Arvid Forbus

Arvid Forbus
Painting of Arvid Forbus
Born	1598 (1598) Porvoo, Swedish Finland
Died	May 29, 1665(1665-05-29) (aged 66–67) Stettin, Swedish Pomerania
Buried	Riddarholmen Church
Allegiance	Swedish Empire
Service years	1632-1659
Rank	General
Unit	Nyland Regiment Pori Regiment
Conflicts	Thirty Years' War Siege of Wolgast Battle of Nördlingen Bernard's Upper Rhine Campaign Battle of Rheinfelden Battle of Breisach Dano-Swedish War (1657–1658) Dano-Swedish War (1658-1660)
Spouse	Margareta Boije
Children	Jakob Henrik Forbus Johan Mattias Forbus Anna Catharina Forbus Sofia Juliana Freiin Forbus

Baron Arvid Forbus was a Swedish general of Scottish descent, he was born in Porvoo in 1598, and died May 29, 1665, in Stettin. Arvid was a member of Clan Forbes.

Life

Forbus was born in Porvoo, in Swedish Finland, he was the son of Ernald Forbus and Karin Mattsdotter Björnram. His father had immigrated from Scotland to Finland. He would begin his military service as a lieutenant in the Nyland Regiment and later became a captain in the Pori Regiment in 1630. He served at the Siege of Wolgast in 1630, under the command of Dodo zu Knyphausen.

Forbus was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in 1631 and later commanded a recruited regiment. Forbus's regiment would serve under Bernard of Saxe-Weimar at the Battle of Nördlingen. Following the battle he was given command of a regiment stationed at Sachsenhausen, a suburb of Frankfurt am Main.

In 1635, Forbus joined Bernard's Weimaran Army, there he distinguished himself at the Battles of Rheinfelden and Breisach. Following Bernard's death in July 1638, Forbus returned to Sweden.

In 1641, Forbus became commandant of Western Pomeranian, in 1646 he promoted to Major General, and in 1648 Pomeranian Deputy Commander. In 1650, he was appointed to the Council of War and in 1653 to the National Council. During Karl X Gustav's Danish War, he organized Southern Sweden's military service, and in 1658 he was appointed General.

During the Second Danish War, he accompanied the King and he was briefly a commander of in Skåneland. On May 29, 1665, Forbus died in Stettin, he was aged about either 66–67.

Family

In June 1639, Forbus married Margareta Boije in Turku. They would have four children:

• Jakob Henrik Forbus
• Johan Mattias Forbus
• Anna Catharina Forbus
• Sofia Juliana Freiin Forbus; married Axel Julius De la Gardie.

Forbus Plata in the Suecia Antiqua et Hodierna, in 1698

Land

In Finland, he owned the Kokemäki Estate, of which he was granted the title of Baron in 1652, and the Jackarby manor in Porvoo. He also received the entire Artjärvi parish as a fiefdom. After his military career, he acquired land in Blasieholmen, Stockholm, where he built a mansion.

Sources

• Bentzer, Björn (2021), The Forbes Family in Sweden and Finland
• Bentzer, Björn (2019), Forbes and the Thirty Years War
• Lagercrantz, Bo, Scots in Sweden - Seventeenth Century - Part 1
• Hildebrand, Bengt (1964–1966), Arvid Forbus