Robert Douglas, Count of Skenninge
Encyclopedia
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
Field Marshal
Field Marshal
Field Marshal is a military rank. Traditionally, it is the highest military rank in an army.-Etymology:The origin of the rank of field marshal dates to the early Middle Ages, originally meaning the keeper of the king's horses , from the time of the early Frankish kings.-Usage and hierarchical...
(1657–1662) in the Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
army, during the Thirty Years' War
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
and the Swedish-Polish wars. He was a commander in the later stages of the Thirty Years' War.
His father, Patrick Douglas, was the second son of William Douglas of Whittinghame
William Douglas of Whittinghame
William Douglas of Whittingehame was a Senator of the College of Justice at Edinburgh, and a Royal conspirator.-Family:...
.
Youth
Scotland's numerous clansScottish clan
Scottish clans , give a sense of identity and shared descent to people in Scotland and to their relations throughout the world, with a formal structure of Clan Chiefs recognised by the court of the Lord Lyon, King of Arms which acts as an authority concerning matters of heraldry and Coat of Arms...
were often mounted warriors by tradition, training and capability. Sons of noble Scots families — particularly younger sons who had little expectation of adequate inheritance — often emigrate
Emigrate
Emigrate is a heavy metal band based in New York, led by Richard Z. Kruspe, the lead guitarist of the German band Rammstein.-History:Kruspe started the band in 2005, when Rammstein decided to take a year off from touring and recording...
d to serve in the armies of monarchs abroad. Young Robert Douglas was one such cadet
Cadet
A cadet is a trainee to become an officer in the military, often a person who is a junior trainee. The term comes from the term "cadet" for younger sons of a noble family.- Military context :...
of the Scottish gentry
Gentry
Gentry denotes "well-born and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past....
. In 1627 he was received as a page in the Swedish service under John Casimir, Count Palatine of Kleeburg
John Casimir, Count Palatine of Kleeburg
John Casimir, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken-Kleeburg was the son of John I, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken and the founder of a branch of Wittelsbach Counts Palatine often called the Swedish line, because it gave rise to three subsequent kings of Sweden, but more commonly known as the Kleeburg ...
, castellan of Stegeborg Castle
Stegeborg Castle
Stegeborg Castle is a ruined castle in St Anna parish, Söderköping, Östergötland, located on an island in a narrow sound at the bay of Slätbaken.- Brief history :...
, brother-in-law of King Gustav II.
Career
In 1630 when Sweden joined the Thirty Years' WarThirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
, he joined the king and started serving in German battlefields. He rose in the officer ranks and in the later stages of the war he served as a commander: in 1635 a colonel, in 1643 a major-general. He participated in some of the most memorable battles of that war, at Leipzig in 1642 and Jankowitz in 1645.
Queen Christina of Sweden
Christina of Sweden
Christina , later adopted the name Christina Alexandra, was Queen regnant of Swedes, Goths and Vandals, Grand Princess of Finland, and Duchess of Ingria, Estonia, Livonia and Karelia, from 1633 to 1654. She was the only surviving legitimate child of King Gustav II Adolph and his wife Maria Eleonora...
ennobled
Nobility
Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...
him as a baron in 1651, and on 28 May 1654, created him a count. In 1652, the she made him the kingdom's Lord Master of the Horse.
In King Charles X Gustav's Polish war, he was with the king at the battle of Warsaw in 1656. On 13 May 1657, the king promoted him to field marshal
Field Marshal
Field Marshal is a military rank. Traditionally, it is the highest military rank in an army.-Etymology:The origin of the rank of field marshal dates to the early Middle Ages, originally meaning the keeper of the king's horses , from the time of the early Frankish kings.-Usage and hierarchical...
.
He served between 1658-1661 as military governor of Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
and Livonia
Livonia
Livonia is a historic region along the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. It was once the land of the Finnic Livonians inhabiting the principal ancient Livonian County Metsepole with its center at Turaida...
. In 1660, he and the Swedes took Jacob
Jacob Kettler
Jacob Kettler was a Baltic German Duke of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia . Under his rule, the duchy was brought to its greatest peak in wealth and engaged in colonization.- Life :...
