town’s trade and also upon its university by the harsh treatment
which he meted out to the adherents of the new doctrines; but
under the rule of his successor, Henry, Leipzig accepted the teaching
of the reformers. In 1547 during the war of the league of Schmalkalden
the town was besieged by the elector of Saxony, John
Frederick I. It was not captured, although its suburbs were destroyed.
These and the Pleissenburg were rebuilt by the elector
Maurice, who also strengthened the fortifications. Under the elector
Augustus I. emigrants from the Netherlands were encouraged to
settle in Leipzig and its trade with Hamburg and with England
was greatly extended.
During the Thirty Years’ War Leipzig suffered six sieges and on four occasions was occupied by hostile troops, being retained by the Swedes as security for the payment of an indemnity from 1648 to 1650. After 1650 its fortifications were strengthened; its finances were put on a better footing; and its trade, especially with England, began again to prosper; important steps being taken with regard to its organization. Towards the end of the 17th century the publishing trade began to increase very rapidly, partly because the severity of the censorship at Frankfort-on-the-Main caused many booksellers to remove to Leipzig. During the Seven Years’ War Frederick the Great exacted a heavy contribution from Leipzig, but this did not seriously interfere with its prosperity. In 1784 the fortifications were pulled down. The wars in the first decade of the 19th century were not on the whole unfavourable to the commerce of Leipzig, but in 1813 and 1814, owing to the presence of enormous armies in the neighbourhood, it suffered greatly. Another revival, however, set in after the peace of 1815, and this was aided by the accession of Saxony to the German Zollverein in 1834, and by the opening of the first railway a little later. In 1831 the town was provided with a new constitution, and in 1837 a scheme for the reform of the university was completed. A riot in 1845, the revolutionary movement of 1848 and the Prussian occupation of 1866 were merely passing shadows. In 1879 Leipzig acquired a new importance by becoming the seat of the supreme court of the German empire.
The immediate neighbourhood of Leipzig has been the scene of several battles, two of which are of more than ordinary importance. These are the battles of Breitenfeld, fought on the 17th of September 1631, between the Swedes under Gustavus Adolphus and the imperialists, and the great battle of Leipzig, known in Germany as the Völkerschlacht, fought in October 1813 between Napoleon and the allied forces of Russia, Prussia and Austria.
Towards the middle of the 18th century Leipzig was the seat of the most influential body of literary men in Germany, over whom Johann Christoph Gottsched, like his contemporary, Samuel Johnson, in England, exercised a kind of literary dictatorship. Then, if ever, Leipzig deserved the epithet of a “Paris in miniature” (Klein Paris) assigned to it by Goethe in his Faust. The young Lessing produced his first play in the Leipzig theatre, and the university counts Goethe, Klopstock, Jean Paul Richter, Fichte and Schelling among its alumni. Schiller and Gellert also resided for a time in Leipzig, and Sebastian Bach and Mendelssohn filled musical posts here. Among the celebrated natives of the town are the philosopher Leibnitz and the composer Wagner.
Authorities.—For the history of Leipzig see E. Hasse, Die Stadt Leipzig und ihre Umgebung, geographisch und statistisch beschrieben (Leipzig, 1878); K. Grosse, Geschichte der Stadt Leipzig (Leipzig, 1897–1898); Rachel, Verwaltungsorganisation und Ämterwesen der Stadt Leipzig bis 1627 (Leipzig, 1902); G. Wustmann, Aus Leipzigs Vergangenheit (Leipzig, 1898); Bilderbuch aus der Geschichte der Stadt Leipzig (Leipzig, 1897); Leipzig durch drei Jahrhunderte, Atlas zur Geschichte des Leipziger Stadtbildes (Leipzig, 1891); Quellen zur Geschichte Leipzigs (Leipzig, 1889–1895); and Geschichte der Stadt Leipzig (Leipzig, 1905); F. Seifert, Die Reformation in Leipzig (Leipzig, 1883); G. Buchwald, Reformationsgeschichte der Stadt Leipzig (Leipzig, 1900); Geffcken and Tykocinski, Stiftungsbuch der Stadt Leipzig (Leipzig, 1905); the Urkundenbuch der Stadt Leipzig, edited by C. F. Posern-Klett and Förstemann (Leipzig, 1870–1895); and the Schriften des Vereins für die Geschichte Leipzigs (Leipzig, 1872–1904). For other aspects of the town’s life see Hirschfeld, Leipzigs Grossindustrie und Grosshandel (Leipzig, 1887); Hassert, Die geographische Lage und Entwickelung Leipzigs (Leipzig, 1899); Helm, Heimatkunde von Leipzig (Leipzig, 1903); E. Friedberg, Die Universität Leipzig in Vergangenheit und Gegenwart (Leipzig, 1897); F. Zarncke, Die Statutenbücher der Universität Leipzig (Leipzig, 1861); E. Hasse, Geschichte der Leipziger Messen (Leipzig, 1885); Tille, Die Anfänge der hohen Landstrasse (Gotha, 1906); Biedermann, Geschichte der Leipziger Kramerinnung (Leipzig, 1881); and Moltke, Die Leipziger Kramerinnung im 15 und 16 Jahrhundert (Leipzig, 1901).
