Scottish Volunteers

There were many Scots who went to serve the Swedes and others during the war. Scottish troops did not wear tartan. They wore ‘hodden gray’ as did the English and the Irish and a blue bonnet. The color, ‘hodden gray’, could be anything from gray to red brown or dark green. Most Scots serving Sweden were quickly given uniforms, although ‘redshanks’ volunteers hoping to join sometimes followed the army in more traditional clothing. All of the Scottish regiments of Denmark and Sweden were financed by English, Dutch and French subsidies. In terms of service, the Scots usually served the Protestant while the Irish served the Catholic. English volunteers served in both. The Scots had entire regiments in Danish, Swedish and French armies. The English and Irish had regiments in the Army of Flanders. English troops serving in the Palatine under Mansfield, or the Duke of Hamilton are mentioned as wearing blue coats, and gray stockings. Occasionally, the Scots in Germany carried a flag with the cross of St. Andrew. However, as the Scots were under contract, a more typical flag carried would have had the cross of St. Andrew in the canton.
 

Unit History – Leslie IR

The regiment, Leslie, is based on one of the many Scottish regiments serving the Swedes. It was raised in 1626 for Danish service and transferred to Swedish service when the Danes withdrew from the war. Commanded by R. (‘Young’) Leslie, it served under Knyphausen at the siege of Wolgast in 1630. Fought under Kagge at Hoxter (March 1632) and later, at Lutzen (November 1632), the unit was part of the Green Brigade.
In 1633, the regiment was in Duke Bernhard Sachsen-Weimar Corp’s. A detachment fought at Pfaffenhofen (August 1633) under Horn.
After being engaged at Nordlingen (September 1634), the regiment was disbanded and reformed along with other Scottish regiments into a new regiment - Green Infantry regiment. This new regiment then saw action as part of the Weimarian Army of 1635-39. Fought at Wittstock (October 1636) in the center under Leslie and Karr. Was part of the force under Baner that broke out of Stettin in 1638.

The particular flag shown below is based on a description found in Osprey’s book on Swedish infantry as well as the book on ECW Scots. Using the canton with the St. Andrew cross seems to have been common for Scots troops fighting in the TYW. Another common flag was just the St. Andrews cross. One reference has Mackay’s regiment flying the St. Andrew cross at the battles of Breitenfeld and Alte Veste. The other possible flags would have been blue and white variations of horizontal stripes.

 

Unit History – Spens IR
The regiment, Spens, was raised in 1624 for Swedish service in Poland. A detachment joined the Swedish forces in their June 1630 invasion. Commanded by Lt. Col. Lumsden, the regiment was part of the Pomeranian campaign (September 1630 to January 1631) and Gustavus’s muster against Frankfort-an-der-Oder. Later the regiment fought at Werben (August 1631), Breitenfeld (September 1631), Lech (April 1632) and Alte Veste (September 1632).
After Lutzen, the regiment fought at Pfaffenhofen (August 1633) and Nordlingen (September 1634) under Horn. With the defeat at Nordlingen, the regiment was disbanded and reformed along with other Scottish regiments into a new regiment - Green Infantry regiment. This new regiment then saw action as part of the Weimarian Army of 1635-39.

Flag for Leslie IR, Spens IR

King’s Regiment of Horse (1634-1638)
The unit is based on a unit which fought under John King (1589-1652). Raised after Nordlingen, the regiment was a mix of German and Scottish troops. As part of the cavalry force on the left wing at Wittstock (1635), the 2 squadrons arrived late to the battle as dusk was falling. 

In 1638, the regiment fought in the Palatinate army under Karl Ludwig being engaged at Vlotho. The unit was part of a small force loaned out by Baner under the command of John King.
The trumpeter banner is based on the common Scots banner of a white saltire on the blue background on the left hand corner on a field of red. The cornet itself is based on a Scot Covenant cornet from the 1650 Dunbar campaign.

John King was a Scottish soldier of fortune who later served the English Royalist cause gaining the title Baron Eythin. He was a competent and cautious commander serving both the Swedes under Baner and Saxe-Weimar, as well as the French with the transfer of forces.
John was the son of David King of Warbester in Orkney; his mother Mary was the daughter of Adam Stewart, an illegitimate son of James V of Scotland. King's military career began around 1609 when he joined the Swedish service. By 1630, he was lieutenant-colonel in a Scottish regiment in the Swedish army commanded by Patrick Ruthven and in 1636 he served as lieutenant-general in Alexander Leslie's army in Westphalia. In 1637, King commanded an army for the Landgrave of Hesse in an attempt to drive Imperial forces out of his territory. The following year, he joined forces with Charles Louis, the Elector Palatine, and his brother Prince Rupert against General Hatzfeld, but their army was defeated at the battle of Vlotho in October 1638 and Rupert taken prisoner. King made an orderly withdrawal with the only part of the army not to be routed. He blamed the defeat squarely on Rupert's impetuosity.
King retired from the Swedish service in 1639, receiving a Swedish knighthood and pension. He was unwilling to join the Covenanters in the Bishops' Wars against Charles I and became Charles' agent in raising money and forces from Europe in preparation for the civil war in England. In March 1642, he was created Lord Eythin and was persuaded by Queen Henrietta Maria to take up a command in the Royalist army. Eythin accompanied the Queen to Yorkshire in February 1643 and was appointed lieutenant-general and commander of infantry in the King's northern army. He acted as chief military adviser to the Marquis of Newcastle in the campaigns of 1643-4 against the Yorkshire Parliamentarians.
With the signing of the Solemn League and Covenant between Parliament and the Scots, Eythin was placed in the invidious position of fighting against his fellow countrymen and his former commander Alexander Leslie, now Earl of Leven. Eythin held Newcastle-upon-Tyne against the Covenanters but his failure to prevent them from advancing south led to the expression of doubts regarding his loyalty.
From April 1644, Eythin directed the defense of York, which was besieged by the forces of Lord Leven, Lord Fairfax and the Earl of Manchester. The siege was lifted by the arrival of Prince Rupert in July 1644. Recriminations over the battle of Vlotho six years previously still soured relations between Eythin and the Prince. Eythin opposed Rupert's plan to fight the Allied army and was slow to obey the order to bring the infantry up from York. His hostility to Rupert and lack of co-operation in marshaling the army was a factor in the defeat of Marston Moor, which shattered the Royalist military presence in northern England. Regarding the King's cause as lost, Eythin advised Newcastle to escape abroad and accompanied him to Hamburg. He later learnt that Rupert had considered charging him with treason and wrote to the Prince in January 1645 protesting his innocence.
Eythin settled in Sweden and was created Baron Sandshult in Kalmar. In 1650, Charles II commissioned him lieutenant-general under the Marquis of Montrose. He was expected to lead a force of mercenaries in Montrose's projected invasion of Scotland, but only a small advance party ever sailed and Eythin himself never left Sweden. He died in June 1652 and was buried at Stockholm.

Sources
Flags: Osprey’s The Army of Gustavus Adolphus (1) Infantry (Men-at-Arms 235)
Building a Wargames Army for the Thirty Years War by Mark Allen in Wargames Illustrated #101
Text: Uniforms of the Thirty Years War by Bill Boyle in Time Portal Passage Summer 2000
Battles of the Thirty Years War From White Mountain to Nordlingen, William P. Guthrie, Greenwood Press, 2002
http://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/biog/eythin.htm