The Scottish Reformation Part 17

[311] Cattley's Foxe, v. 381-384. [The whole of this account, as Cattley points out, is taken by Foxe almost _verbatim_ from a statement made by Alesius himself in his rare tract ent.i.tled, _Of the Auctorite of the Word of G.o.d agaynst the Bisshop of London, wherein are conteyned certen disputacyons had in the Parlament Howse betwene the Bisshops, abowt the nomber of the Sacraments, and other things very necessary to be known: made by Alexander Alane Scot and sent to the Duke of Saxon_. Christopher Anderson says that this translation of the tract De Authoritate Verbi Dei Liber was made by Edmund _Allen_. So completely had the original name of Alesius dropped out of knowledge that Anderson actually charges the printer with committing "a strange blunder in the t.i.tle." Believing that _Ales_ was the real name of Alesius, he thought that the printer had divided the name of the author between the author and the translator ('Annals of the English Bible,' ii. 479 n.).]

[312] [For the circ.u.mstances of his departure, see Appendix G.]

[313] [For M'Alpine, see Gau's Richt Vay, Introd., p. xii.]

[314] "I owe much," he says, "to your father, who received me most hospitably at my first coming hither, and, in name of Duke Maurice (now Elector of Saxony), invited me to give my services to this famous university, and retained me here some years after, when I was called elsewhere" (_i.e._, probably Konigsberg), "promising me the favour and grace of the most ill.u.s.trious prince elector. Finally, after the war, he encouraged me, then hesitating, to write to the elector to beg the rest.i.tution of my books and other effects, which I had lost at the time of the siege of this city, kindly offering his best services in rendering my supplicatory letter to the prince, by which, however, he only succeeded in securing that the elector, when departing from his own dominions to attend the imperial diet, should give instructions on the matter to his counsellors whom he had left at home, and should deliver to be sent on to me a letter full of kindness through Damia.n.u.s Sybothendorff, secretary to his highness."

[315] On the former of which occasions he inscribed the following paragraph in the matriculation book of the university: "Anno MDLV, die 23 Aprilis, qui Divo Georgio sacer est, et quo existimo me natum esse, supputatis retro LV annis, ego Alexander Alesius, gente Scotus, Patria Edinburgensis, atavis consulibus, qui duobus regibus, Jacobo Quinto, et Henrico Octavo, et quatuor electoribus, Johanni Friderico, Mauricio et Augusto, Ducibus Saxoniae, et Joachimo Electori Brandeburgensi inservivi, invitus suscepi officium rectoris universitatis scholae in inclyta urbe Lipsia."

[316] Lorimer's Scottish Reformation, 1860, pp. 112, 113. [The Perth martyrs are noticed above, pp. 53, 54. See also Laing's Knox, i. 117, 118, 523-526.]

[317] Lorimer's Scottish Reformation, 1860, pp. 115, 116. [The quotations from the Cohortatio which follow agree substantially with those given by Dr Lorimer, but many of the variations in the phraseology show that Dr Mitch.e.l.l had the original as well as Lorimer's translation before him when he wrote.]

[318] See Appendix H.

[319] M'Crie's Knox, 1855, p. 462.

[320] Anderson's Annals of the English Bible, 1845, ii. 485. For a list of the published writings of Alesius see Appendix I.

APPENDIX A (p. 19).

THE PaeDAGOGIUM, OR ST MARY'S COLLEGE, ST ANDREWS.[321]

St Mary's College, if in one sense the youngest, is in another sense the oldest, college within the University. It occupies the earliest site of the University, and gathers up into itself not only the old _Paedagogium_, but also a still older college. In January 1418 ... a certain _Robertus de Monte Rosarum_ mortified a site on the south side of South Street, with the buildings thereon, as a college for the study of theology and arts. This was the strip of ground on which the eastern portion of the Library, as well as the new south wing, now stands, but on which, in the oldest bird's-eye view of the city, a sort of collegiate building is represented as standing. That was undoubtedly the College, or Hall, or "Inns" of St John, to which repeated reference is made in the oldest ma.n.u.script records of the University. It had probably a lecture-room, rooms for the students to lodge in, and a chapel also, dedicated to St John the Evangelist, in which daily service was maintained, but, so far as we now know, it was very poorly endowed.

