FORBES OF LUND, MATTIAS [SSNE 2248]

Surname
FORBES OF LUND, FINNESSE FORBES, FIN-FORBES
First name
MATTIAS, MATTHIAS, MATTHEW
Title/rank
COLONEL FORBES OF LUND
Nationality
SCOTO-SWEDISH
Region
MECKLENBURG
Social status
NOBILITY

Text source

Mattias Forbes was the brother of General Arvid Forbes [SSNE 2227], and a son of Ernald Forbes of Meckleburg. He became a stable master in Sweden under colonel Samuel Cockburn [SSNE 4219] in 1618. By 1624 he was a lieutenant in Ernst Creutz' Nyland regiment. The next year he was a captain of Finnish recruits. He attained the rank of major in 1631, and the following year he was lieutenant colonel with the Tavastehus infantry (another source notes this as the Viborg area dragoons). In 1634 he was the Military Governor of the Osnabruck garrison, and he received his relatives Colonels William [SSNE 2262] and Alexander Forbes[SSNE 1616] with their men there. Forbes left Osnabruck on 18 November 1634 with 325 soldiers without officers and went to the fortress of Fuerstenau, belonging to the principality of Osnabruck. He was replaced as governor by James Lumsden [SSNE 3003]. Forbes was still lieutenant colonel in 1635, when chancellor Axel Oxenstierna made him colonel of a recruited German regiment. In 1638 he was colonel of a recruited regiment in Riga. Forbes was ennobled in Sweden along with his brother Arvid in 1638, for which he obtained a genealogy from Aberdeen dated 12th of June 1634, signed by 25 Forbes. He is usually said to have died on 20 March 1641, although some sources have him participating at the battle of Leipzig in 1642 (Nordensvan).

 

Sources: R. Monro, His Expedition with a worthy Scots Regiment called Mac-Keyes (2 vols., London, 1637), II, The List of the Scottish Officers in Chiefe; Swedish Krigsarkiv, Muster Roll, 1624/5; 1625/4; 1630/1, 21; 1631/9-11; 1632/8,9; 1635/1; 1637/15; Swedish Riksarkiv, P. Sondén, Militärachefer i svenska arméen och deras skrivelser; Svenska Adelns Ättartavlor vol 2; A. and H. Tayler (eds.), The House of Forbes (Bruceton Mills, 1987), pp.469-471; C. Conermann, Die Mitglieder Der Fruchtbringenden Gesellschaft 1617-1650 (Weinheim, 1985); Steve Murdoch, Network North: Scottish Kin, Commercial and Covert Associations in Northern Europe, 1603-1746 (Brill, Leiden, 2006), pp.22, 58; De La Gardiska Archivet, ed. P. Wieselgren, part 9 (Lund, 1837), pp.60-1; For the reference to his regiment participating at Leipzig in 1642 see C.O. Nordensvan, (ed.), Värmlands Regementes [Närkes och Värmlands Regementes] Historia: Andra Delen, Personal Historia (Stockholm, 1911), p.45; Margret TEGEDER and Axel KREIENBRINK "... der osnabrugischenn handlung und geschicht". Die Chronik des Rudolf von Bellinckhausen 1628-1637 (Osnabruck, 2002), pp. 325, 327, 328. Thanks to Dr Bernd Warlich for this last reference.

Service record

SWEDEN, SAMUEL COCKBURN
Arrived 1618-01-01, as STABLE MASTER
Departed 1623-12-31, as STABLE MASTER
Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY
SWEDEN, CREUTZ, ERNST
Arrived 1624-01-01, as LIEUTENANT
Departed 1631-12-31, as MAJOR
Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY
SWEDEN, TAVASTEHUS CAVALRY
Arrived 1632-01-01, as MAJOR
Departed 1634-12-31, as LT. COLONEL
Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY
SWEDEN, OSNABRUCK
Arrived 1634-01-01, as COMMANDANT
Departed 1634-12-31, as COMMANDANT
Capacity COMMANDANT, purpose MILITARY
 
Arrived 1634-01-01, as GOVERNOR
Departed 1634-11-18, as GOVERNOR
Capacity GOVERNOR, purpose MILITARY
SWEDEN, MATTIAS FORBES
Arrived 1635-01-01, as COLONEL
Departed 1641-12-31, as COLONEL
Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY