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Covenanters

MacKay's Regiment of Foote was a Scottish mercenary regiment in the service of Sweden during the Thirty Years' War. Motivated by economic necessity, adventure, or greed, the soldiers raised by Donald Mackay, 1st Lord Reay were shipped to Denmark after King Charles I of England granted them a charter in 1626. The regiment served under General Ernst von Mansfeld during the Danish intervention in the Thirty Years' War, including the Siege of Stralsund in 1628. The regiment served as the Danish rearguard at the Battle of Wolgast in August, and it was cashiered out of Danish service in April 1629 a month before Denmark left the war. In May, it entered Swedish service, serving under King Gustavus Adolphus in Germany, including the storming of Frankfurt, the First Battle of Breitenfeld, the Battle of Rain, the Battle of the Alte Veste, and the Battle of Lutzen. In 1634, the regiment went into French service under the command of John Hepburn.

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