In 1430 Bishop Wardlaw, the ill.u.s.trious founder of the University, mortified as a site for a _Paedagogium_ or common school for the faculty of arts the strip of land and buildings thereon immediately to the west of St John's College--the frontage now covered by the western portion of the Library, the porch of St Mary's College, and the Princ.i.p.al's house.

After the erection and endowment of St Salvator's College by Bishop Kennedy, and of St Leonard's College by Prior Hepburn, the attendance on the _Paedagogium_, which was but slenderly endowed, seems to have fallen off, and the number of its regents to have been curtailed. Archbishop Alexander Stewart, the favourite pupil of Erasmus, and one of the most accomplished of our long line of chancellors, was the first who formed the purpose of enlarging and endowing Bishop Wardlaw's foundation, but his life was prematurely brought to a close on the fatal field of Flodden. His successor, Andrew Forman, appears to have taken no interest in the work on which Stewart had set his heart. But James Betoun, who came next in succession, acted a n.o.bler part. He brought with him from Glasgow John Major--the one great schoolman of whom Scotland in the sixteenth century could boast, who had upheld the reputation of his country in the University of Paris as an able and successful teacher of the philosophy and theology of the day. Major and Patrick Hamilton--the one the representative of the old, the other of the new learning--were incorporated into the University of St Andrews on the same day (9th June 1523); and, for at least two years, the former presided over the _Paedagogium_, and probably lectured both on philosophy and theology. In 1525-26 he returned to Paris, partly that he might publish there his commentaries on the Gospels, and partly that he might act again as a teacher in that wider sphere; but a few years later, on a vacancy occurring in the princ.i.p.ality of St Salvator's College, he returned to St Andrews, and continued in that more lucrative charge till his death.

It was mainly in his last years, however, that James Betoun set himself in right earnest to complete the work which Archbishop Stewart had begun. At his solicitation Pope Paul III., on 12th February 1537, issued a bull annexing the teinds of the church of Tannadice, in Forfars.h.i.+re, and of the wealthier church of Tyninghame, in East Lothian, to the old foundation, and erecting it into a privileged college under the t.i.tle of the Blessed Mary of the a.s.sumption. In this college, medicine, law, and theology, as well as arts, were henceforth to be taught, and the privilege was granted to it of conferring degrees in all lawful faculties, and of conferring them on those who had gained their knowledge elsewhere as well as on those who had studied within the college--in fact, making it almost a university within the University, and conceding to it more extensive powers than were conceded to many universities. His first work was to replace the decaying buildings of the _Paedagogium_ by others more ma.s.sive and commodious. That work was far from finished at the time of his death, and having been intermitted by his successor [the cardinal], was only completed by Archbishop Hamilton, who, with papal sanction, reconst.i.tuted the college and added to its endowments.

Early, however, in 1538, the first staff of teachers entered on their work as a college organised and equipped "_ut militans Dei ecclesia indies abundet viris litterarum scientia praeditis_," and few inst.i.tutions through a long and eventful history have more ill.u.s.triously fulfilled this object, though in another sense than its founders meant, and handed on the torch of sacred learning from generation to generation. Bannerman, who succeeded Major, had the honour of reorganising the old inst.i.tution and starting it on its new career.

Archibald Hay, who came next, was the child of the Renaissance, and more in earnest about religion than many of that school; and, had his life been spared, and the cardinal given heed to his counsels, the old Church might have been able to make a better fight for privilege or for life in the struggle which ensued. John Douglas, his successor, bridged the pa.s.sage from the old to the new without any violent break, probably taking part with Wynram in the composition of Archbishop Hamilton's Catechism, as he did afterwards in the preparation of the Reformed Confession of Faith and the First Book of Discipline. He was a man of the ancient academic type, content to live in single blessedness, to treat his pupils, who also lived in college, with the familiarity and affection of a father. He had the honour of training the youthful Andrew Melville, and perhaps it was with some presentiment of his future eminence that, as he held the precocious youth between his knees at the college fire, he fondly said, "My sillie fatherless and motherless chyld, it is ill to wit what G.o.d may mak of thee yit."

