James Spens (diplomat)

Sir James Spens (died 1632) was a Scottish adventurer, soldier and diplomat, much concerned with Scandinavian and Baltic affairs, and an important figure in recruiting Scottish and English soldiers for the Thirty Years' War.

He was the son of David Spens of Wormiston (alternatively spelled Wormieston and Wormeston), by his wife Margaret Learmouth. His father formed one of the party which captured the regent Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox at Stirling in 1571, and was shot while trying to guard him from injury. Because of his treason, his estates were forfeited. In 1594 the son James was provost of Craill in Fife, and during the rising of Francis Stewart, 5th Earl of Bothwell he was called on to find security for the borough.

In 1598 Spens and other Scottish gentlemen, including his stepfather, Sir John Anstruther of that ilk, entered into a project for a plantation on the Isle of Lewis. With a grant from James VI of Scotland, they landed at Stornoway harbour in October 1599. At first all went well. They took peaceful possession of the country, and the inhabitants, mostly of Clan MacLeod, submitted to them. But they were resisted in the longer term by Neil MacLeod, and Spens was taken hostage by him.

The attack on Lewis was renewed by others in 1605, but the undertaking again proved too much for private adventurers.

On being released by MacLeod, Spens entered the service of Charles IX of Sweden, and raised several thousand foot and horse for Sweden, thereby earning the rank of colonel, though he never joined his troops in the field. When tension erupted with Denmark in 1611, Spens was recalled by James VI & I, who wished to promote peace between Sweden and Denmark, and was unwilling to allow troops for the Swedish service to be recruited from Scotland - at least officially. In the beginning of 1612 James sent Sir James, now a knight, to Sweden, as ambassador on the accession of Gustavus Adolphus, to urge on him the expediency of peace with Denmark. The Treaty of Knäred ended the Kalmar War, and, with his step brother Robert Anstruther, Spens contributed to its negotiation.

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