LEVEN, ALEXANDER LESLIE, IST EARL OF (c. 1661), Scottish general, was the son of George Leslie, captain of Blair-in-Athol. He fought under Sir Horace Vere in the Low Countries, and afterwards (16o5) under Charles IX. and Gus tavus Adolphus of Sweden. In 1626 Leslie had risen by merit to the rank of lieutenant-general, and had been knighted by Gustavus. In 1628 he defended Stralsund against Wallenstein, and in 163o seized the island of Ri_igen in the name of the king of Sweden. Leslie was present at Gustavus's last battle at Llltzen. Leslie cherished his old commander's memory to the day of his death. He continued as a general officer in the Swedish army for some years, was promoted in 1636 to the rank of field mar shal, 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. 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. Charles created him, by patent dated Holyrood, October 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. Leven 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.
The military operations preceding Marston Moor are described under GREAT REBELLION, and the battle itself under its own heading. After the battle the allied forces separated, Leven bringing the siege of Newcastle to an end by storming it. In the Scots were less successful, though their operations ranged from Westmorland to Hereford. Leven's difficulties became pronounced when in 1646 Charles took refuge with the Scottish army. The king remained with Leven until he was handed over to the English parliament in 1647, and Leven constantly urged him to take the covenant and to make peace. Leven was now old and infirm, and though retained as nominal commander-in chief saw no further active service. When he did resign he was appointed lord general of all new forces that might be raised for the defence of Scotland. The occasion soon came, for Cromwell annihilated the Scottish invaders at Preston and Uttoxeter, and thereupon Argyll assumed political and Leven military control at Edinburgh. But he resigned the effective command to his subordinate (see NEWARK, DAVID LESLIE), in whom he had entire confidence.
After the execution of Charles I. the war broke out afresh, and this time the "godly" party acted with the royalists. Leven at last fell into the hands of a party of English dragoons in August 1651, and with some others was sent to London. He remained incarcerated in the Tower for some time, till released on finding securities for L20,000, upon which he retired to his residence in Northumberland. While on a visit to London he was again arrested, for a technical breach of his engagement, but by the intercession of the queen of Sweden he obtained his liberty. He was freed from his engagements in 1654, and retired to his seat at Balgonie in Fifeshire, where he died at an advanced age in 1661.
See Sir W. Fraser, The Melvilles, Earls of Melville, and the Leslies, Earls of Leven (z 89o) ; and the Leven and Melville Papers, edited by the Hon. W. H. Leslie-Melville for the Bannatyne Club (1843).