UNDER THE HABSBURGS AND THE STUARTS: THE LESLIES’ PORTRAIT GALLERY IN PTUJ CASTLE, SLOVENIA Polona Vidmar Walter Leslie (1606–1667), the second son by the third marriage of John Leslie, tenth Baron of Balquhain, had already established himself among the Hofadel (court nobility) of the Austrian Habsburg Empire by 1656, when he bought the castle of Ptuj (Oberpettau) on the south- eastern edges of the Holy Roman Empire.1 He could look back on a remarkable military and diplomatic career and the social success he had achieved since leaving Scotland. Indeed, Leslie had been in the service of armies on the European continent for ten years prior to becoming involved in the plot against the Imperialist General Albrecht Wallenstein and his supporters, actions which culminated in the exe- cution of Wallenstein and his allies in Eger (Cheb) in 1634. Th e fi rst of the plotters to arrive at the court of Emperor Ferdinand II, Leslie was awarded the post of Imperial Chamberlain and given command of two regiments. Following that, he received a grand estate at Nové Město nad Metují (Neustadt an der Mettau) in Bohemia and, in 1637, acquired the title of Count of the Holy Roman Empire.2 Consequently, he started to play a role in diplomatic negotiations on behalf of Ferdinand III and achieved remarkable promotions as regards his military career, receiv- ing a prestigious appointment to the position of Imperial fi eld marshal and becoming a general on the so-called ‘Croatian-Slavonian military frontier’. In 1647, he consolidated his position by marrying Anna Francesca, a daughter of Prince Maximilian of Dietrichstein, while his greatest success of all was probably his spectacular ambassadorial visit to Constantinople in 1665 and 1666, for which he was bestowed with the Order of the Golden Fleece. Moreover, the story of the central 1 See David Worthington, “ ‘On the High Post-Way Between Vienna and Venice’: Th e Leslie Family in Slovenia”, Th e Legacy of the Leslie Family at the Castle of Ptuj (Ptuj: 2002), 81–86 (with literature and sources); David Worthington, ‘A Stuart-Austrian Habsburg intermediary: Th e life of Walter Leslie (1606–67)’, History Scotland, 2/4 (2002), 29–34; David Worthington, Scots in Habsburg Service, 1618–1648 (Leiden: 2003); Petr Mata, Svet České aristokracie (1500–1700) (Prague: 2004). 2 Worthington, “On the High Post-Way”, 83. 216 polona vidmar European Leslies prior to 1688 by no means ends with Walter. In the lack of any off spring from his marriage with Anna Francesca, in 1655, he arranged that his nephew James be sent from Scotland to Styria to inherit his estates in the Habsburg lands. James also developed a court and military career. He was appointed a gentleman of the bed- chamber to Emperor Leopold I, was colonel and proprietor of an Imperial infantry regiment, became an Imperial fi eld marshal, fought in the battle for the liberation of Vienna in 1683, all this besides being successful in ensuing encounters with the Ottomans. James married Princess Maria Th eresa of Liechtenstein in 1666 and acquired further properties for the family in Styria, including the so-called Leslie-hof in Graz (1684) and the nearby castle of Pernegg (1688). Furthermore, during his lifetime, two younger brothers came from Scotland to the Habsburg Empire. William Aloysius was a Jesuit canon in Breslau (Wrocław) and presumably resided with Count James at one of his estates.3 Th e other brother, Alexander, married Christine Cressentia, Countess of Herberstein, heiress of the castle Vurberk (Wurmberg), the neighbouring property to the Ptuj estate, but was killed by an Ottoman mine during the Siege of Vienna.4 Th is chapter discusses the Scottish origins of these central European Leslies, the wealth, successful military careers and high social posi- tions achieved by Walter, James and Alexander, and how their back- ground and achievements infl uenced the architectural development and equipment of their acquired castles and palaces. Above all, the chapter deals with the family iconography and the messages which the Counts of Leslie intended to transmit to their guests and visitors. Archival sources, preserved sections of buildings and art works, testify that the Counts renovated the aforementioned castles and palaces and equipped them with ceiling paintings, stucco, sculptures, furniture, oil paintings and tapestries. Many of these alterations have not survived to this day, but what has remained is of great signifi cance. Above all, the ceiling—and oil paintings are suggestive of the Leslies’ military success, the obtaining of the Order of the Golden Fleece and their connections to the Houses of Stuart and Habsburg. 3 See Worthington, “On the High Post-Way”, 85. William Aloysius is the presumed author of the family genealogy Laurus Leslaeana . ., published in Graz in 1692. Th e genealogy contains two copperplates, depicting a portrait of Count James besides a family tree. 4 Ibid. .