Alexander Leslie, 1st Earl of Leven

Alexander Leslie, 1st Earl of Leven (c. 1580 – 4 April 1661) was a Scottish army officer. Born illegitimate and raised as a

Alexander Leslie was born circa 1580[1] as an illegitimate son of George Leslie, a captain of Blair Castle, and a mother sometimes described as "a wench in Rannoch".^[2] He was a member of the Clan Leslie.

At an early age, Alexander was fostered out to the Campbells of Glenorchy.^[3] 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.^[4] However, this remains speculated and disputed between many historians.

In 1608, he transferred to the Swedish army where he served with distinction. In 1627 the

Leslie was furious with Banér and in his own account of the battle infers there had been a dispute about the tactics for the day. As it was, Leslie was forced to sacrifice many of his veteran troops in the process of saving Banér's men from being routed. Leslie intimated to Oxenstierna that he would stand down from Swedish service but was persuaded to remain and restructure the Army of the Weser. However, by 1637, Leslie was in Scotland preparing the way for his final retirement from Swedish service.[9] He cherished his old commander's memory to the day of his death, and he kept with particular care a jewel and miniature presented to him by the king.^[7]

In 1638, events in his native country again compelled him to return to Scotland, where he was appointed "Lord General" in command of the Army of the Covenant by the Scottish administration,^[10] and as such participated in the Bishops' Wars. Scottish regiments were generally called into service by the lairds and clan chieftains obliging their tenants with feudal duty or coercion to send their kin into battle. However, support among the Presbyterians of Scotland was widespread and the Covenanters' army swelled to over 20,000 men. From 1639 they rallied under a flag bearing the motto "For Christ's Crown and Covenant". Most of the officers of the Army of the Covenant were veterans of Swedish service brought home from the continental wars to form Scotland's first professional army. This took place after careful negotiations in the Swedish Riksråd (state council) during which Leslie worked behind the scenes to ensure Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna allowed up to 300 officers to be decommissioned along with an unknown number of ordinary soldiers.^[11] He was also able to bring from Sweden his arrears of pay in the form of cannon and muskets as "parting gifts"^[7] and these were transported for him on Swedish naval vessels. The payment arrangement meant that the Swedes could claim that they were not supporting rebellion in Scotland, only paying off a debt.

One of his first actions was to lead an army of some 6,000 soldiers to Aberdeen to reduce the largely Royalist town.^[12] On his departure on 12 April Leslie left the Marquis of Montrose in charge. Leslie's reputation, guile and discretion were frequently noted by contemporary observers including the English officer John Aston and intellectual, Sir

Leven eventually accepted command of the forces raised for the intervention in England on behalf of the English Parliament. He rose to become a commander of the Covenanter Army between 1644 and 1647 and fought for the Solemn League and Covenant, which bound both the Scottish and English parliaments together against the Royalist forces in the Three Stuart Kingdoms.

In 1644, Leven commanded the Army of the Solemn League and Covenant as it marched to England to take part in the unsuccessful

In the new war, and in the disastrous campaign of Dunbar, Leven took no part despite officially being Lord General. Actual field command fell to David Leslie who failed to control his infantry and lost the battle in consequence.^{[citation needed]} Leven took only a nominal part, though attempts were afterwards made to hold him responsible. But once more the parliament refused to accept his resignation.^[7]

In August 1651 Leven was captured in the town of

In one of his final military acts, Leven helped his son-in-law, Colonel William Cranston, to raise troops for Swedish service largely drawn from Scottish prisoners of war.^[18] These fought in Poland in the Toruń campaign.

He died in 1661 at Balgonie Castle, Fife, Scotland.

Alexander Leslie was married to Agnes Renton (died 29 June 1651, daughter of David Renton of Billie in Berwickshire). They had two sons and five daughters: Gustavus, who apparently died young, Alexander (2nd Lord Balgonie), Barbara, Christian, Anne, Margaret and Mary.

The nursery rhyme "There Was a Crooked Man" is allegedly about Sir Alexander Leslie:

There was a crooked man and he walked a crooked mile,

He found a crooked sixpence upon a crooked stile.

He bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse.

And they all lived together in a little crooked house.^[20]

The song "General Lesley's March" is said to have been sung by Scottish soldiers during the

When to the kirk we come,

We'll purge it ilka room,

Frae popish relics, and a' sic innovation,

That a' the world may see,

There's nane in the right but we,

Of the auld Scottish nation.[21]

• Clan Leslie
• Scotland and the Thirty Years' War

• Ailes, Mary Elizabeth (2002). Military migration and state formation: the British military community in seventeenth-century Sweden.
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•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Leven, Alexander Leslie, 1st Earl of". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 16 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 506–507.
• Furgol, Edward (1990). A Regimental History of the Scottish Covenanting Armies, 1639–1651. Edinburgh.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Furgol, Edward (2002). "Beating the Odds: Alexander Leslie's 1640 Campaign in England". In Murdoch, Steve; Mackillop, Andrew (eds.). Fighting for Identity: Scottish Military Experience c. 1550–1900. Leiden. pp. 33–59.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Grosjean, Alexia (2002). "Royalist Soldiers and Cromwellian Allies?: The Cranstoun Regiment in Sweden, 1655–1658". In Murdoch, Steve; Mackillop, Andrew (eds.). Fighting for Identity: Scottish Military Experience c. 1550–1900. Leiden. pp. 61–85.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Grosjean, Alexia (2003). An Unofficial Alliance: Scotland and Sweden, 1569–1654. Leiden. pp. passim.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Grosjean, Alexia; Murdoch, Steve (2007). "The Riksråd Debates, 1638–1640 (Documents 117 & 118)". In Erskine, C.; MacDonald, A.R.; Penman, M. (eds.). Scotland: The Making and Unmaking of the Nation, c. 1100–1707. Major Documents. Vol. 5. Dundee. pp. 214–223.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Murdoch, Steve (2006). Network North: Scottish Kin, Commercial and Covert Associations in Northern Europe, 1603–1746. Leiden. pp. 17–18, 39–48, 233, 356–357.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Murdoch, Steve; Grosjean, Alexia (2014). Alexander Leslie and the Scottish Generals of the Thirty Years' War, 1618–1648. London.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Murdoch, Steve; Zickermann, Kathrin; Marks, Adam (2012). "The Battle of Wittstock 1636: Conflicting Reports on a Swedish Victory in Germany". Northern Studies. 43: 71–109. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
• "There was a Crooked Man rhyme". Nursery Rhymes lyrics, origins and history. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
• Paul, Sir James Balfour (1904–1911). The Scots Peerage. Vol. v (8 vols. ed.). Edinburgh. pp. 373, 383–384.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Stevenson, David (October 2007). "Leslie, Alexander, first earl of Leven (c. 1580–1661)".
  doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/16482. (Subscription or UK public library membership
  required.)