CHAMBERS, PETER [SSNE 4929]

Surname: CHAMBERS, SCHAMBURG, SCHAMMER
First name: PETER
Nationality: SCOT?
Social status: BURGESS
Religion: LUTHERAN

Text source

Peter Chambers (aka Schamburg) was probably born around 1610. His nationality and country of birth are uncertain, but he was probably either Scottish or English. Certainly he worked for the Scottish burgess in Stockholm, James Macklier [SSNE 5433] by 1646 and letters survive from him to Stockholm in English [Danica, 5 April 1655]. Chambers became a burgess of Stockholm in 1650 and continued to work there until 1655 during which time he got married. Letters dated in Stockholm from the 1650s survive relating to Jacob Porteous [SSNE 791] and Hans Primrose, and they are all written in Dutch. In one he mentions a sum of money owed him by one William Petrie, another Scot in Sweden. Some are signed by Peter Chambers and Robert Erskine and appear to relate to some problem with councillor Michael Abrahamson [See Swedish Riksarkiv, Biographica Microcard, E01711 7/8, letters 30/04/1656, 20/05/1656 23/12/165?]. Between 1656-1674 he served Sweden as a diplomatic agent, primarily in Copenhagen, but also in Hamburg, Lubeck and Elsinore and there are many letters from him to the Swedish king Karl X Gustav. His quick report in 1657 about the Danish siezure of two Swedish salt ships has been noted as a a factor in Karl X's war plans for Denmark, although the Danes launched the first strike at Sweden. Chambers was also in touch with Peter Coyet (a Swedish envoy to Britain) in 1657, regarding Colonel Ludowick Leslie [SSNE 376]. He died sometime in 1678 and was buried on 30 October that year in Maria Kyrka by his son-in-law, Conrad Moller Steenhagen. Numerous letters from Chambers survive, possibly as many as 2000 identified to date.

Sources: Swedish Riksarkiv, Danica 429, 1657-1674, numerous letters; Swedish Riksarkiv, Brev till G. O. Stenbock, 30 letters 02/12/1667 -10/04/1669 and 1 letter 06/06/1674; Swedish Riksarkiv, Brev till G. C. von Hoen 18a, 1656-1657; Swedish Riksarkiv, 1657-73 (from Copenhagen) Skoklostersamlingen II Fol. vol (64) Brev till Carl Gustaf Wrangel and same archive, obundna serien, 1657-75 (288). Same archive, Brev till Per Abrahamson Brahe, Fol. vol. (28); Swedish Riksarkiv, Coyetska Samlingen E 3398, vol.2, f.173; Swedish Riksarkiv, Brev till Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie 1657-64, 1678 (1 volume); Swedish Riksarkiv, Brev till Porteous de la Gardie (12) 1665-1673; Swedish Riksarkiv, Brev till Porteous de la Gardie (13a) 1666-1668; Swedish Riksarkiv, Brev till Brahe (8) 1669; Swedish Riksarkiv, Brev till G. T. Oxenstierna (28:3), 1672; Swedish Riksarkiv, Brev till St Bielke (6), 1672-1673; Swedish Riksarkiv, Brev till B. Horn (53), 1674-1677; Swedish Riksarkiv, Förteckning över Momma-Reenstierna Samlingen, part C: brev till Bröderna Momma-Reenstierna ingångna skrivelser, section 2, brev till Jacob Momma-Reenstierna - E2502, 34, C. 1649-1678 [letters from 1654 noted in SBL are missing]. See also section 3, Affärer och processer med nedan nämda enskilda personer, E2582, 114, C-De Geer, Peter Chambers 1657, Växeläffarer Swedish Riksarkiv, Brev till E. Dahlberg (60), 1676; Swedish Riksarkiv, Adolf Johans Arkiv i Stegeborgssamlingen, 38 letters from Peter Chambers to Duke Adolf Johan, 1660-1675; Swedish Riksarkiv, Drottning Hedvig Eleonoras Arkiv, vol. 1. Enskilda Personer till Hedvig Eleonora, K172 - Peter Chambers, 1661-77, 8; Stockholms Stadsarkivet, Maria Församling, Register över döda, 1656-1680, p.79.

His signature is easily seen in:Riksarkivets ämnessamlingar. Personhistoria https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/A0069534_00252#?c=&m=&s=&cv=251&xywh=3722%2C2162%2C2347%2C1353

P. W. Becker, Samlinger til Danmarks Historie under Kong Frederik den Tredies regering af udlandske archivar (1847), I, 251-254, 256, 265-267, 288-289, 290-292, 295-296, 307-308, II, pp.32, 38, 162-163, 166, 248-249; A. Liljefalk, 'Kobenhavnske tilstande i tiden efter fredsletning '1660' in Hist. Meddeleser om Kobenhavn, 4, (1913-1915); Svenska Man och Kvinnor (8 vols., 1942-1955), II, p.90; Svenskt Biografiskt Lexicon (Stockholm, 1918- ), VIII, p.347; Steve Murdoch, Network North: Scottish Kin, Commercial and Covert Associations in Northern Europe, 1603-1746 (Brill, Leiden, 2006), p.222-223, 351.

Service record

SWEDEN, STOCKHOLM: Arrived 1646-01-01; Departed 1680-12-31; Capacity BURGESS, purpose CIVIC, MERCANTILE
SWEDEN, COPENHAGEN, DENMARK, LUBECK, HAMBURG: Arrived 1656-01-01; Departed 1678-10-30; Capacity DIPLOMATIC AGENT, 'KONSKAPARE', KOMMISSARIE, GRUSSOR, purpose DIPLOMACY, TRADE