G.o.d watched over that weakly youth, and prospered his studies at Paris, Poictiers, and Geneva, so that with a mind stored with all the learning of his time, he returned to his native land to complete the reformation of its universities, and to delight successive generations of students by his stores of learning and wit, and by his accessibility and generosity. It was to meet his ideas of what a theological school should be that the college was set apart "allenarly" for the study of theology, and furnished with professors of the Old and the New Testament, who were to "expone" the various books of Scripture as well as to read them in the original, comparing the Hebrew of the Old Testament with the Septuagint and the Chaldee paraphrases, and the Greek of the New Testament with the old Syriac translation, while the princ.i.p.al was to teach the _loci communes_ or the systematic theology of the age. The first a.s.sistants in the "wark of theology" were Mr John Robertson, who acted as _professor Novi Testamenti_, and his own nephew, James Melville, who taught Hebrew and the Old Testament, and to whom we owe that graphic diary which gives us several interesting glimpses of college life in those early days. To John Robertson succeeded Mr John Johnston, author of Latin poems in praise of our reformers and martyrs, and of Latin verses descriptive of the line of our Scottish kings.

Melville was by no means an illiberal theologian, and he and Johnston wrote to the Protestant churches of France urging moderation on them in controversies which were then being discussed with great bitterness.

Both lived with and for their pupils, and secured in an unusual degree their reverence and affection. Both ultimately lost the favour of the king; and Melville, after being cruelly used in London, had to spend his declining years in the French Protestant University of Sedan.

FOOTNOTES:

[321] [This is taken from a paper on "St Mary's College," contributed by Dr Mitch.e.l.l to the "Student's Handbook to the University of St Andrews,"

1895, pp. 12-15.]

APPENDIX B (p. 30).

CITATIO PATRICII HAMILTON

E FORMULARI VETERE ANDREANO.

_Citatio super suspecto de heresi ad faciendum purgationem alias ad videndum [ipsum] heretic.u.m declarari._

Jacobus etc., Decano Christianitatis nostre de L[audonia] Universisque et singulis aliis Dominis rectoribus, vicariis perpetuis, capellanis curatis et non curatis per provinciam nostram S[ti Andree] ubilibet const.i.tutis, Illique vel illis ad quem vel ad quos presentes litere pervenerint, Salutem c.u.m benedictione divina: Quia per fidelem inquisitionem aliter de mandato nostro legitime receptam compertum ext.i.tit quendam Magistrum P[atricium] H[amilton] de heresi multiplici suspectum, quem citandum et desuper accusandum antea decrevimus, sed medio tempore relicta patria ad alia et extera se transtulit loca, nuper autem vagante fama ad aures nostras clamorosa insinuatione pervenit Ipsum nuperrime in patriam reversum et quod primo statim adventu non debite missus nec prerogativis aut privilegiis debitis munitus, sed propria auctoritate et temeraria presumptione, predicationis officium de heresi ei designata acceptare ausus est, et suas hereticas pravitates et perversas Martini Lutheri heretici alias ab ecclesia d.a.m.nati et suorum fautorum ac sequacium opiniones promulgare, docens seminansve et pertinaciter affirmans, ac populum Christianum de eisdem instruere non erubescit, indeque simplices et illiteratos hujus regni Christi fideles qui in se et progenitoribus per tanta temporis curricula, spatio viz.

mille et trecentorum annorum et ultra in ecclesia Dei constantissime militaverunt, a vera nostra orthodoxa fide et catholica ecclesia seducere, et quantum in eo est pervertere nit.i.tur et proponit, dicendo predicando et temerario ausu inter alia palam et publice affirmando:--

Legibus, canonibus, patrum sanctionibus et decretis, humanis quoque const.i.tutionibus non esse obtemperandum; Claves et censuras ecclesie contempnendas, nec sacramentis ejusdem fidendum, Templa non esse frequentanda, nec ymagines adorandas, pro defunctorum animabus non esse exorandum; nec decimas Deo et ecclesie solvendas; pro bonis operibus nullum fore salutis premium nec pro malis cruciatum; Nostros progenitores in ecclesia Dei et ejusdem sacramentis fidentes in mala et iniqua fide esse mortuos et in inferno sepultos:--

