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John Stuart (known as Hans) c1550-1618
COLONEL, STUART OF OCHILTREE
Stuart was probably educated in France. Before 1564 when he would still only have been about 14, he had returned to Scotland as he is known to have sailed from Edinburgh to Danzig. However the ship he was on was captured by the Danes, who were involved in the Nordic Seven Years´ Wars against Sweden. Stuart was therefore imprisoned in Varberg, Sweden on the suspicion of wanting to enter Swedish military service. In September 1565, Varberg was captured by Swedish forces, and all the Scottish troops in the Danish army were forcibly placed under Swedish command. Stuart had all his money taken by Swedish troops and was moved to a prison in Uppsala, presumably as the Swedes were not certain about his status. Eventually, through the efforts of other Scottish officers who were already in Swedish service that Stuart was released.
It is not certain exactly when he decided to stay in Sweden but he was the master of horse in the service of King Erik XIV who reigned from 1560-1568. He then entered the Duke of Södermanland´s service. This was Duke Karl who ruled Sweden first as regent then king 1599-1611 (crowned Karl IX in 1604).
It is also unknown when Stuart married Brita Eriksdotter, both of whose parents were from noble Swedish stock. Stuart provided evidence of his noble origins in a letter to king Johan III and his brother Duke Karl dated 12 October 1579 and signed Earl Collins of Ergadie, the Scottish Chancellor, Earl Robert Stuart of Levenox and Andrew Stuart of Ochiltree who was probably his brother.
Stuart obtained yet another letter dated 14 June 1585 from king James VI which allowed him to use the family coat of arms . Duke Karl had already endowed Stuart with land in Södermanland in 1579, which Stuart exchanged for land in Hedenlunda in 1582, and again in 1610 for rights of inheritance for himself, his wife and his male descendants. Hedenlunda remained the Stuart family seat in Sweden for the next two hundred years. In 1604 Stuart was a gentleman of the chamber for Karl IX, and he soon became the colonel of a regiment that he had raised in Scotland. By 1609 Stuart was not only the quartermaster-general and the war commissioner-general, but also the muster-general of all the foreign soldiers in Sweden. At some point he was made a noble in Sweden however we don´t know when. Stuart was sent to Russia as a Swedish envoy during the Swedish campaign there, but after unfortunately little is known of him until his death in October 1618.