, Duke of Courland
Duchy of Courland and Semigallia
The Duchy of Courland and Semigallia is the name of a duchy in the Baltic region that existed from 1562 to 1569 as a vassal state of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and from 1569...
as their prisoner. He also led the Swedish forces in the conquests of Valmiera and Mitau.
Douglas was rewarded with numerous properties and fiefs in Sweden, such as Skänninge
Skänninge
Skänninge is a locality situated in Mjölby Municipality, Östergötland County, Sweden with 3,242 inhabitants in 2005. It lies about 10 km north of the municipal seat Mjölby....
, Skälby, Zewen and Sannegården near Göteborg.
Family
In 1646 Douglas married Hedvig Mörner, who bore him six sons and a daughter, of whom three sons lived to adulthood. They became officers and died without issue. The daughter married an OxenstiernaOxenstierna
Oxenstierna, an ancient Swedish noble family, the origin of which can be traced up to the middle of the 14th century, which had vast estates in Södermanland and Uppland, and began to adopt its armorial designation of Oxenstierna as a personal name towards the end of the 16th century...
.
The remaining son, Gustaf, was first of the Swedish-born noble line of Douglas. He became a colonel and governor of Västerbotten
Västerbotten
', English exonym: West Bothnia, is a province or landskap in the north of Sweden. It borders Ångermanland, Lapland, Norrbotten and the Gulf of Bothnia. It is famous for the cheese with the same name as the province.- Administration :...
. The Swedish noble family of Douglas descends from him.
His grandson, Count Gustav Otto Douglas, was captured by the Russians during the Battle of Poltava
Battle of Poltava
The Battle of Poltava on 27 June 1709 was the decisive victory of Peter I of Russia over the Swedish forces under Field Marshal Carl Gustav Rehnskiöld in one of the battles of the Great Northern War. It is widely believed to have been the beginning of Sweden's decline as a Great Power; the...
, entered Russian service, and in 1717 was made Peter the Great’s Governor General over Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
. In the 1890s the then head of the family, Count Ludvig Douglas
Ludvig Douglas
Ludvig Vilhelm August Douglas, Count of Mühlhausen, Gondelsheim, Skenninge and Stjernorp, Lord of Langenstein and Stjernorp castles , was a conservative Swedish politician and official...
, was a distinguished Swedish foreign minister
Foreign minister
A Minister of Foreign Affairs, or foreign minister, is a cabinet minister who helps form the foreign policy of a sovereign state. The foreign minister is often regarded as the most senior ministerial position below that of the head of government . It is often granted to the deputy prime minister in...
and High Marshal of Sweden. The latter’s son, general Archibald Douglas-Stjernorp
Archibald Douglas-Stjernorp
Count Vilhelm Archibald Douglas , was a Swedish nobleman and soldier, who served as Inspector and Supreme Commander of the Swedish Army from 1944 to 1948....
, was Commander in Chief of the Swedish Army during World War II.
Robert Douglas is buried in the Douglas chapel in the church of the Vreta convent.
External links
- Douglas, Robert - Svenskt biografiskt handlexikonSvenskt biografiskt handlexikonSvenskt biografiskt handlexikon is a compact Swedish dictionary of biography first published in 1873-1876 by the physician and antiquarian Herman Hofberg . The second, updated edition was published in 1906, under the editorship of Frithiof Heurlin, Viktor Millqvist, and Olof Rubenson...
at Project RunebergProject RunebergProject Runeberg is an initiative patterned after Project Gutenberg that publishes freely available electronic versions of books significant to the culture and history of the Nordic countries... - The Scottish Ancestry of Princess Max: Countess Elisabeth Douglas (born 1940) (she married 1967 Prince Max of BavariaPrince Max, Duke in BavariaMax-Emanuel Ludwig Maria Herzog in Bayern, sometimes styled Prince Max of Bavaria, Duke in Bavaria, born 21 January 1937 as son of Albrecht, Duke of Bavaria, is the heir presumptive to both the headship of the former Bavarian Royal House and the Jacobite Succession...
) 1659. document from Estonian Historical Archives - http://godouglas.se/Robert%20Douglas.htm