Aliaque dictu et recitatu saltem inter Christianos et fideles horrenda et nephanda predicat docet et affirmat in Dei viventis claviumque ecclesie ac nostre fidei orthodoxe contemptum, regni et reipublice ejusdem d.a.m.num scandalum et, digna Dei ultione, si premissis favere incipiat, sperandam ruinam, animabusque perpetrantium gravissimum periculum nisi remedio succurratur oportuno: In quibus omnibus et singulis idem Magister P. communi voce et fama ex publica et notoria ejusdem predicatione orta de heresi suspectus reputatur, habetur et divulgatur. Consilio igitur desuper recepto ipsum citandum et de premissis experiendum decrevimus: Quare vobis et vestrum cuilibet nos precipimus et mandamus, quatenus citetis legitime dictum Magistrum P. H.

primo, secundo, tertio et peremptorie etc. quod compareat personaliter coram [n.o.bis] nostrisque consulibus Dnis Episcopis, Abbatibus, Prioribus, sacrarum literarum Professoribus, et Religiosis, aliisque n.o.bis pro tempore a.s.sistentibus, in ecclesia nostra Metropolitana S[ti Andree] regni Scotie primatiali, die _N_ mensis _N_ proxime futuris, hora decima antemeridiana vel eo circa, ad respondendum n.o.bis ex officio de et super suis pertinaciter dictis, affirmatis, predicatis, divulgatis, tentis et disputatis contra nostram orthodoxam fidem et sanctam ecclesiam catholicam; et propterea ad videndum et audiendum ipsum heretic.u.m declarari, et pena condigna a canonibus propterea lata et imperata puniendum fore et puniri debere; superque adherentia et favoribus prest.i.tis peregrinis opinionibus et pravitatibus dicti Martini Lutheri, heretici ab ecclesia d.a.m.nati, et suorum sequacium; ac aliis interrogandis similiter reddendis, et tanquam heretice pravitatis fautorem et male de fide sentientem accusandum fore et accusari ac condempnari debere. Testimonia quoque et probationes, si necesse fuerit, desuper recipi, jurari, et admitti; ac in premissis omnibus et singulis summarie et de plano sine strepitu et figura judicii prout juris fuerit procedendum fore et procedi debere; Vel ad allegandum causam rationabilem quare premissa fieri non deberent; c.u.m intimatione debita, ut moris est, intimamus eidem quod sive dictis die et loco comparere curaverit sive non comparuerit Nos nihilominus in premissis omnibus et singulis procedere volumus et intendimus just.i.tia mediante; Imprimis absentia seu contumacia in aliquo non obstante; et ne periculum sit in mora, et ut interim hujus hereses in hoc regno hucusque ab omni tali labe et heretica peste per tanta temporis spatia sano, et post Christi Salvatoris susceptam fidem inviolabiliter preservato, non oriantur nec per Christi fideles audiantur, vobis omnibus et singulis supradictis, modo et forma premissis precipimus et mandamus, quatenus auctoritate nostra inhibentes omnibus et singulis Christi fidelibus cujuscunque dignitatis, status, gradus, ordinis aut conditionis existant, ne dicto Magistro P. sic ut premitt.i.tur, de heresi suspecto, favorem, a.s.sistentiam, societatem, colloquium seu gratam audientiam praebeant; nec in suis temerariis et insolentibus predicationibus disputationibus seu conventiclis publice vel occulte quovis quesito colore vel ingenio conveniant seu presentiam exhibeant; sed sibi et suis saltem de premissis fautoribus resistere studeant, resistentiamque faciant et procurent; ab illo quoque edendo, bibendo aut communicando in premissis abstineant, donec de heresi et infamia desuper orta purgetur, et eundem vitent sub pena excommunicationis majoris; Quam contrarium facientes incurrere volumus et decernimus ipso facto. Et quos vos, etc. Datum, etc.

APPENDIX C (p. 46).

CARDINAL BETOUN'S INCONTINENCE.

