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‘The 1628 Stralsund Gold Medal: It’s re-discovery and an ensuing riddle in material culture emanating from of the Thirty Years’ War’ in Militärhistorisk Tidskrift (December 2022)

Authors:

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 , st Earl of Leven, was
a former field marshal of the Swedish army
in the s (having entered service around
) and subsequently, from  and
throughout the s, Lord General of the
Scottish Covenanting armies. As he neared
the end of his long life in the mid-s,
after nearly half a century of soldiering, he
looked to set his family and financial aairs
in order. The above quote, taken from his
last will and testament, shows the zeal he
had to ensure that, after his death, some of
his military mementos be retained by his
family for generations to come. Most sig-
nificant among his jewels of gold and silver
was one gifted to him directly by Swedish
king Gustav II Adolf and which Leslie spec-
ified must remain in his family in perpetuity.
In seeking to establish whether these wishes
had been adhered to a quest began to locate
these items and determine whether they were
indeed still in the possession of Alexander
Leslie’s descendants. Some leads emerged in
an enticing notice in a prominent Scottish
antiquarian journal from :
The Hon. W. Leslie Melville, F.S. A. Scot.,
exhibited a large Gold Medal, struck in the
year  (sic), to commemorate the raising
of the siege of Stralsund, and which had
been presented to his ancestor, Sir Alexander
Leslie, afterwards first Earl of Leven, by
Gustavus Adolphus, for his services on
the occasion. The obverse bears a pheon
within a garland—the armorial bearing of
Stralsund. Around is the legend :—DEO .
OPTIM . MAXIM . IMPER . ROMANO
. FOEDERI . POSTERISQ ; and on the re-
verse the inscription:—MEMORIAE VRBIS
The Commemoration of a Siege of the Thirty Years’ War:
The Stralsund Medal of Alexander Leslie,
1st Earl of Leven
by Steve Murdoch and Karin Tetteris
By these present writings I make and constitute Alexander, Lord
Balgonie, my grandson, my sole executor, and heir for all sundry
belongings, jewels, gold, silver, sums of money, debts, property,
lands farms and rents […]: Likewise, I bequeath and ordain that
the jewel gifted to me by the King of Sweden should be in no way
disposed of, but that the same shall be kept and made available to
those who will, or shall in the future succeed to my estate, so that
from time to time and in the future it will stand as a testimony and
memorial of the King of Sweden’s respect for me.
Field Marshal Alexander Leslie, Earl of Leven,  October 

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STRALSVNDAE . AO. MDCXXVIII. DIE
XII. MAI . A . MILITE . CAESARIANO .
CINCTAE . ALIQVOTIES OPPVGNATAE .
SED DEI . GRATIA . ET . OPE INCLYTOR
. REGVM SEPTENTRIONAL . DIE
XXIII. IVLI OBSIDIONE LIBERATAE .
S.P.Q.S.F.F
Several versions of the Stralsund Medal are
discussed below and their provenances con-
sidered. Before these are discussed, however,
the historical background to the siege is re-
quired to help explain why Leslie received
such a gift in the first place, and also so that
the rationale for the production of the med-
als is better understood.
The Siege of Stralsund, 1628
The Thirty Years’ War (-) is the
name given to a series of conflicts fought
in and between the contesting, and some-
times rebelling, powers and provinces of the
Habsburg dominions. Indeed, apparently pe-
ripheral powers, far removed from the cen-
tral European sphere of conflict, also engaged
themselves in the war. For the Stuart-British
kingdoms, dynastic loyalty proved the main
motivator, given that the deposed Queen of
Bohemia, Elizabeth Stuart, was daughter
of King James VI & I of Great Britain, and
sister to his successor, Charles I. As the
daughter of Anna of Denmark, the Queen
of Bohemia was also half Danish and thus
a blood-niece of Christian IV of Denmark-
Norway. Thousands of Scottish volunteers
flocked to serve any nation which took up
arms against those who had ousted Elizabeth
and Frederick V from their Bohemian and
Palatine lands, as seen in the muster-rolls
of these armies. Following Christian IV of
Denmark-Norway’s  declaration of war
against the Habsburgs, 4 Scottish regiments
were mustered totalling , men, albeit
the majority did not actually arrive Denmark
before .
In anticipation of Sweden’s
entry into the war, a further , Scots
joined the Swedish army between  and
 (a number that would grow to some
, by , granted not all serving at
the same time).
These large influxes of allied forces from
Great Britain, raised on the orders of Charles
I himself, did not prevent the war going ex-
tremely badly for the Danish king and his
allies. Christian IV was roundly defeated
at Lutter am Barenberge in August ,
finding himself on the defensive thereafter.
His allies were also under increasing pres-
sure. In November  the Duchy of Pome-
rania capitulated to the forces of the Holy
Roman Empire. Duke Bogislaw XIV signed the
Capitulation of Franzburg on  November
with Hans Georg von Arnim who, on be-
half of Albrecht von Wallenstein, comman-
ded the Imperial occupation forces in Pome-
rania. Stralsund, however, remained unwill-
ing to submit and ignored Bogislaw’s order
to adhere to the capitulation and instead
turned first to Denmark and then to Sweden
for support.
Although Stralsund’s defence forces ini
-
tially comprised mainly of some militia the
town was not as unprepared for siege as is
sometimes presented. There were very good
reasons for the Scandinavian interest in de-
fending the city. When the war began to
go badly for Christian IV this heightened
Swedish concerns regarding the Imperial
ambitions in the area. These worries grew
following Wallenstein’s attempt to secure
the southern coastline of the Baltic Sea for
Ferdinand II, seeking to establish a port as an
Imperialist base for naval operations. Indeed,
Wallenstein reveled in his self-proclaimed ti-
tle of “General of the Oceans and the Baltic
Sea”.
To counter Imperial pretentions in the
area, Swedish engineers had already arrived
in the Stralsund in  to strengthen the

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city’s defences.
The town walls were not
only fortified, but earthworks were erected
beyond them, forming a buer between the
city and any potential enemy. In addition
to the battlement improvements, by April
 the Danes were supplying Stralsund
with quantities of rye, oats and grain, while
Christian IV relaxed all tolls across his king-
doms and duchies to Stralsund traders for
the duration of impending hostilities. By
way of military assistance, Danish troops
were sent to Stralsund under the command of
Colonel Henrik Holke, comprising Holke’s
regiment of foot, a company of horse, and
a company of thirty of Christian’s own per-
sonal musketeers then stationed on one of
his ships.

More significantly, seven com-
panies of Mackay’s Scottish regiment were
also deployed under Major Robert Monro,
arriving in the town’s market place on 
May. According to Paul Lockhart, the to-
tal number of troops Christian deployed to
Stralsund was  men. As the siege of
the city intensified from May onwards, it was
clear that the incumbent garrison would not
be sucient to withstand Imperial forces and
any hope of repelling the invaders now meant
that fresh overtures were made for Swedish
intervention, although Sweden was not o-
cially at war with the Holy Roman Empire.
Gustav II Adolf had plans to intervene
in the Empire irrespective of the peace and
these plans found approval in the /
Riksdag. Sweden’s special relations with
Stralsund, coupled with the town’s strategic
importance, ensured that the Swedish king
agreed to support the Danish-Norwegian fleet
with a Swedish one and also to add troops to
the Stralsund garrison. In order to estab-
lish the specifics of the town’s predicament,
the Swedish king authorised a royal agent
to be sent to Stralsund on  July. This for-
mal state representation to Stralsund was
organised whilst Sweden was still ocially
at war with Poland-Lithuania and Gustav
II Adolf was on campaign in Prussia. That
the king spent so much time deliberating
what assistance might be provided to the be-
sieged town is a measure of how important
the Baltic port was to the monarch. Some
weeks earlier he had allowed Scottish vol-
unteers from his army to join their country-
men in the Stralsund garrison who, as Robert
Monro observed, “voluntarily did come to
succour and help our Nation”.

Swedish
troop numbers rose to around  within
days, though they were explicitly ordered
to remain under direct Swedish control, not
that of Stralsund’s governor.
The help of this Swedish contingent prov-
ed both welcome and necessary, although
Monro’s memoir of the siege listed, with great
lamentation, the ongoing deaths and losses
of fellow ocers and men. After protracted
hand-to-hand fighting and trench warfare,
the appointed governor of Stralsund, Colonel
Holke, left the garrison to arrange for re-
inforcements from Denmark. Command
devolved to Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander
Seaton, who managed to negotiate a tem-
porary cessation of hostilities. However,
before this could be implemented, Christian
IV sent orders to dissolve the truce, sending
Colonel Alexander Lindsay, Lord Spynie,
with his regiment of Scots from their various
garrisons in Skåne to bolster the remaining
forces in Stralsund. This brought the num-
ber of Scottish regiments in the city to three,
while a fourth Scottish commander was on
his way. By  July , Alexander Leslie
had landed with some , troops, a mix
of still more Scottish volunteers and Swedes,
and thereafter he took over as Governor of
Stralsund. Colonel Robert Monro recorded
in his memoir:
The invincible King of Sweden, who provid-
ed [Stralsund] an able Governour in their

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greatest neede, to wit, Sr Alexander Lesly,
who immediately after his entry tooke the
command upon him, keeping both the Dane,
their Souldiers, and the Burgars under his
command.
Leslie assumed his gubernatorial duties on
 July, thus placing the Stralsund operation
largely in Scottish hands. He now com-
manded three Swedish regiments, forming
one brigade, in addition to 3 regiments of
Scots serving under Danish flag, the town
garrison, and remnant Danish troops. Here
Leslie displayed his military genius by blend-
ing two types of warfare. Having himself been
raised in the school of tribalized warfare of
the Scottish Highlands, Leslie was one of
the few commanders to recognise the war-
rior skills of the kilted Gaels’ who formed
the core of Donald Mackay Lord Reay’s
regiment. Leslie boldly joined the Scots of
his own forces with those in Lord Spynie’s
and Alexander Seaton’s regiments who were
trained in regular Northern European fight-
ing styles. Monro noted the Scottish nature
of the defending forces:
Sir Alexander Leslie being made Governour,
he resolved for the credit of his Country-
men, to make an out-fall upon the Enemy,
and desirous to conferre the credit on his
own Nation alone, being his first Essay in
that Citie.
This combined force ferociously assaulted the
enemy position, showing the Imperialists the
strength of the new garrison. Both written
and pictorial sources reveal similar uncon-
ventional assaults being made by Scottish
troops during what came to be called the
Age of the Military Revolution. The Stettin
Woodcut of 1631 shows a column of regu-
lar troops (some kilted) under Swedish flag
and being led into battle by Gaelic troops
reigning arrows down on their enemy. This
use of unorthodox tactics would certain-
ly have confused them and disturbed their
The Stettin Woodcut, 1631 (wiki images).
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‘Rhythm of War’. Of greater importance
is the fact that the regiment portrayed at
Stettin – Lord Reay’s – was the very same
unit Monro had noted using the same un-
orthodox tactics at Stralsund.
Following these Gaels into the fray at
Stralsund, Spynie’s and Leslie’s regular sol-
diery marched in a deep column, firing vol-
ley after volley into the enemy until their
ammunition was spent and the Gaelic war-
riors were again unleashed upon the ene-
my. Monro described how it unfolded as
the regular troops:
being made to retire, their powder being
spent, to make their retreat good falls upon
Captain Mac-Kenyee with the old Scottish
blades of our Regiment, to suppresse the
enemies fury, they keeping face to their ene-
mies, while their Camerades were retiring…

Having been allowed to perform in their
more familiar role of ‘skirmishers’ beyond
the strict codes of the European armies, Cap-
tain Mac-Kenyee (Mackenzie) then sent a
mocking message to Colonel Holke (now
returned to Stralsund) “to see if the Scots
could stand and fight or not. The Colonell
perceiving him to jeere, shooke his head, and
went away”. The point was made: Leslie
had successfully blended the two forms of
warfare and broken Wallenstein’s siege of
Stralsund. Thereafter the fighting diminish-
ed, with Wallenstein and his forces lifting the
siege and retiring from the immediate vicinity
of the city. A ‘capitulation act’ was agreed
on  December representing a twenty-year
alliance between Sweden and Stralsund. For
his part, Alexander Leslie spent
the course
of the ensuing year continuing
to clear
the coasts of remaining Imperial
garrisons in preparation for the full-scale
landing of Gustav II Adolf and the main
Swedish army.
In celebration of their liberty, the city of
Stralsund struck an undefined number of
commemorative medals which were award-
ed to soldiers and dignitaries. There is some
mystery as to who received them, not least
as there appears to be no record of the victor
of the siege, Alexander Leslie, being a recip-
ient in the record base. Yet both the written
record of , and subsequent correspond-
ence with the present Earl of Leven, clearly
state that Leslie was presented a medal. But
by whom? When the Stralsund medal was
inspected in , as part of the Leven col-
lection, it was found along with other com-
memorative medals of Swedish provenance.
This included a full size portrait of Gustav II
Adolf, a portrait of Alexander Leslie and an-
other one of his wife, Agnes Renton. Perhaps
most surprisingly of all there is a partially
gilt silver vessel commemorating Gustav II
Adolf of extremely rare provenance.
The Stralsund Medal
The Stralsund gold medal written about
in the  Proceedings of the Society of
Antiquaries was located following written
enquiry to the family of the present Earl of
Leven in . The family supplied imag-
es of the medal and invited the authors to
physically inspect it. The medal is kept in a
specially made leather box, probably dating
from the th century, containing an inscrip-
tion on inside of the lid (Image 1).
The text informs us that the medal was
struck by Gustavus Adolphus and given by
him to General Leslie. At first glance, this
information looks quite plausible. Ever since
the funeral of Gustav Vasa in  medals
had been commissioned by Swedish sover-
eigns for the purpose of gifting them to a
select group of people. During the reign
of Erik XIV (-) medals were gift-
ed to military commanders in reward for
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Image 1. 1628 Stralsund Medal Front.
successful campaigns. These medals, hanging
from heavy gold chains, are ubiquitous on
contemporary portraits. The gift not only
represented a royal reward of monetary val-
ue, it also formed a bond between the giv-
er and the recipient; a bond that the recipi-
ent chose to represent visually in his or her
portrait. The use of medals was significantly
expanded during Gustav II Adolf’s reign.
Most of these medals bear close relation
to other visual media, such as broadsheets
and portraits, which also depict the king
as a war hero and a defender of European
Protestantism. On closer inspection the ob-
verse of the Stralsund medal contains no de-
piction of the king perhaps throwing the in-
scription on the lid into question. The main
motif on the front is a pheon (an arrow head)
pointing upwards (Image 2).
It is the coat of arms of Stralsund (Strahl
meaning ‘arrow’ in German). The arrow is
flanked by the numbers  and  and en-
circled by two laurel twigs bound together
at the top and bottom by ribbons. The Latin
inscription along the edge is a dedication to
God Almighty, The Emperor, the Treaty and
Image 2. 1628 Stralsund Medal Front Close Up.
Posterity. The reverse of the medal has no
pictorial motif, instead bearing yet another
Latin legend, presenting us with a somewhat
fuller context (Image 3).
Here we can read that the medal is struck
by the Senate and the people of Stralsund
to commemorate the city’s relief from the
siege of the Imperial troops with the help of
the “famed Nordic kings”.

The inscription
thus makes it clear that this is not a medal
commissioned by the Swedish king who is
not mentioned by name but only implicit-
ly referred to by the words ‘Nordic kings’,
which includes the Danish king Christian
IV as well as Gustav II Adolf.
Image 3. 1628 Stralsund Medal Rear.
The exact date when examples of the medal
were first produced has not been established.
However, in the minutes of the Stralsund
senate from nd December  the inten-
tion of making a gold medal with a similar

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inscription is recorded.

The medal was given
to the Swedish legate, Sten Bielke, in January
. Bielke had been sent to Stralsund by
the Swedish Council in April the previous year
to negotiate with the Imperial commanders
in northern Germany. Whether the med-
al was a personal gift to Bielke for his role
in the negotiations, or if it was intended for
Gustav II Adolf is unclear (though the lat-
ter seems likely). The German numismatist,
Tassilo Homan, has studied the minutes of
Stralsund Senate and found references to gold
coins given to at least three other persons in
the years following the siege, one of them
being Queen Maria Eleonora of Sweden, the
wife of Gustav II Adolf. The queen, eager
to stay as close to the king as possible, had
travelled to Wolgast (Pomerania) in .
In mid-October the same year the Stralsund
Senate sent her several gifts including a gold
medal. Could either of these two medals be
the same one that subsequently found its way
into the possession of Alexander Leslie, or
are they even the same style of medal giv-
en for the city’s defence? If the provenance
of medals preserved in museum collections
could be established this would allow a plau-
sible theory to be formed. Regrettably, our
eorts to acquire information from the insti-
tutions currently holding gold specimens of
the Stralsund medal have not been successful,
and indeed the gold medal once said to be in
the possession of the National Museum of
Denmark cannot be located at all.
There are five versions of the Stralsund
 commemorative medals identified to
date, each varying slightly in size and ap-
pearance. They were all engraved by Hans
Puls, the mint master of Stralsund in -
.

It is not known how many were
originally made but Homan suggests gold
medals were quite liberally handed out in
the years following . In  the city
purchased  gulden worth of gold for the
explicit purpose of minting medals. The
sources quoted by Homan do not, how-
ever, specify whether the medals mentioned
were all examples of the  ‘liberation
medal’ or whether they were of many dif-
ferent types. In total circa  specimens of
various Stralsund medals are known to be
preserved in museums and private collections,
the majority of which are silver. In Sweden
a silver medal from the same edition as the
Leslie medal (Hildebrand ) is held at the
Army Museum in Stockholm; a gilded one
exists in the Economic Museum (formerly
the Royal Coin Cabinet). What separates
this latter example from the others is most
obviously that the year  appears on
the obverse but also that it is cast while the
others are minted. Focusing on gold medals
likely to have been presented to individuals
of the highest esteem, literary sources only
definitively mention three solid gold med-
als and two gilded medals. The Stralsund
Museum medal and the one in the collec-
tion of the descendant of Alexander Leslie,
the present Earl of Leven, still exist where-
as the one said to have been in the National
Museum in Copenhagen cannot be located.

The Leslie medal is the largest of the three,
measuring nearly  mm and weighing ap-
proximately  grams, marking it out as of
very special interest and considerable value.
However, the conundrum we are now left
with is the lack of documentary evidence for
when and from whom Leslie received his
medal. We might, therefore, presume that
this was the medal presented to Gustav II
Adolf, perhaps through Sten Bielke, who in
turn passed it on to his Colonel Governor as
the actual man who raised the siege of the
city in , albeit this remains only a ‘best

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guess’ until further information is uncovered.
However, we can be reasonably certain that
the Leslie Stralsund medal is not the ‘Jewel’
the former field marshal mentioned in his
will. That reference more likely pertains to
the miniature portrait of Gustav II Adolf that
Leslie can be seen wearing around his neck
in his portrait, currently in the possession
of the present Earl of Leven. However, it’s
existence is instructive to scholars of history,
art history and military history alike. Further
items of interest to historians of the Swedish
army are present in that family’s collection,
namely the other medals and memorabilia
relating to Gustav II Adolf.
The Breitenfeld medal
The smaller of the two silver medals in the
possession of the Earl of Leven was made
in  by Sebastian Dadler (-),
then a prominent Dresden goldsmith who
was in the employ of Johan Georg I at his
court. In September  a military and po-
litical alliance was formed between Saxony
and Sweden. After the ensuing great vic-
tory over the Imperial forces at the Battle
of Breitenfeld, popular admiration for the
Swedish king soared as did the market for
commemorative objects, so called Gustaviana.
It was probably in view of catering to the
wealthy German collectors that Sebastian
Dadler turned to producing pro-Swedish
medals from this time on.
Dadler created two medals which cele-
brated the victory at Breitenfeld. One has
the battle itself as theme, depicting the bat-
tlefield from an aerial perspective on the re-
verse. The second glorifies the triumphant
Swedish king.

The obverse shows a por-
trait of Gustav II Adolf almost en face, sur-
rounded by an oval cartouche intricately
decorated with a cherub, fruits and ribbons
(Image 4).
Image 4. 1631 Gustav Adolf Front.
Image 5. 1631 Gustav Adolf Reverse.
On the reverse the king is depicted as a sol-
dier of Christ (miles christianus) in Roman
armour with his sword drawn (Image 5).
He is flanked by two lightning flashes in
the skies as he tramples over defeated ene-
mies and a dragon. The medal in the pos-
session of the present Earl of Leven shows
signs of a now removed eyelet, indicating
that it was once worn as a pendant. In fact,
it is not unlike the miniature worn by Leslie
in his portrait. However, if we are to trust
that the artist depicted the miniature faith-
fully, it had an ornamental framing rather
than being smooth around the edges. This
type of medal, meant to be worn as jewellery,
was called Gnadenpfennig or Konterfekt.
In  Sebastian Dadler produced such a
Gnadenpfennig with the portrait of Gustav
Adolf and on the reverse the inscription: “Ayn
guete sach nit unterget auf Gott allayn meyn
Honung siet Gust. Adolph. R.S. an ”
(‘A good cause cannot founder. On God alone

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my hope rests’ says Gustavus Adolphus king
of Sweden, in the year ). The king’s
portrait and the surrounding cartouche is
identical to those depicted on the Breitenfeld
medal. It is not unlikely that the medal worn
by Alexander Leslie in the portrait was in
fact produced by Sebastian Dadler.
The funeral medal
The larger of the two silver medals in the col-
lection of the Earl of Leven is also the work
of Sebastian Dadler, produced in  to
commemorate the funeral of Gustav II Adolf.
While the earlier pro-Swedish medals seem
to have been made on Dadler’s own initia-
tive, this one was a direct commission from
Sweden; perhaps from Axel Oxenstierna
who oversaw the funeral arrangements.

However, it is not implausible that the dow-
ager queen, Maria Eleonora, had suggested
Dadler as the artist for this medal, given its
extreme importance to mark the memoria of
the late king. In December  the queen
and her sister had sojourned with their aunt,
Magdalena Sibylle, to the Saxon court in
Dresden. During this time she had prob-
ably been shown the two medals by Dadler
celebrating the victory at Breitenfeld, and
perhaps she also admired the wedding med-
al for Magdalena Sibylle’s daughter or the
intricate design of the medal commemorat-
ing the Leipzig Convention.

In any case,
Dadler’s appointment to execute the funer-
al medal for the most celebrated sovereign
in Protestant Europe at the time was an ac-
knowledgement of his skill and reputation
as a goldsmith.
The medal, measuring an impressive .
mm in diameter, was made in both lead and
silver versions to be handed out to the at-
tendants at the funeral. The motif was not
originally conceived by Dadler but was an
adaptation of the two commemorative medals
made earlier by the mint masters in Wolgast.
On the obverse the king is seen lying in state
and on the reverse he is placed in a triumphal
chariot drawn by winged horses (images 6
& 7). The medal is considered to be a mas-
terpiece and the crown in Dadler’s oeuvre.
There is not yet any evidence that Alexander
Leslie attended the funeral in Stockholm
on 
nd
June . After participating in
the siege of Frankfurt in April , Leslie
stayed on for another month in the city. He
was in Hamburg on the th of June mak-
ing it, if not impossible, at least implausible
that he was in Stockholm the week before.
The medal might therefore either have been
given to, or acquired by, Leslie later during
his lifetime or subsequently by his descend-
ants to add to the existing Gustaviana col-
lection. Given his relation to both the king
and the chancellor, the former is the most
likely hypothesis for now.
Image 6. 1634 Medal Front. Image 7. 1634 Medal Reverse.

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The commemorative cup
The exquisite cup was made by the master
goldsmith Paul Birckenholtz of Frankfurt-
am-Main in - in honour of the late
Swedish king (Image 8). The bowl is covered
by a gilded cage work comprising four frames,
each of which contains depictions of two
virtues. The cover is surmounted by a bust
of Gustav II Adolf and the stem consists of
a rampant lion holding a sword and buck-
le. Only a limited number of examples of
the cup were produced to be sold to a select
clientele. Landgrave Wilhelm V of Hesse was
one of the princely patrons who purchased
a Gustav Adolf cup from Birckenholtz to
add it to his Kunstkammer. Unfortunately,
none of the other original buyers are known.
International research has only discovered
six examples of the cup thus far. In addi-
tion to the five cups Rosenburg presented
there is another in the collection of Nordiska
Museet in Stockholm. The cup owned by
the present Earl of Leven might quite possi-
bly be a hitherto unknown example.
The provenance of the Scottish cup is yet
to be fully investigated. Nevertheless a few
clues to its earlier history exist. Around the
cup’s rim is an inscription in Dutch dated
January :
Vereert aen t’Groene Vaendel door de Heer-
en Burgemeesteren van Assendelft ende van
Kinschot ende de Schepenen van Assendelf
ende Quarles ten tÿden van den Capitÿn
Blaquiere den  Januwarÿ anno .
The Green Flag was one of six companies in
the city militia of The Hague. Its captain
was a Huguenot Frenchman from Languedoc
called Elie Blaquière Desomiers, who was
also a merchant. Why the city mayors and
aldermen bestowed the cup on the compa ny
is not clear. Similarly, the individual from
whom the cup was acquired remains a mys-
tery. The next clue to the provenance of
the cup, now in the possession of the Earl
of Leven, is a lithographic depiction made
Image 8. GIIA cup B & W. Image 9. Lithograph GIIA Cup.

militärhistorisk tidskrift 2022 peer reviewed
in the mid-th century (Image 9). It was
made by Elias Spanier, a lithographer from
The Hague, and depicts not only the cup
in its entirety but also details of the orna-
ments and inscriptions. It is likely, therefore,
that the cup was still in the Netherlands at
the time. Interestingly, the cup held in the
Victoria & Albert Museum collection also
has an inscription in Dutch indicating that
it was given as a christening gift in .
How the cup came into the possession of
the Earls of Leven is a matter of further re-
search, but the inscription makes it clear
that it was not owned by Alexander Leslie,
st Earl of Leven but added to the family
collection later.
In the end it seems that we have been una-
ble to track down the ‘Jewel’ that Alexander
Leslie wished his family to retain in perpetu-
ity. However, searching for it has uncovered
some very interesting pieces of Gustavian
memorabilia still in the possession of the
current Earl of Leven which, as yet uncat-
alogued, may still contain more surprises.
Författarna är professor Steve Murdoch, verk-
sam vid St Andrews University i Skottland
och Karin Tetteris, doktorand i konsthisto-
ria vid Stockholms Universitet.

peer reviewed tidskrift
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Privately Printed, ).
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Mediehistoriskt arkiv, ).
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förlag, –).
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Folge, Bd , (Stettin, ).
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Museet, ).
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Oldenburg State (Selinsgrove, PA: Susquehanna University Press, ).
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(Copenhagen: Reitzel in Komm, ).

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Germanischen Nationalmuseums, ).
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King of Sweden’ in The Medal no , (London: British Museum, ).
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Murdoch, Steve, Britain, Denmark-Norway and the House of Stuart 1603–1660: A Diplomatic and
Military Analysis (East Linton: Tuckwell Press, ).
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1618–1648 (London: Pickering & Chatto, ).
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Frankfurter Verlags-Anstalt, ).
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& Eeltjes, ).
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resource] (Uppsala: Uppsala universitet, ).
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R0wVuZtg6kkeWMn66-IwJwG2u8XpuXcSDo8qZVBSug-78QN3OIWMo9vYCU.
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
peer reviewed tidskrift
. The authors would like to express their sin-
cere gratitude to the present Earl of Leven and
Lady Julie Balgonie for their kindness in allow-
ing access to the items described in this article
and providing follow up information when re-
quested. Thanks also to Dr Anna Groundwater
and Dr Alexia Grosjean who both contribut-
ed kindly in various ways to the production of
this article.
Reproduced in the original Scots language
form in Fraser, W. (ed.): The Melvilles, Earls
of Melville and the Leslies, Earls of Leven, 
vols., Edinburgh, Privately Printed, , pp.
-. Here translated and summarised in-
to English by the authors.
. The Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries
of Scotland, Vol. , Edinburgh , pp. -
. Entry entitled “Leven Medal and Jewell”.
. For the most comprehensive biography see
Akkerman, Nadine: Elisabeth Stuart, Queen
of Hearts, Oxford University Press, Oxford
.
. An excellent overview of Queen Anna is pre-
sented in Field, Jemma: Anna of Denmark:
The Material and Visual Culture of the Stuart
Courts, 1589–1619, Manchester University
Press, Manchester .
. Murdoch, Steve: Britain, Denmark-Norway and
the House of Stuart 1603–1660: A Diplomatic
and Military Analysis, Tuckwell Press, East
Linton , pp. -.
. Grosjean, Alexia: An Unocial Alliance: Scot-
land and Sweden 1568–1654, Brill, Leiden ,
pp. -.
. The historical background here is drawn from
Murdoch, Steve and Grosjean, Alexia: Alexander
Leslie and the Scottish Generals of the Thirty
Years’ War, 1618–1648, Pickering & Chatto,
London , pp. -.
. Benecke, Gerhard: “The Practice of Absolutism
II: -” in Parker, Georey (ed.): The
Thirty Years’ War, Routledge, London , p.
; Lockhart, Paul Douglas: Denmark in the
Thirty Years’ War: King Christian IV and the
Decline of the Oldenburg State, Susquehanna
University Press, Selinsgrove, PA , pp. -
; Wanner, Michal: “Albrecht of Wallenstein
as ‘General of the Oceans and the Baltic Seas’ and
the Northern Maritime Plan”, Forum Navale,
No. , , pp. -.
. Op. cit., Benecke, Gerhard, see note , p. .
. Marquard, E. (ed.): Kancelliets brevbøger verø-
rende Danmarks indre forhold i uddrag 1627–
1629, Reitzel in Komm, Copenhagen , p.
 and p. .  April and  July .
. Bricka, Carl Frederik and Fridericia, Julius
Alberg (eds.): Kong Christian den Fjerdes egen-
hændige brev, II, I Cohens Bogtrykkeri, Co-
penhagen,  edition, p. . “Christian IV
to Frederik Urne,  July ” and footnote.
. Monro, Robert: His Expedition with the Worth
Scots Regiment called Mac-Keyes, London ,
pp. , ; Op. cit., Benecke, Gerhard, see note
, p. .
. Op. cit., Lockhart, Paul Douglas, see note , p.
.
. Hallendorf, Carl (ed.): Tal och Skrifter av Ko-
nung Gustav II Adolf, P.A. Norstedt & Söner,
Stockholm , pp. -. “Gustav II Adolf
speech to the Riksdag,  December ”.
. Op. cit., Monro, Robert, see note , pp. -;
Op. cit., Murdoch, Steve and Grosjean, Alexia,
see note , p. . Gustav II Adolf had explicitly
mentioned the threat Wallenstein posed to both
Sweden and Prussia in April . See Stye,
C. G. (ed.): Konung Gustaf II Adolfs Skrifter,
P.A. Nortedt & Söner, Stockholm , p. ;
“Gustav II Adolf to Axel Oxenstierna,  April
”. A modernised version found in op. cit.,
Hallendorf, Carl (ed.), see note , p. .
. Kullberg, N. A. et al., (eds.): Svenska Riksrådets
Protokoll,  vols., P.A. Norstedt & Söner,
Stockholm –, I, p. , fn..  July
.
. Op. cit., Monro, Robert, see note , p. , and
mentioned again, p. . For a breakdown of
who these volunteers were see op. cit., Murdoch,
Steve and Grosjean, Alexia, see note , p. .
. Op. cit., Kullberg, N. A. et al., see note , I, p.
.  June ; Op. cit., Benecke, Gerhard,
see note , p. .
. Op. cit., Monro, Robert, see note , pp. -
.
. Ibid., p. .
. Op. cit., Murdoch, Steve and Grosjean, Alexia,
see note , p. .
. Op. cit., Monro, Robert, see note , p..
Notes

militärhistorisk tidskrift 2022 peer reviewed
. This date is taken from a copy of a letter to
Gustav II Adolf dated  July  and located
in Riksarkivet (Stockholm), Germanica, ”För-
handlingar mellan Sverige och staden Stralsund”.
. The National Archives (London), SP/, f.;
“James Spens to Secretary Coke,  August
”.
. Op. cit., Monro, Robert, see note , pp. -
.
. This image depicts Mackay’s Regiment in ac-
tion (here erroneously called Irish, but actually
‘Erse’ – the Scots for Gaels). For the continued
use of the long-bow (in this case the Highland
re-curve bow) throughout the th century see
op. cit., Murdoch, Steve and Grosjean, Alexia,
see note , pp. -.
. Op. cit., Monro, Robert, see note , p. .
. Ibid., p. . On  July the Riksråd received a
letter from the king informing them about the
defence of Stralsund. SRP, I, p. .  July
.
. Op. cit., Monro, Robert, see note , p. .
. Full text reads: “This Medal was struck by
Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, & given
by him to General Leslie, for having RAISED
THE SIEGE OF STRALSUND. .”
. Haidenthaller, Ylva: The medal in early mod-
ern Sweden: significances and practices, Lund
, p. .
. Ibid., p. -.
. Ibid., p. .
. Full text reads: “DEO OPTIM. MAXIM. IMPER.
ROMANO. FOEDERI. POSTERISQ.”
. Full text reads: “MEMORIAE. VRBIS. STRAL:
SUNDAE. AO: M.DC.XXVIII. DIE. XII. MAI.
A. MILITE. CAESARIA:NO. CINCTAE.
ALIQUO TIES. OPPVGNATAE. SED. DEI.
GRATIA. ET. OPE. IN CLYTOR. REGUM.
SE:PTENTRIONAL: DIE. XXIII. IVLI. OBSIDI
ONE. LIBERATAE. S: P: Q: S: F: F:”. Swedish
translations of the Latin legends are found in:
Svenberg, Emanuel and Sjökvist, Peter: Över-
sättningar av latinet på svenska kungliga me-
daljer [Online resource], Uppsala universitet,
Uppsala .
. The Senate minutes quoted in Hildebrand, Bror
Emil: Sveriges och svenska konungahusets min-
nespenningar, praktmynt och belöningsmedal-
jer I, Stockholm –, pp. -.
. Homan, Tassilo: “Stralsunds Münz – und
Geldwesen im Belagerungsjahre ”, Balti-
sche Studien Neue Folge, Bd , Stettin ,
p. .
. Boëthius, B.: “Sten Svantesson Bielke”, urn:sbl:
, Svenskt biografiskt lexikon, https://sok.
riksarkivet.se/sbl/mobil/Artikel/34575, (-
-); In a letter from Johan Adler Salvius to
Axel Oxenstierna dated th April  Sten
Bielke is said to be on his way to Stralsund, htt-
ps://sok.riksarkivet.se/dokument/oxestierna/
04650/4650t.xml?fbclid=IwAR2k-DxTA4g
msGaMOTYWREAXqSwMPCcmUjVThrgx
-
Rtv8ftM6OKZbvkFtzng.
. Op. cit., Homan, Tassilo, see note , p. .
. The Nationalmuseum in Copenhagen could not
confirm the possession of a gold medal record-
ed by Bruno Endrusseit, but did confirm they
had a silver one, though the curator did not
know its provenance (email Else Rasmussen to
Karin Tetteris, 
rd
August ). The Stralsund
City Museum, Historiska Museet in Stockholm,
Museum Gustavianum in Uppsala, and the
Numismatic collection in Berlin have all been
contacted. The provenance of the two silver
medals kept in Museum Gustavianum could
similarly not be established in their records.
. Four versions are described by Hildebrand
(GIIA -) and one more by Endrusseit.
. Endrusseit, Bruno: Medaillen zur Geschichte
der Stadt Stralsund, Stralsund –, pp.
-, .
. Op. cit., Homan, Tassilo, see note , p. .
. The gold medal kept in Stralsund City Museum
is a bequest from Karl Friedrich Pogge after his
death in . The museum has not replied to
our questions about the earlier provenance of
this specimen.
. Indeed, a wider search of private collections
in Scotland reveals more Gustaviana, not least
a sword attributed as belonging to Gustav II
Adolf gifted to Colonel Hugh Somerville along
with a pair of spurs. Image and details of the
sword are reproduced in Murdoch, Steve (ed.):
Scotland and the Thirty Years’ War, 1618–1648,
Brill, Leiden , figure  and text.
. Maué, Hermann: Sebastian Dadler 1586–1657:
Medaillen im Dreissigjährigen Krieg, Verl. des
Germanischen Nationalmuseums, Nürnberg
, pp. -.
. McKeown, Simon: “The King struck down:
Sebastian Dadler’s medallic images of Gustavus
Adolphus, King of Sweden” in The Medal, no.

