LOGAN, JAMES [SSNE 49]
Text source
James Logan was an ensign in the Swedish army, arriving in 1622. An incident is related where Captain Alexander Forrat [SSNE 4146] and James Muir [SSNE 1713] were accused of the murder of ensign James Logan. Logan was a relative of Muir's and newly taken on in Swedish service as an ensign. On the 30th of April 1622, Logan arrived at the house of Admiral Richard Clerk [SSNE 4137] for dinner. There they met Muir, Forrat, John Clerk [SSNE 4159] and Simon Stewart [SSNE 1644]. They went on to the house of Gerdt Spechts (another officer?) where they had a beer. There a dispute arose between Forrat and Logan over money. A fight broke out in which Forrat punched Logan, who promptly pulled a knife and put it to Captain Forrat's throat. Muir got involved and in the moments that followed, John Clerk was cut and Logan was killed. In the trial that followed Forrat was found guilty of starting the fight, fined and ordered to have additional punishment imposed by the king. Muir was sentenced to death for killing a relative, though the text does not say whether the sentence was carried out. However on 9 May 1622 Captain Spens (presumably the younger son of James Spens the general in Swedish service and Stuart ambassador) [SSNE 11] and Doctor James Robertson [SSNE 1637] appeared before the Stockholm magistrates, accompanied by various Scottish captains, burgesses and merchants, asking that James Muir not be spared the death sentence.
Sources: The James Logan murder is recorded in Stockholms Tänkeböcker från år 1592: Del XIII, 1622-1623 (Stockholm, 1978), pp. 26-31, 4th May 1622. Svea Hovrätt konceptprotokoll, Ala 2 3 (1622-1628). See also Svenska Sjöofficerare vol II, p.256; Alexia Grosjean, An Unofficial Alliance: Scotland and Sweden, 1569-1654 (Brill, Leiden, 2003), p.131; Steve Murdoch, Network North: Scottish Kin, Commercial and Covert Associations in Northern Europe, 1603-1746 (Brill, Leiden, 2006), p.39. Thanks to Anna Maria Forsberg for the Svea Hovrätt reference
Service record
- SWEDEN, STOCKHOLM
- Arrived 1622-04-01, as ENSIGN
- Departed 1622-04-30, as ENSIGN
- Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY