ment as well as to recognize the claims of the Scottish
Covenanters, a religious sect. When Charles refused,
Leslie handed him over to the Parliamentary forces
in January 1647, disbanded his army, and returned to
Scotland.
Leslie followed Charles’s trial, but he argued that
the king’s execution in January 1649 was wrong, and
it forced him to change his mind on the English mon-
archy. When Charles’s son, Charles II, invaded En-
gland with Scottish troops in 1650, Leslie participated
but did not command pro-Royalist forces; this task
was undertaken by his nephew, Sir David leslie. Les-
lie saw action at Dunbar in September 1650, but he
was captured at Alyth (August 1651) by an English
force. Sent to London in chains, he was imprisoned
in the Tower of London but released in 1654 after
Queen Christina of Sweden interceded on his behalf.
He then returned to Scotland and spent his final years
on his estate at Balgonie, in Fife, where he died on
4 April 1661.
Although he was an important commander in the
ranks of the Parliamentary army in the first phase of the
English Civil War, Leslie’s role has been all but forgot-
ten by historians. Nonetheless, he remains a soldier who
served both his native and adopted countries with honor
and with much courage.
References: Terry, Charles Sanford, The Life and Cam-
paigns of Alexander Leslie, First Earl of Leven (London:
Longmans, Green & Company, 1899); Stewart, William,
Captain, A Full Relation of the Late Victory Obtained,
through Gods providence by the forces under the command of
Generall Lesley, the Lord Fairfax, and the Earl of Manches-
ter... (London: Printed by J. F. for L. Blaiklock, 1644);
T. M., A Particular List of Divers of the Commanders and
Officers taken Prisoners at Marston Moore neer York (other-
wise called Hesham Moore)... (London: Printed for Ralph
Rounthwait, 1644); A Relation of the Good Successe of the
Parliaments Forces under the Command of Generall Lesly, the
Earl of Manchester, and the Lord Fairfax, against the Forces
commanded by Prince Rupert and the Earl of Newcastle on
Hesham-Moore, on Tuesday July 2, 1644... (Cambridge,
U.K.: Printed by W. F., 1644); Terry, Charles Sanford,
Life of Alexander Leslie, Earl of Leven (London: Longmans,
Green & Company, 1899); A Letter from Generall Leven,
the Lord Fairfax, and the Earle of Manchester, to the Com-
monwealth of both Kingdoms... (Edinburgh, Scotland:
Printed by Evan Tyler, 1644).
Leslie, Sir David, first baron Newark (1601–
1682) Scottish military leader
Born at Pitcairlie House, his family’s ancestral home
in Fife, Scotland, sometime in 1601, David Leslie was
the fifth son of Sir Patrick Leslie, a longtime Scottish
military leader who was created first lord of Lindores
in 1600. Like his uncle, Alexander leslie, Lord Leven,
David Leslie served in the Swedish army, seeing action
during the Thirty Years’ War (1618–48) and rising to
the rank of colonel of horse. However, when the En-
glish Civil War broke out in 1642, he returned to Scot-
land and sided with the forces of the English Parliament
against those of King Charles I. Rising to become one of
the most important of the Parliamentarian commanders,
he was promoted to major general and named as second
in command of Scottish forces under his uncle.
The Scottish forces backing the Parliamentary army
marched into England, joined up with their English
compatriots at Tadcaster on 20 April, and saw action at
York (30 June 1644), where the Parliamentarians were
defeated by a Royalist force led by Prince ruPert. Fall-
ing back, the Parliamentarians took up a position on
the Ouse River, at Marston Moor in Yorkshire. On 2
July 1644, some 18,000 Royalists under Prince Rupert
and Sir Charles Lucas met the combined Parliamentary
forces of David Leslie, Edward montagu, the earl of
Manchester, and Thomas, Lord fairfax. Backed by
Leslie’s forces, Parliamentary officer, Oliver cromWell,
charged into the royalist forces and forced them to flight.
The Royalists were routed, losing some 4,000 men, and
northern England was in Parliamentary hands. Leslie
was a hero of the battle, as was Cromwell.
Marston Moor was a fateful battle for King Charles
I, as Parliamentary forces moved onto the city of York
and quickly captured it. A series of engagements fol-
lowed, including at Lothian. In memoirs that lay in the
collections of the British Museum until the historian
Samuel Jefferson published them in 1840, Isaac Tullie, a
soldier who marched with the Parliamentarians, wrote:Leslie marched with about 800 hors [horses] as
farr as Salkeld wthout opposition; but when he
came to passe the ford of Eden, which was not
very shallow, he found the other side manned
wth regiments of hors and foot, wch the Gentrie
of Cumberland and Westmorland had raised to
oppose him; wch so appalled him, yt he refused
to march on, and fell arailing at Barwise, wholeSlie, SiR DAviD, FiRSt bARon newARk