John Leslie

John Leslie 1527-96, Scottish bishop, historian, and statesman. After studying in France, he returned (c.1554) to Scotland, where he opposed the Reformation. He became ecclesiastical adviser to Mary Queen of Scots and a member of her privy council and was appointed (1566) bishop of Ross. In 1569 he was made Mary's representative at the court of Elizabeth I of England, but he was arrested (1571) for complicity in the plot to marry the Scottish queen to Thomas Howard, 4th duke of Norfolk . He was released after his full confession and fled to France and then to Rome. An able historian, he left valuable accounts of the Catholic view of the events of his time. His 10-volume Latin history of Scotland (1578) was translated by James Dalrymple (ed. by E. G. Cody, 1888-95).

Leslie, John (1527–96), Bp. of Ross from 1566. In 1569 he became Mary Queen of Scots' ambassador to Elizabeth I, but in 1571 he was imprisoned for assisting Mary in her projected marriage to the Duke of Norfolk. He was set free in 1573 on condition that he left Britain; on the Continent he continued to further plans in the RC interest. The later part of his De Origine, Moribus, et Rebus Gestis Scotorum (Rome, 1578) is an authority for contemporary events.