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shown a warm feeling for the sufferings of the peasantry 1
during the war, and who had been overwhelmed with
complaints regarding these foreigners, who “cut down
the corn before it was ripe,” and otherwise oppressed the
country-people on whom they were billeted, seemed only
too glad to disband them. On the 21st of December
1570 the king writes to Anders Keith, his trusted friend,
that the foreign troops are to receive a couple of months’
pay and be discharged. Letters to the same effect are
addressed to Will. Cahun and William Moncrieff.2 We
doubt, however, whether all the Scots really went home ;
for Russia was again on the war-path. Czar Iwan IV.,
King Erik’s friend, but a bitter enemy of the reigning
King Johann, sent hosts of irregular troops to inundate
Estland, and a war of thirteen years, mostly consisting of
plundering expeditions and sieges, followed. New levies
were necessary, and it is not at all improbable that some
of the disbanded Scots were re-enlisted—at all events
we meet with the same names of officers in and after 1573
that came before us in the previous years.
The levy of Scottish soldiers in 1573 was PerhaPs the
largest that ever took place. It has a close connection
with a very remarkable event that occurred in 1574, and
is known as the Scottish Conspiracy against the life of
King John. With the aid of a very excellent book
dealing specially with this subject,2 we have now to
consider it more closely.
Ever since the imprisonment of King Eric XIV., on
1 Most admirable is the justice of the king, when having to decide on
these matters. The Scottish trooper must certainly be enabled to buy his
horses, but he must pay for them, and must not demand more pay than
what is necessary. The poor “ bönder,” i.e. peasant proprietor, must be
protected.
2 F. Ödberg, om Stämplingema mot Konung Johann III. 5 åren
1572-75. Stockholm, 1897.
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