MONCRIEFF, WILLIAM [SSNE 776]

Surname
MONCRIEFF, MUNKRIJ, MAGKRYFF
First name
WILLIAM, WILLEM
Title/rank
BURGESS, CAPTAIN OF HORSE
Nationality
SCOT
Social status
BURGESS

Text source

William Moncrieff was a Scottish cavalry captain in Swedish service. He had raised a cavalry contingent of around 300 men for King Johan III of Sweden in 1573 and served alongside the army of his kinsman, Archibald Ruthven [SSNE 5514] during the war in Estonia. He appears to have survived the debacle at Wesenberg and served as a burgess of Marstrand in 1588 and 1599. 

There is some confusion about William Moncrieff. After Wesenberg, a Captain William Moncrieff appears in the regiment of Colonel William Stewart in Danzig. This Moncrieff then transferred with Stewart to the Scots-Dutch Brigade in the Low Countries in 1578, appearing in pay-lists to 1581. James Ferguson writes that Moncrieff was killed at Antwerp in 1585 but perhaps he returned to the Baltic.

 

Sources:

G. Arteus, Till Militärstatens Förhistoria: Krig, professionalisering och social förändring under Vasasönernas regering (Stockholm, 1986), pp.176 and 185.

Peter Paul Bajer, Scots in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, 16th-18th Centuries (Leiden, 2012), p. 481.

J.Berg and B.Lagercrantz, Scots in Sweden, (Stockholm, 1962).

James Dow, Ruthven's Army in Sweden and Esthonia (Stockholm, 1965), pp. 12-13.

James Ferguson, Papers Illustrating the History of the Scots Brigade in the service of the United Netherlands, 1572-1697 (Edinburgh, 1899), pp. 46-47.

HaNA, 1.01.02, 12756.15.

 

This entry updated by Dr Jack Abernethy.

Service record

DANZIG, STEWART'S DANZIG REGIMENT
Arrived 1577-01-01, as CAPTAIN
Departed 1577-12-31, as CAPTAIN
Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY
THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, THE SCOTS BRIGADE
Arrived 1578-01-01, as CAPTAIN
Departed 1585-12-31, as CAPTAIN
Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY
SWEDEN, MARSTRAND
Arrived 1588-01-01
Departed 1588-12-31
Capacity BURGESS, purpose CIVIC
 
Arrived 1599-01-01
Departed 1599-12-31
Capacity BURGESS, purpose CIVIC