Alexander Leslie, 1st Earl of Leven
| Alexander Leslie, 1st Earl of Leven | |
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| Born | 1582 |
| Died | 4 April 1661 (aged 78–79) Balgonie Castle, Fife, Scotland |
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Alexander Leslie, 1st Earl of Leven (1582 – 4 April 1661) was a Scottish soldier in Swedish and Scottish service. Born illegitimate and raised as a foster child, he subsequently advanced to the rank of a Swedish Field Marshal, and in Scotland became Lord General in command of the Army of the Covenanters, privy councillor, captain of Edinburgh Castle, Lord Balgonie and Earl of Leven. In England he commanded the Army of the Solemn League and Covenant and was senior commander of the Army of Both Kingdoms (1642-1647).
Alexander Leslie was born in 1582 as an illegitimate son of George Leslie, a captain of Blair Castle, and a mother sometimes described as "a wench in Rannoch". He was a member of the Clan Leslie.
At an early age, Alexander was fostered out to the Campbells of Glenorchy. The fosterage bond was strong and still written about by Leslie into the 1640s. Indeed, it was this link that brought Leslie into the orbit of the House of Argyll as Lord Lorne, the son of the marquis of Argyll was also a Glenorchy fosterling. This relationship perhaps explains the presence of Campbells in the same regiments as Leslie in Sweden, most notably Captain Charles Campbell (Karl Kammel), whose portrait hangs to this day in Skokloster Castle in Sweden.
It is sometimes claimed that Alexander Leslie entered Dutch service in 1605, and eventually attained the rank of captain in the Dutch States Army. However, this remains speculation.
In 1608, he transferred to the Swedish army where he served with distinction. In 1627 the Swedish monarch knighted Alexander Leslie, by now a full colonel, along with three of his countrymen; Patrick Ruthven, David Drummond and John Hepburn. Gustavus Adolphus had a particular affection for him, trusting him with guarding the crucial strategic garrisons in North Germany while the main Swedish army established a foothold on the Baltic shoreline and advanced slowly southwards. In 1628, Leslie was appointed governor during the Siege of Stralsund, replacing Colonel Alexander Seaton and the Scottish regiment of Donald Mackay who had been holding the town on behalf of the Danes. Leslie continued the defence of Stralsund successfully defending the town against Albrecht von Wallenstein's imperial army in what effectively constituted Sweden's entrance into the Thirty Years' War, Gustav II Adolf also sending eight warships to help raise the siege.
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