FORBES, PETER [SSNE 1671]

Surname
FORBES, FORBUS, FÅRBUS
First name
PETER, PETTER, PATRICK
Title/rank
ROYAL ACCOUNTANT
Nationality
SCOT
Region
THAINSTON, ABERDEEN
Social status
NOBILITY

Text source

Peter/Patrick Forbes was the son of Henry Forbes of Thainston [SSNE 1618] and brother of James Forbes [SSNE 779]. Peter went to Schonewalds in Prussia. He married Sofia von Langivin and had a son, Colonel Johan Forbes/Forbus [SSNE 2242] (who married Catherine Laurelius). It is uncertain exactly when he entered Swedish service but certainly by November 1631 he was already in charge of material (cloth) provisions to the Swedish army in occupied Prussia. In 1633, Peter Forbes became a factor at the armoury (Klädkammaren) and rentmaster (accountant) for the Swedish forces in Germany in 1634. Peter Forbes was naturalised as a Swedish nobleman on 2 March 1651 (a diploma was issued in August that year) and introduced into the House of Nobility in 1652. He became rentmaster in Prussia on 12 October 1656, and in October that year Karl X Gustav wrote to Peter requesting supplies for his Chancellor Peter Tornroos, who duly received 2000 riksdaler. In November the royal bill for kitchen, butchery, bakery and other victual services in Elbing came to 868 riksdaler. That same month the king asked Peter to clothe and furnish his Scottish troops for the campaign in Poland as quickly as possible. A letter from him to the King dated 1657 survives as do records to show that he got the goods from British merchants like William Durham and Nathaniel Spenser in Elbing while borrowing money for the transactions from his countryman Andrew Boij. From 1 November until February 1658, Forbes was based in Elbing. Some sources say he died in February 1658, though his letters to Duke Adolf Johan (March 1658) shows that this was not the case. He was dead by March however, after which his widow Sophia had cause to write to Duke Adolf Johan and other authorities thereafter.

 

Sources: Swedish Riksarkiv, Adolf Johans Arkiv i Stegeborgssamlingen, Peter Forbus to Duke Adolf Johan, Elbing, March 1658. Same archive, Sophia Langwin to Duke Adolf Johan, Elbing March-May 1658; Swedish Riksarkiv 'Krigskollegium Kancelliet: Adressatregistratur till Krigskollegiets Registratur 1631-1654', "belangande några soldater som efter regementarna i Preussen kvarblevo vilka han underhållit hava 11/3/1636"; Swedish Riksarkiv, bref till Konung Karl X Gustav; Svenska Adelns Ättartavlor, vol. 2, p.790; See also Swedish Riksarkiv, Eric Dahlbergssamlingen E3483, Soberg, 31 August 1659; Swedish Riksarkiv, Kammararkivet 554, Preussiska Räkenskaper från Karl X Gustavs Krig 1655-1660 – vol. ‘Kassaräkenskaper Elbing’ 1656, ff.1-6, particularly f.5 Order of karl X, 30 October 1656 and vol. 'Quittentier till Renttmasteren Petter Forbus’, particularly f.1, Karl X to Petter Forbus, 10 November 1656. See also vol. 'Huvudbok 1658:1', particularly ff.118, 147-151 mentioning Forbes’s dealings with William Durham, Nathaniel Spenser and Andrew Boij; Swedish Riksarkiv, Skoklostersamlingen E8558b, Elbing, 28 December 1655, Peter Forbes to Johan Kock, resident in Danzig.

Register till Sveriges Ridderskaps och Adels Riksdags-Protokoll (17 vols, Stockholm, 1910), vols. for 1633 and 1652; P. Wieselgren (ed.), De La Gardiska Archivet, part 9 (Lund, 1837), p.67; Rikskansleren Axel Oxenstiernas Skrifter och Brefvexling, first series, VI, pp.537-8, Memorial för Petter Fårbus, kommissförvaltare i Svenska Preussen, 27 November 1631; T. Wennerstrom, Stockholms Borgargarde, (Stockholm, 1937), p.239; Steve Murdoch, Network North: Scottish Kin, Commercial and Covert Associations in Northern Europe, 1603-1746 (Brill, Leiden, 2006), pp.220-222.

 

Correspondence about him by his widow can be found here: Riksarkivets ämnessamlingar. Personhistoria https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/A0069635_00408#?c=&m=&s=&cv=407&xywh=2734%2C241%2C2695%2C1478

Service record

SWEDEN, PRUSSIA (Preussen), ELBING
Arrived 1633-01-01, as ARMOURY FACTOR
Departed 1658-03-31, as RENTMASTER
Capacity FINANCIAL AGENT, COMERCIAL FACTOR, purpose CIVIC, MILITARY