peer reviewed tidskrift
, British Museum, London , p. . The
iconography of the medal is extensively ana-
lysed in pages -.
. Op. cit., Hildebrand, Bror Emil, see note ,
GIIA , p. .
. Op. cit., McKeown, Simon, see note , p. .
. Ibid., p. ; Op. cit., Maué, Hermann, see note
, pp. -.
. Bepler, Jill: “Negotiating the Thirty Years’ War:
Anna Sophia of Braunschweig-Lüneburg (–
) and Her Survival Strategies” in Scholtz
Williams, Gerhild; Haude, Sigrun and Schneider,
Christian (eds.): Rethinking Europe: war and
peace in the early modern German lands, Brill
Rodopi, Leiden , pp. , .
. Op. cit., Maué, Hermann, see note , pp. -
.
. Op. cit., Haidenthaller, Ylva, see note , p.
-; The iconography of the medal is dis-
cussed by op. cit., McKeown, Simon, see note
, pp. -.
. For a full description of the cup held in the
British Museum see: Tait, Hugh: Catalogue of
the Waddeston bequest in the British Museum
II The silver plate, , pl.XIV, no. , figs.
-. Available online at: http://wb.british-
museum.org/.
. The five cups published in Rosenberg, Marc: Der
Goldschmiede Merkzeichen. Bd 2, Deutschland
D-M, ., Frankfurter Verlags-Anstalt, Frankfurt
am Main , are currently in the following
collections: . Staatliche Kunstsammlungen,
Kassel . Brunswick ducal collection . British
Museum, the Waddeston bequest . Victoria &
Albert Museum . Westfälischen Landesmuseum,
Münster.
. Lagercrantz, Bo: “Fyra Gustav Adolfsminnen”,
in Fataburen, Nordiska Museet, Stockholm
, pp. -. The cup was sold to the
museum in  by Otto Link, a manufac-
turer of musical instruments, Swedish consul
in Germany and avid collector of Gustaviana,
https://digitaltmuseum.se/011023750653/po
-
kal.
. Webpage on the history of The Hague: https://
anemaa.home.xs4all.nl/ges/onderwerpen/schut-
terij_den_haag_sint_sebastiaan.htm?fbclid=I-
wAR0wVuZtg6kkeWMn66-IwJwG2u8Xpu
XcSDo8qZVBSug-78QN3OIWMo9vYCU.
. Scheer, Hendrikus Johannes: Genealogie van
het geslacht Crommelin, Band , Van Hengel
& Eeltjes, Rotterdam , p. . I want to
thank Bouko de Groot and Sophia Brandus for
their help in identifying captain Blaquière and
the Green Company.
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Hoffman, Tassilo, 'Stralsunds Münz-und Geldwesen im Belagerungsjahre 1628' in Baltische Studien Neue Folge, Bd 30, (Stettin, 1928).