Gabriel Spens

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Gabriel Spens ( Swedish Gabriel Carlson greve Spens ; born September 23, 1712 in Margretelund, Österåker , † September 8, 1781 in Engelholm, Östergötland ) was a Swedish field marshal .

Life

Coat of arms of Count Spens, from 1712

Origin and family

Gabriel was a member of the Swedish noble family of the Counts ( Swedish greve ) Spens , who came from Scotland . The progenitor of the Swedish line was the general and diplomat James (Jakob) Spens (1571-1632), son of William David Spens of Wormeston (Wormiston), who came to Sweden in the Thirty Years War , was in English and Swedish services and in 1628 was the Swedish Baron received. Gabriel's parents were the Swedish court marshal and head hunter Carl Gustaf Graf Spens (1682–1751) and Beata, née Countess Oxenstierna af Croneborg (1687–1735), a daughter of Count Gabriel Gabrielsson Oxenstierna, governor of Gotland , and Elsa Barbara, née Sparre . He was not married.

Engelholm manor, owned by Count Gabriel Spens from 1745

Gabriel Spens succeeded his uncle, who was also unmarried, the Swedish Lieutenant General Axel Spens (1681–1745) as majorate on the Engelholm Family Fideikommiss. Gabriel's successor was his younger brother Fredrik Spens (1721–1795).

Career

Spens studied in Uppsala from 1728 before starting his career in the Swedish army as a volunteer with the Livguard in 1730 . In the same year he was promoted to armorer, then in 1731 first to furier and finally to sergeant . He switched to the Dalarna Regiment as an ensign in 1732 . In 1734 he entered the Polish service and took part in the Polish war of succession as a captain in a dragoon regiment of Stanislaus I. Leszczyńskis in the siege of Danzig , where he was wounded. He then switched to the Régiment de Royal Suèdois and took part in the fighting during the war on the Rhine .

Spens returned to the Dalarna regiment in 1739 before taking part in the war in Finland in 1740 as Rittmeister in the Västgöta cavalry regiment . In 1745 he was corporal of the body members and in 1748 became a Knight of the Order of the Sword . In 1749 he received an infantry regiment as colonel and chief , named after him Regiment Spens ( Swedish "Spenska regementet" ), and took garrison in Stralsund . He took part in the war in Pomerania during the Seven Years' War , was promoted to major general in 1760, and in the same year became commandant of Stralsund. In 1763 he became the commander of the Order of the Swords and in 1765 gave up his regiment and became the owner of the Närke - Värmland regiment. His promotion to lieutenant general in 1770 was followed by promotion to infantry general in 1773 and field marshal in 1776. In the same year he received the Order of Seraphine and in 1778 was "one of the lords of the kingdom" ( Swedish En av rikets herrar ). In 1779 he received his departure .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Johann Friedrich Gauhe : Des Heil. Rom. Reichs Genealogisch-Historischen Adels-Lexici , Volume 2, 1747, p. 1825.
  2. ↑ Steve Murdoch: Scotland and the Thirty Year's War , 2001, p. 152.
  3. ↑ Heiko Droste: In the service of the crown: Swedish diplomats in the 17th century , 2006, p. 409.
  4. ^ Johann Huebner : Genealogical tables , Leipzig 1733, Volume 4, 1308. Table: The counts Oxenstierna in Sweden.
personal data
SURNAME Spens, Gabriel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Spens, Gabriel Carlson greve (Swedish with patronymic and title)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swedish field marshal
DATE OF BIRTH September 23, 1712
PLACE OF BIRTH Margretelund, Österåker
DATE OF DEATH September 8, 1781
Place of death Engelholm, Östergötland