John Spottiswoode
The Most Reverend John Spottiswoode | |
---|---|
Archbishop of St Andrews | |
Church | Church of Scotland |
In office | 1615–1639 |
Predecessor | George Gledstanes |
Successor | James Sharp |
Orders | |
Consecration | 21 October 1610 by George Abbot |
Personal details | |
Born | 1565 |
Died | London, England | 26 November 1639 (aged 74)
Parents | John Spottiswood and Beatrix Crichton |
Spouse | Rachel Lindsay |
Children | John Spottiswoode, Robert Spottiswoode (1596-1646), Anne Spottiswoode |
John Spottiswoode (Spottiswood, Spotiswood, Spotiswoode or Spotswood) (1565 – 26 November 1639) was an
Life
He was born in 1565 at Greenbank in
Spottiswoode had originally become prominent as an ardent supporter of the strict
In 1633 he crowned Charles I at Holyrood. In 1635 he was appointed Lord Chancellor of Scotland, an office which he retained till 1638. John founded Dairsie Old Church, and re-built Dairsie Castle as a family home. The castle was rebuilt from a ruin in the 1990s, and his family crest is visible inside and outside the buildings.
He was opposed to the new liturgy as inexpedient, but when he could not prevent its introduction he took part in enforcing it. He was a spectator of the riot of
Spottiswoode published in 1620 Refutatio libelli de regimine ecclesiae scoticanae, an answer to a tract of Calderwood, who replied in the Vindiciae subjoined to his Altare damascenum (1623). The only other writing published during his lifetime was the sermon he preached at the Perth assembly. His most considerable work was The History of the Church and State of Scotland (London, 1655, seq.). It displays considerable research and sagacity, and even when dealing with contemporary events gives a favorable impression, upon the whole, of the author's candour and truth. The opposite side can be studied in Calderwood's History.
Criticism
The
"Gladstanes was succeeded in the primacy by John Spotswoode, a shrewd and crafty politician, and the author of a History of the Church of Scotland, which, as has been well observed, might more properly be called "Calumnies against the Church of Scotland." This historian, as appears from his private correspondence, was engaged in all the Jesuitical plots of the government for overturning Presbytery, which he had sworn to support, and could hardly be expected to give a fair account of transactions in which his own credit was so deeply implicated, and for his share in which he was afterwards excommunicated by the Church which he had betrayed. His falsehoods and misrepresentations have been so completely exposed, that to appeal to him now as an authority on any point of history affecting the cause of Presbytery, may be set down at once as a mark of blindfolded prejudice."
In a 2011 biography of Scottish Roman Catholic martyr Fr. Alexander Cameron, Monsignor Thomas Wynne, a priest of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Argyll and the Isles, was equally critical of Archbishop Spottiswoode, "Of all the priests who fell into the hands of the Scottish Government after the Reformation, John Ogilvie was the only one to be executed. There were two reasons for his execution: firstly, he was far too successful in his work as a priest; and, secondly, Archbishop Spottiswoode, to show his own loyalty in opposing the Papacy, for he was indeed suspect, used Ogilvie's capture and execution as proof of his orthodoxy to the Reformed faith and loyalty to the King. John Ogilvie was executed at Glasgow Cross on 28th February 1615, and his martyrdom has long been recognized by the Church. He was Canonized on 17th October, 1976."[4]
Family
Spottiswoode married Rachel, daughter of David Lindsay, Bishop of Ross, with issue a daughter and two sons:
- Anne Spottiswoode
- Sir John Spottiswoode of Dairsie in Fife. He was appointed one of the Gentlemen of the Bedchamber to Charles I of England when a young man, and was knighted by the King as appears by a charter under the great seal, dated 5 June 1621. He died before the restoration of King Charles II. His only son was:
- John, a staunch loyalist, who joined James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose and was taken prisoner with him and executed immediately after him, on 21 May 1650.[5]
- Sir Robert, Lord President of the Court of Session (1596–1646), who was captured at the battle of Philiphaughin 1645 and executed on 20 January 1646.
Sources
- the accounts prefixed to the first edition of Spottiswoode's History of Scotland
- the accounts published by the Spottiswoode Society in 1851
- David Calderwood's History of the Kirk of Scotland (1842–1849).
See also
- Alexander Spotswood - the noted Lieutenant-Governor of Virginia, who was grandson of Robert Spottiswoode (1596–1646) and great-grandson of Archbishop John Spottiswoode.
References
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Spottiswoode, John". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 25 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Cousin, John William (1910). "Spottiswood, John". A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London: J. M. Dent & Sons – via Wikisource.
- ^ Frederick Devon, Issues of the Exchequer (London, 1836), 7: John Spottiswoode, History of the Church of Scotland (London, 1668), 477.
- ^ Anna Groundwater, The Middle Shires Divided: Tensions at the Heart of the Anglo-Scottish Union, in Sharon Adams & Julian Goodare (2014), Scotland in the Age of Two Revolutions, The Boydell Press, pp. 32–33
- ^ M'Crie, Thomas (1875). The story of the Scottish church : from the Reformation to the Disruption. London: Blackie & Son. p. pg 107. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ Thomas Wynne (2011), The Forgotten Cameron of the '45: The Life and Times of Alexander Cameron, S.J., Print Smith, Fort William, Scotland. Page 18.
- ^ Seldens of Virginia and allied families, Volume 2, by Mary Seldon Kennedy (1911)