LYALL, HENRY [SSNE 182]
- Surname
- LYALL, LYELL, LEYELL, LEIJELL, LEISEL
- First name
- HENRY, HENRIK, HENDRICH, HINRICH
- Title/rank
- CAPTAIN
- Nationality
- SCOT
- Social status
- OFFICER
Text source
Henry Lyall was a Scotsman who entered Swedish military service around 1569 as by that year he was listed on a muster roll. He was one of the 23 signatories of a Latin petition to spare Gilbert Balfour's [SSNE 1703] life in 1576. He was a royal page to King Johan III by 1578, and his favourable relationship with the king resulted in rights to property. Lyall submitted an account for his troop of Scottish horse for the dates 1582-1594 which the Crown presumably could not afford to pay. Lyall thus received some farms in Småland and Östergötland in 1578 and 1581 from King Johan III in pawn for his outstanding salary. With this land entitlement Lyall was obliged to provide armed service to the Crown if necessary. Apparently the land was promised to him permanently in 1581 if he established a mine on it. In 1587 he received a donation of the lands in exchange for a reduction of 1000 daler from his claim. Letters from Lyall are dated from Narva 1591-1596, and one of his properties included land in Estonia.
Henry Lyall also had some right to a house that had formerly belonged to one Thomas Michee [SSNE 3063] in Stockholm as in October 1594 he pawned the house.
Henry Lyall's residence in 1596, 1603, and 1605 was listed as Gohult in Kalmar.
In the developing dynastic struggle between King Sigismund III of Poland (son of Johan III, thus rightful heir to the Swedish Crown on his father's death) in his fight with Duke Karl (Sigismund's uncle) Henry Lyall apparently sided with Sigismund. At this time, in 1591, Henry Lyall was in command of his own unit of Scottish cavalry of 290 men in Estonia. As a result of his support for Sigismund, Henry Lyall lost his Swedish lands by 1597 as Karl IX confiscated and claimed them for himself. There was still a musterroll of Lyall's troop in 1597.
Henry Lyall apparently fled from Finland to Estonia in 1599, and by 1609 he was in Danzig. It is not improbable that this Henry Lyall is the same as the Ambassador to Poland in 1603 cf [SSNE 2404].
It was during these tumultuous times in Swedish royal developments that Henry Lyall got married. In 1597 Henry Lyall married Brita Halvhjort av Flishult, daughter of Ulf Pedersson Halvhjort av Flisthult who had a tempestuous relationship with the Swedish royal house. Initially he served King Erik XIV, but in 1594 King Johan III accused him of calumny, and the year after Ulf's death Duke Karl (later King Karl IX) declared his property forfeit. One could imagine that Henry Lyall's support of Sigismund, coupled with his father-in-law's fall from grace might have made for an uncomfortable situation.
Henry Lyall died sometime between 1609 and 1616.
Sources: Swedish Riksarkiv and Swedish Krigsarkiv, Stockholm Militieräkenskaper 1537-1619, 1582, 1583, 1584, 1585, 1586, 1587, 1588, 1589, 1590, 1591, 1592, 1593, 1594; G. Arteus, Till Militärstatens Förhistoria: Krig, professionalisering och social förändring under Vasasönernas regering (Stockholm, 1986), p.175; Svenskt Biografiskt Lexikon, XXII; T. Fischer, The Scots in Sweden (Edinburgh, 1907), p.50, 62; Erik Brännman, Frälseköpen under Gustav I Adolfs regering (Lund, 1950), pp.38-40, 51, 144. See also Federley, Kunglig Majestät, Svenska Kronan och Furstendömet Estland, 1592-1600; D. Almqvist, Stockholms stads tänkeböcker från år 1592, (Stockholm, 1939), p.265; Carl von Linné 'Nemesis Divina' (1770), p.287. We thank Peter Leyel for this last reference.
Dr Aonghas Macconinnich has kindly brought our attention to the following source which is probably this same man: National Records of Scotland, DI 53/13, 18 October 1602. [There is no pagination in these volumes, Fife diligence papers].
"Action by Captain Henry Lyell against Clement Cor, merchand burgess of Edinburgh ‘as bro[the]r & air at the leist because himself as air or exer at the leist universall intromettor wt the guids & geir of umqle Captaine David Cor or John Cor his brother burgess of our bruch forsaid.’ Clement Cor was pursued by Captain Lyell for 9700 merks. "
HouseinStockholm
Service record
- SWEDEN, STOCKHOLM, KALMAR
- Arrived 1569-01-01
- Departed 1603-12-31
- Capacity PAGE, OFFICER, purpose MILITARY, ROYAL SERVICE
- SWEDEN, ESTONIA
- Arrived 1591-01-01, as CAPTAIN
- Departed 1596-12-31, as CAPTAIN
- Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY
- SWEDEN, FINLAND, ESTONIA
- Arrived 1599-01-01
- Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY
- , DANZIG
- Arrived 1603-01-01
- Departed 1609-12-31
- Capacity DIPLOMAT? REFUGEE, purpose DIPLOMACY?