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    "source_title": "Encyclopaedia Britannica (1911)",
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    "chunk_id": "1911:leven:65b80d1edcbf",
    "title": "LEVEN",
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    "verified_text": "leven, alexander leslie, 1st earl of (c. 1580-1661), scottish general, was the son of george leslie, captain of blair-in-athol, and a member of the family of leslie of balquhain. after a scanty education he sought his fortune abroad, and became a soldier, first under sir horace vere in the low countries, and afterwards (1605) under charles ix. and gustavus adolphus of sweden, in whose service he remained for many years and fought in many campaigns with honour. in 1626 leslie had risen by merit to the rank of lieutenant-general, and had been knighted by gustavus. in 1628 he distinguished himself by his constancy and energy in the defence of stralsund against wallenstein, and in 1630 seized the island of rugen in the name of the king of sweden. in the same year he returned to scotland to assist in recruiting and organizing the corps of scottish volunteers which james, 3rd marquis of hamilton, brought over to gustavus in 1631. leslie received a severe wound in the following winter, but was able nevertheless to be present at gustavus's last battle at lutzen. like many others of the soldiers of fortune who served under gustavus, leslie 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. he continued as a general officer in the swedish army for some years, was promoted in 1636 to the rank of field marshal, and continued in the field until 1638, when events recalled him to his own country. he had married long before this--in 1637 his eldest son was made a colonel in the swedish army--and he had managed to keep in touch with scottish affairs. as the foremost scottish soldier of his day he was naturally nominated to command the scottish army in the impending war with england, a post which, resigning his swedish command, he accepted with a glad heart, for he was an ardent covenanter and had caused \"a great number of our commanders in germany subscryve our covenant\" (baillie's _letters_). on leaving sweden he brought back his arrears of pay in the form of cannon and muskets for his new army. for some months he busied himself with the organization and training of the new levies, and with inducing scottish officers abroad to do their duty to their country by returning to lead them. diminutive in size and somewhat deformed in person as he was, his reputation and his shrewdness and simple tact, combined with the respect for his office of lord general that he enforced on all ranks, brought even the unruly nobles to subordination. he had by now amassed a considerable fortune and was able to live in a manner befitting a commander-in-chief, even when in the field. one of his first exploits was to take the castle of edinburgh by surprise, without the loss of a man. he commanded the scottish army at dunse law in may of that year, and in 1640 he invaded england, and defeated the king's troops at newburn on the tyne, which gave him possession of newcastle and of the open country as far as the tees. at the treaty with the king at ripon, leslie was one of the commissioners of the scottish parliament, and when charles visited edinburgh leslie entertained him magnificently and accompanied him when he drove through the streets. his affirmations of loyalty to the crown, which later events caused to be remembered against him, were sincere enough, but the complicated politics of the time made it difficult for leslie, the lord general of the scottish army, to maintain a perfectly consistent attitude. however, his influence was exercised chiefly to put an end to, even to hush up, the troubles, and he is found, now giving a private warning to plotters against the king to enable them to escape, now guarding the scottish parliament against a royalist _coup d'etat_, and now securing for an old comrade of the german wars, patrick ruthven, lord ettrick, indemnity for having held edinburgh castle for the king against the parliament. charles created him, by patent dated holyrood, october 11, 1641, earl of leven and lord balgonie, and made him captain of edinburgh castle and a privy councillor. the parliament recognized his services by a grant, and, on his resigning the lord generalship, appointed him commander of the permanent forces. a little later, leven, who was a member of the committee of the estates which exercised executive powers during the recess of parliament, used his great influence in support of a proposal to raise a scottish army to help the elector palatine in germany, but the ulster massacres gave this force, when raised, a fresh direction and leven himself accompanied it to ireland as lord general. he did not remain there long, for the great rebellion (q.v.) had begun in england, and negotiations were opened between the english and the scottish parliaments for mutual armed assistance. leven accepted the command of the new forces raised for the invasion of england, and was in consequence freely accused of having broken his personal oath to charles, but he could hardly have acted otherwise than he did, and at that time, and so far as the scots were concerned, to the end of the struggle, the parliaments were in arms, professedly and to some extent actually, to rescue his majesty from the influence of evil counsellors. the military operations preceding marston moor are described under great",
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