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money, pawned his property, and was left penniless after
haying provided his 2600 men with food and clothing for
several months—all this the reader will find in that
document, which moreover details the pecuniary claims the
writer now had on the Swedish Government, amounting
to the large sum of 369,400 “ Imperiales.” Spens (in
the meantime), who had been sent by the King of Sweden
to urge Charles of England to support him in the Thirty
Years’ War, was to superintend the levies in England.
A Colonel John Gordon offered to levy at his own
expense twelve companies of foot-soldiers in 1630, towards
whose monthly pay the merchants of Danzig were to
contribute.1 In the letter to Oxenstierna, which conveys
this news, the king adds, u Such levies are very necessary
at the present time.”
The largest contingent of soldiers, however, was to be
brought across from England and Scotland by James,
third Marquis of Hamilton. Already in 1629 he had
offered his services to the Lion of the North, and these
had been accepted on condition of his bringing 6000
men with him. Alexander Leslie was to accompany the
Marquis to London likewise for the purpose of levying.
Gustavus Adolphus landed in Germany in June 1630. In
the same month Hamilton went to Scotland, but could only
collect 400. Finding hardly any volunteers in England
either, he had recourse to official pressure. Other
circumstances delayed his departure. We know that his recruit-
1 Ibid., i. 676. It is, however, only fair to state that in the case
mentioned above, Scottish troops are not especially mentioned, though
Gordon was Scotch. Extreme care is necessary if one wishes to arrive
at a just estimate of the Scottish levies. There was a large admixture
of Irish and English in late years ; and Scottish officers often had to raise
troops in Germany or elsewhere. We believe that at no time the number
of Scots available in the field during the Thirty Years’ War exceeded
6000 or 8000.
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