"While ... he was possessed," Mr M'Bain tells us, "of eminent qualities, he led, in many respects, anything but a moral life. His favourite mistress was Marion Ogilvie, daughter of Sir James, afterwards Lord, Ogilvie of Airlie, to whom [as Abbot of Arbroath] he granted a liferent lease of the lands of Burnton of Ethie, and other lands near the place, for a small sum of money _and other causes_. This was on the 22nd of May 1528. On the 20th of July 1530, he granted her a liferent lease of the Kirkton of St Vigeans, with the muir-fauld and the toft of St Vigeans, and a piece of common land lying to the south of the church. On 17th February 1533-34, she obtained a nineteen years' lease of the eighth part of the lands of Auchmithie [lying to the north-east of Ethie], with the brew-house there, and the lands belonging to it, and on 10th March 1534[-35] there is the record of a feu to her of a piece of land in the 'Sandpots,' for the construction of a toral or ustrina lying 'beyond and near the red wall of the monastery commonly so called'" (Eminent Arbroathians, 1897, pp. 37, 38). For these facts Mr M'Bain has the authority of the 'Registrum de Aberbrothoc,' Bannatyne Club, ii. 482, 500, 519, 521. On p. 482 are the words: "Pro certa summa pecunie et aliis causis a.s.sedat pro toto tempore vite Mariote Ogylwy subtenentibus coadjutoribus et a.s.signatis," &c. Mr M'Bain adds: "It is not known by whom Ethie House was built, but it was [one of the mansions belonging to the abbey and] a favourite residence of David Beaton and Marion Ogilvie, his mistress.... After Beaton's death a natural daughter of his by Marion Ogilvie laid claim to the furniture in Ethie House, if not to the house itself.... But Ethie was not the only place in the neighbourhood occupied by David Beaton and Marion Ogilvie. In 1542 he acquired the barony of Melgund, and erected the castle in which he and his mistress and their children resided. The Beaton and the Ogilvie arms are still to be seen in one of the rooms. The initials 'D.B.' are over one window, and 'M.O.' over the other; while on the corbal of the stair leading to this room are the Ogilvie arms, and the initials 'M.O.' ... David Beaton settled the property of Melgund on his mistress in liferent, and on his eldest son David in fee" (Eminent Arbroathians, pp. 38, 39).

[According to Dr Joseph Robertson, "Cardinal Beaton had five b.a.s.t.a.r.ds"

('Concilia Scotiae,' ii. 302). There is record evidence, however, to show that he had at least seven. On the 4th of November 1539, three of his sons were legitimated in the following terms: "Rex dedit literas legitimationis Jacobo Betoun, Alexandro Betoun et Johanni Betoun, b.a.s.t.a.r.dis, filiis naturalibus Davidis archiepiscopis S. Andree, &c."

(Register of Great Seal, iii. No. 2037). He had also a son David (Ibid., No. 1931), and three daughters, Elizabeth (Ibid., Nos. 1274, 2330), Margaret, and Agnes (Ibid., iv. Nos. 1353, 2740; 'Liber Officialis Sancti Andree,' Abbotsford Club, p. 158).]

APPENDIX D (p. 124).

CONDITIONS ON WHICH THE USE OF THE CHURCH OF THE WHITE LADIES AT FRANKFORT WAS GRANTED TO THE ENGLISH EXILES.

"Nun war bey Ankunft der Engellander eine Kirche in Frankfurt, die einigen franzosischen Protestanten zum Gebrauch eingeraumt war, welche nun auch zum Behuf der Engellander in Vorschlag gebracht, und am 14 Julii ihnen wirklich angewiesen wurde. Doch machte der Rath gewisse Ordnungen, und suchte die Sache also einzurichten, das allerlei Disputen, die etwa entstehen mogten, der Weg verlaget wurde. Die vornehmsten waren diese: (_a_) da.s.s die Engellander und Franzosen einerley Lehre und Ceremonien fuhren sollten; Daher sollten jene (_b_) der Franzosen Glaubensbekantniss, das diese N.B. dem Rath uberreichet hatten, unterschreiben. (_c_) Liessen sich die Engellander gefallen, da.s.s das Volk bey dem gemeinen Gebet das Amen nicht mehr laut sagen sollte, wie sonst in der Kirche von Engelland ublich ist. (_d_) Da.s.s die Prediger das weisse Chorhemde, nebst vielen andern in Engelland eingefuhrten Ceremonien abschaffen sollten, als welche den Einwohnern, die solcher Dinge ungewohnt waren, einstossig seyn konnten. Und was der gleichen Umstande mehr waren, welche die Engellander, um desto eher zum Stande zu kommen, freiwillig eingiengen."--J. Hildebrand Withof, 'Vertheidigung der.... Nachricht wie es mit V. Pollane erstem Reformirten Prediger zu Frankfurt-am-Mayn ... zugegangen,' 1753, folio.

APPENDIX E (p. 260).

THE THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL OPINIONS OF ALESIUS.