rdeknijf/ssne
.claude/skills/ssne/SKILL.md
Search the SSNE (Scotland's Soldiers and the Dutch Republic) database at the University of St Andrews. Records of Scottish soldiers and families who served in the Dutch Republic's military, roughly 1570-1782. Includes the Scots-Dutch Brigade. URL-based search, no API but curl-friendly HTML responses. Use this skill when: "search SSNE", "Scotland's Soldiers", "Scots-Dutch Brigade", "Scottish soldiers in Netherlands", "SSNE number", "/ssne", or when researching military connections to Scotland/England in the Dutch Republic era. Directly relevant for the Jeths/Jets line (RQ-001): Captain John Henderson SSNE 8038, Lt-Col James Balfour SSNE 8009, Col David Balfour SSNE 8033. No login required.
$ install --global
skillsauthnpx skillsauth add rdeknijf/ai-genealogy-kit ssneInstall this skill globally with one command. Works with Claude Code, Cursor, and Windsurf.
Security Scan Results
3 of 9 scanners reported clean
Some scanners were skipped, did not run, or reported a non-clean status. Review each row below.
3
Scanners Passed
9
Scanners in report
Clean
TrivyContainer and dependency vulnerability scanner
95%
Clean
SemgrepStatic code analysis for vulnerabilities
95%
Clean
mcp-scan (Snyk)Model Context Protocol security validation
95%
Skipped
Snyk (dep)Open source security scanning
50%
Skipped
Socket.devSupply chain security analysis
50%
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VirusTotalMulti-engine malware detection
50%
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CrowdStrikeAdvanced threat intelligence
50%
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OSV-ScannerOpen Source Vulnerability database check
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OWASP Dep-Check
50%
Last scanned: Apr 17, 2026, 2:32 AM4.5s1 file scanned
SKILL.md
- name:
- ssne
- description:
- |
- skill when:
- search SSNE", "Scotland's Soldiers", "Scots-Dutch Brigade",
- Directly relevant for the Jeths/Jets line (RQ-001):
- Captain John Henderson
SSNE — Scotland's Soldiers and the Dutch Republic
Search records of Scottish soldiers who served in the Dutch Republic's military (Scots-Dutch Brigade and other units), approximately 1570-1782. Hosted by the University of St Andrews.
Base URL: https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/history/ssne/
Direct record lookup (fastest)
If you know the SSNE number:
curl -s "https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/history/ssne/item.php?id=8038" \
-H "User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0"
Pattern: item.php?id=<SSNE_NUMBER>
Confirmed working: 8038 (Henderson), 8009 (Balfour), 8033 (Balfour Sr.)
Full-text search
curl -s "https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/history/ssne/results.php?text=Henderson" \
-H "User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0"
Searches all fields including biography text. 10 results per page.
Advanced search
curl -s "https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/history/ssne/results.php?surname=Balfour&country=The+Dutch+Republic&bool=and" \
-H "User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0"
Parameters (all optional, combinable with bool=and or bool=or)
| Parameter | Description | Example |
|-----------|-------------|---------|
| surname | Surname (loose match) | Balfour |
| first_name | First name | John |
| title_rank | Title or rank | CAPTAIN |
| nationality | Nationality | SCOT |
| region | Scottish region of origin | FIFE |
| social | Social status | OFFICER |
| education | Education | ST+ANDREWS |
| religion | Religion | CATHOLIC |
| country | Country of service | The+Dutch+Republic |
| location | Location/regiment | THE+SCOTS+BRIGADE |
| arrived | Arrival date | 1629-09-22 |
| arrived_op | Date operator | gte, lte, eq, lt, gt, not |
| rank_a | Rank on arrival | CAPTAIN |
| departed | Departure date | 1662-03-07 |
| departed_op | Date operator | same as above |
| rank_b | Rank on departure | COLONEL |
| capacity | Capacity | OFFICER |
| purpose | Purpose | MILITARY |
| source | Text in sources/biography | any text |
| identity | SSNE number | 8038 |
| identity_op | Operator | eq, gte, etc. |
| bool | Combine fields | and / or |
| sort | Sort by | identity, surname, forename |
| order | Sort direction | asc / desc |
| start | Pagination offset | 10, 20 |
Exact-match filter (strict, uppercase)
# All Hendersons (exact surname match)
curl -s "https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/history/ssne/results.php?surname_f=HENDERSON"
# All Scots Brigade members
curl -s "https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/history/ssne/results.php?location_f=THE+SCOTS+BRIGADE"
The _f suffix parameters do exact-match filtering (uppercase).
Record fields
Individual records (item.php?id=N) contain:
Identity section:
- Surname (all spelling variants, each linked)
- First name (all variants)
- Title/rank
- Nationality, Region, Social status
- Education, Religion
Biography: Free-text narrative with inline cross-references to other
SSNE records (item.php?id=XXXX). Includes career details, family
connections, and source citations (books with page numbers).
Service records: One entry per posting:
- Country + Location/Regiment
- Arrived date + Rank on arrival
- Departed date + Rank on departure
- Capacity (e.g., OFFICER)
- Purpose (e.g., MILITARY)
Parsing HTML results
Results are plain HTML (no JavaScript SPA). Use WebFetch or parse
with Python/BeautifulSoup. Key HTML patterns:
- Search results:
<table class="results">with rows per person - Record detail:
<dl class="item">for identity,<dl class="service">for service records - SSNE number in results: appears in first column
Useful pre-built queries
# All Scots Brigade in the Dutch Republic (221 records)
curl -s "https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/history/ssne/results.php?location_f=THE+SCOTS+BRIGADE"
# Officers arriving 1620-1650
curl -s "https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/history/ssne/results.php?capacity=OFFICER&arrived=1620-01-01&arrived_op=gte&departed=1650-12-31&departed_op=lte&bool=and"
Relevance to this tree
- John Henderson (SSNE 8038): Captain in Balfour's regiment 1629-1639, promoted Sergeant-Major 1639. "Henrison" in Dutch records. Connected to Jets family in Doesburg garrison.
- James Michael Balfour (SSNE 8009): Lt-Col, witness at Benjamin Jets baptism 1641. "Jacob Balfour" in Dutch rendering.
- David Balfour (SSNE 8033): Colonel, father of James Michael. Regiment at siege of Breda 1637.
Limitations
- HTML only. No JSON API. Parse HTML or use WebFetch.
- 10 results per page. Use
start=parameter to paginate. - ~5,000 records total. Small but highly specialized database.
- No scans. Records are transcribed/compiled from multiple sources. Source citations are in the biography text.
Output format
## SSNE Record — [SSNE NUMBER]
**Name:** [surname], [first name]
**Rank/Title:** [title]
**Nationality:** [nationality] ([region])
**Service:**
- [country], [location]: [arrived] ([rank_a]) - [departed] ([rank_b])
**Biography:** [key details from text]
**Sources:** [citations from biography]
**URL:** https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/history/ssne/item.php?id=[NUMBER]
**Confidence:** Tier B-C — academic database compiled from primary sources
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