LEIRIA, an episcopal city and the capital of the district of Leiria, formerly included in Estremadura, Portugal; on the river Liz and on the Lisbon-Figueira da Foz railway. Pop. (1900) 4459. The principal buildings of Leiria are the ruined citadel, which dates from 1135, and the cathedral, a small Renaissance building erected in 1571 but modernized in the 18th century. The main square of the city is named after the poet Francisco Rodrigues Lobo, who was born here about 1500. Between Leiria and the Atlantic there are extensive pine woods known as the Pinhal de Leiria, which were planted by King Diniz (1279–1325) with trees imported from the Landes in France, in order to give firmness to the sandy soil. In the neighbourhood there are glass and iron foundries, oil wells and mineral springs. Leiria, the Roman Calippo, was taken from the Moors in 1135 by Alphonso I. (Affonso Henriques). King Diniz made it his capital. In 1466 the first Portuguese printing-press was established here; in 1545 the city was made an episcopal see. The administrative district of Leiria coincides with the north and north-west of the ancient province of Estremadura (q.v.); pop. (1900) 238,755; area 1317 sq. m.
LEISLER, JACOB (c. 1635–1691), American political agitator, was born probably at Frankfort-on-Main, Germany, about 1635. He went to New Netherland (New York) in 1660, married a wealthy widow, engaged in trade, and soon accumulated a fortune. The English Revolution of 1688 divided the people of New York into two well-defined factions. In general the small shop-keepers, small farmers, sailors, poor traders and artisans were arrayed against the patroons, rich fur-traders, merchants, lawyers and crown officers. The former were led by Leisler, the latter by Peter Schuyler (1657–1724), Nicholas Bayard (c. 1644–1707), Stephen van Cortlandt (1643–1700), William Nicolls (1657–1723) and other representatives of the aristocratic Hudson Valley families. The “Leislerians” pretended greater loyalty to the Protestant succession. When news of the imprisonment of Gov. Andros in Massachusetts was received, they took possession on the 31st of May 1689 of Fort James (at the southern end of Manhattan Island), renamed it Fort William and announced their determination to hold it until the arrival of a governor commissioned by the new sovereigns. The aristocrats also favoured the Revolution, but preferred to continue the government under authority from James II. rather than risk the danger of an interregnum. Lieutenant-Governor Francis Nicholson sailed for England on the 24th of June, a committee of safety was organized by the popular party, and Leisler was appointed commander-in-chief. Under authority of a letter from the home government addressed to Nicholson, “or in his absence, to such as for the time being takes care for preserving the peace and administering the laws in His Majesty’s province of New York,” he assumed the title of lieutenant-governor in December 1689, appointed a council and took charge of the government of the entire province. He summoned the first Intercolonial Congress in America, which met in New York on the 1st of May 1690 to plan concerted action against the French and Indians. Colonel Henry Sloughter was commissioned governor of the province on the 2nd of September 1689 but did not reach New York until the 19th of March 1691. In the meantime Major Richard Ingoldsby and two companies of soldiers had landed (January 28, 1691) and demanded possession of the fort. Leisler refused to surrender it, and after some controversy an attack was made on the 17th of March in which two soldiers were killed and several wounded. When Sloughter arrived two days later Leisler hastened to give over to him the fort and other evidences of authority. He and his son-in-law, Jacob Milborne, were charged with treason for refusing to submit to Ingoldsby, were convicted, and on the 16th of May 1691 were executed. There has been much controversy among historians with regard both to the facts and to the significance of Leisler’s brief career as ruler in New York.
See J. R. Brodhead, History of the State of New York (vol. 2, New York, 1871). For the documents connected with the controversy see E. B. O’Callaghan, Documentary History of the State of New York (vol. 2, Albany, 1850).
LEISNIG, a town in the kingdom of Saxony, prettily situated on the Freiberger Mulde, 7 m. S. of Grimma by the railway from Leipzig to Dresden via Döbeln. Pop. (1905) 8147. On a high rock above the town lies the old castle of Mildenstein, now utilized as administrative offices. The industries include the manufacture of cloth, furniture, boots, buttons, cigars, beer, machinery and chemicals. Leisnig is a place of considerable
