sweden to be shipped out to the fighting in Esthonia and Livonia. The Scottish cavalry from the Seven Years’ War seem then still to have been in Swedish service.

In 1579 we learn of Jakob Neaf as a Captain of Horse, but it is not known if his men were from Scotland. In the same year the name of Henrik Leyell also begins to appear as Captain of Horse, and ten years later, at all events, his troop consisted of Scots. (Archibald died the year before in Sweden.)

---

From the English Wikipedia page on the Siege of Wesenberg:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Wesenberg

John III, king of Sweden since 1568, faced a Russian offensive on the Swedish positions in Estonia during the early 1570s.[3] Reval withstood a Russian siege in 1570 and 1571,[1] but several smaller towns were taken by Russian forces.[3] The Russian advance was concluded by the sack of Weissenstein (Paide) in 1573.[3] After the capture, the Russian forces roasted alive some of the leaders of Weissenstein's Swedish garrison, including its commander, triggering John III to mount a retaliatory campaign with Wesenberg being the main objective.[3]

The campaign started in Reval, where Sweden had concentrated her troops, including between 4,000[3] and 5,000 Scots.[4] Already in 1572, John III had requested that Archibald Ruthven recruit Scottish co-patriots to reinforce his Livonian army.[3] Ruthven had raised 3,000 infantry and 760 cavalry, who arrived in Swedish Älvsborg in June and July 1573.[3] They were split up into small units and marched to Sweden's eastern coast.[3] Overdue pay caused some mercenaries to delay their march, pillage the countryside,[3] and revolt against Ruthven.[4] Upon their arrival in Stockholm and ports in Östergötland, they were joined by another 300 Scottish cavalry[3] and shipped to Reval, where they arrived in September[4] and joined with Swedish and Finnish regulars as well as German mercenaries, primarily consisting of cavalry and artillery.[3] In November, the army left for Wesenberg,[4] under the overall command of Klas Åkesson Tott (the Elder) and field command of Pontus de la Gardie.[3] The march was again delayed by the Scottish troops, who demanded to be paid a month in advance, causing de la Gardie to sell part of his jewelry to satisfy their claims.[4]

Siege

In January 1574,[nb 1] Wesenberg was stormed twice, but without success.[3][4] In the third assault of 2 March 1574,[4] the Swedish forces lost at least 1,000 men.[3][4][nb 2] Subsequent Swedish attempts to dig tunnels and set the town on fire likewise failed.[3] De la Gardie withdrew part of the besieging army for expeditions to nearby Tolsberg (Toolse) and Dorpat (Tartu), both of which were unsuccessful.[4]

Thus, the besieging forces were demoralized.[3] In addition, supplies ran out and tensions grew[3] after the German faction blamed the failures on a lack of Scottish support.[4] On 17 March 1574,[2][5][nb 3] a brawl between German and Scottish mercenaries occurred,[2][6] triggered by insults[2] and/or unpaid ale in the canteen.[6] First, a German officer tried to intervene, but when he was unsuccessful and the brawl turned into an open fight, de la Gardie, Tott and Ruthven arrived to the scene in person.[6] They were however likewise attacked and fled, with Ruthven suffering severe injuries.[6]

When the commanders had fled the scene, Scottish mercenaries overwhelmed the German artillery, seized the guns and took aim at the German cavalry.[2][6] The German cavalry charged, hit by Scottish artillery fire on their way, and cut down the Scots.[2][6] The result was 30 dead Germans and 1,500 dead Scots.[2][6] The German and Swedish infantry stood by without taking action,[2] neither did the Scottish cavalry intervene.[6][nb 4] Several Scottish officers were among the dead, including David Murray, Jacob Murray and George Michell.[6] About 70 Scots escaped to the Russian forces in Wesenberg, the last historical record of them is that they were subsequently brought to Moscow.[7][nb 5]

The siege was aborted and the army withdrawn to Reval by the end of March.[8]

Aftermath

As a consequence, John III of Sweden removed Tott from overall command in Livonia and replaced him with de la Gardie.[8] Furthermore, the king would not again start an expedition relying heavily on mercenaries, and was hindered by starting any offense at all by the investigation of the Wesenberg incident and a few subsequent trials in Reval throughout 1574.[8] Ivan IV seized the initiative until the Battle of Wenden (1578) turned the war's tide.[1] In 1580, Sweden took Kexholmslän, and in the winter of 1580/81, Pontus de la Gardie led a Swedish army over the frozen Gulf of Finland, captured Wesenberg, turned to Narva which was taken on 6 September with the whole population slaughtered by the assailants, and until the end of 1581 sacked the last Russian strongholds in Estonia.[1]

Notes

• 1. Peterson (2007) erroneously gives January 1573 on page 91, contradicting his previous description of the 1573 Scottish march through Sweden on the same page.
• 2. Ruthven claimed 1,100 Scottish dead: Fischer (1907/2009), p. 63.
• 3. Fischer gives 15 March 1574: Fischer (1907/2009), p. 64.
• 4. Fischer however reports a possible involvement of the Scottisch Moncrieff cavalry unit in the fight: Fischer (1907/2009), p. 64.
• 5. Fischer also cites Rüssow's report, according to whom there were 700 escapees: Fischer (1907/2009), p. 65.

Sources

References

• 1. Black (1996), p. 59
• 2. Peterson (2007), p. 92
• 3. Peterson (2007), p. 91
• 4. Fischer (1907/2009), p. 63
• 5. Soderqvist (1898/2008), p. 113
• 6. Fischer (1907/2009), p. 64
• 7. Fischer (1907/2009), p. 65
• 8. Peterson (2007), p. 93

Bibliography

Black, Jeremy (1996). Warfare. Renaissance to revolution, 1492–1792. Cambridge Illustrated Atlases 2. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-47033-1.

Frost, Robert I (2000). The Northern Wars. War, State and Society in Northeastern Europe 1558–1721. Longman. ISBN 978-0-582-06429-4.

Fischer, Ernst Ludwig aka Thomas A. Fisher (pseud.); Kirkpatrick, John (2009 reprint of London 1907). The Scots in Sweden; being a contribution towards the history of the Scot abroad. BiblioBazaar, LLC.

Peterson, Gary Dean (2007). Warrior kings of Sweden. The rise of an empire in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-2873-2.

Soderqvist, Olof E (2008 reprint of Uppsala 1898). Johan III Och Hertig Karl, 1568–1575 (in Swedish). BiblioBazaar, LLC. ISBN 0-559-18299-6.

Further reading:

James Dow: Ruthven's Army in Sweden and Esthonia. Kungl. Vitterhets Historia och Antikvitets Akademien, Historiskt arkiv 13. Almqvist & Wiksell, 1965

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_McCalzean about the court case about his breach of promise, relating to a marriage proposal between Eupham, and Ruthven