From Jakob Spens to Axel Oxenstierna

Axel Oxenstierna's works and letters

Contents

Spens complains that he has not been paid as promised. His servant has had to wait at Lübeck to no avail (the merchants had no knowledge of the letter of exchange). Spens claims he has performed useful services for Gustav II Adolf and asks AO to help him to get his due or be informed what he should expect. Spens reports some news: in France, the Princes try to stop Louis XIII’s marriage to a Spanish princess, there is still war in Savoy, the dispute about Jülich and Cleves is unresolved and both sides are making preparations for war. Patrick Gordon has returned from Poland with a message from Duke Radziwill. The background is as follows: Sigismund III has started to persecute the Protestants at the instigation of the Jesuits, he has harassed English merchants at Elbing and he has permitted the publication of a pamphlet full of lies and libels against Elizabeth I of England, King James and the House of Stuart. James has received a letter from Sigismund who asks him to try to make peace between Poland and Brandenburg and between Poland and Sweden. James will send an ambassador (Spens was asked to go but declined the assignment, since he is in Gustav II Adolf’s service) to Poland to ask Sigismund to punish the author of the pamphlet, to ask him to stop persecuting the Protestants and to compensate the merchants. Then the ambassador will start to negotiate for peace. – The Polish Estates have refused to admit the Russian ambassador, since they recognise no other Tsar of Russia than the King or Prince of Poland. Sigismund’s request for aid in a war against the Russians has been postponed by the Estates. The Prince is a keen advocate of a war against Russia or Livonia, but the King hesitates. The rebels have been dispersed. – Spens will inform the relatives of Colonels Rutherford and Thomas Spens, who have carried off soldiers from Britain, how they were received. – James I has been informed by the Duke of Savoy’s ambassador that a peace has been concluded between Spain and Savoy.