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David Lindsay (d. 1613)
Encyclopedia
David Lindsay was of the twelve original ministers nominated to the "chief places in Scotland" in 1560. In 1589 as one of the recognised leaders of the Kirk and as chaplain of James VI of Scotland, Lindsay accompanied James to Norway to fetch home his bride. He was appointed bishop of Ross
and a privy councillor in 1600. He died in 1613 and his body was interred at Leith.
. He was said to have been a student of the university of St Andrews
, though his name does not appear as such in any of the university records. He appears to have been an associate of John Knox
in Geneva
.
During travels in France
and Switzerland
Lindsay imbibed Reformation
principles, and he was one of the twelve original ministers nominated in July 1560 to the "chief places in Scotland", the town assigned him being Leith
. He was present in December following at the first meeting of the general assembly of the kirk
, and thenceforth was one of its recognised leaders. He was moderator of the assembly
which met in February 1568, and subsequently held the same office on five different occasions. He visited Knox on his deathbed in 1572, and at Knox's request, though "he thought the message hard", went to the castle of Edinburgh
to warn William Kirkcaldy of Grange
that unless he gave it up he "should be brought down over the walls of it with shame and hang against the sun".
Lindsay visited Kirkcaldy after his condemnation, and was sent by him to Morton
to intercede for his life, being empowered to offer Kirkcaldy's whole estate as a ransom. The intercession having failed, Lindsay, at Kirkcaldy's special request, attended him on the scaffold, and thus, according to Calderwood, became witness of the literal fulfilment of the doom pronounced by Knox. Always inclined to moderate counsels, Lindsay in 1579 took part in the successful mediation between Morton and the dissentient lords. On the arrival shortly afterwards of Esmé Stuart
, the secret catholic emissary from France, Lindsay, at the king's request was, on account of his knowledge of French, appointed by the kirk to attend on him with a view to his conversion to protestantism
.
By Lindsay's nominal success, he became the unconscious tool of Stuart in his designs against Morton. After the banishment of those concerned in the Ruthven raid, Lindsay endeavoured to obtain the co-operation of Robert Bowes
, the English ambassador, to bring about a reconciliation between the two factions, but his endeavours were unsuccessful. He had gradually won considerable influence with the king, and acquired the reputation of being "the minister whom the court liked best". On this account he was in May 1584 selected by the ministers in and around Edinburgh
to induce the king to delay his assent, until a meeting of the assembly, to certain acts circumscribing the authority of the kirk; but as he entered the palace gate he was apprehended and lodged in Blackness Castle
. Here he had a remarkable dream, recorded at length by Calderwood. On the fall of Arran shortly afterwards, he was set at liberty. Lindsay was the only one of the ministers of the kirk — with the exception of the "king's own minister" — who complied with the request of the king to pray for Queen Mary before her execution.
As chaplain
of the king Lindsay accompanied him in October 1589 when he set sail for Norway to bring home his bride, Anne of Denmark
, and on 23 November he married them at Uppsala
. He and Robert Bruce crowned them in the abbey kirk, Edinburgh, on 12 May 1590. On the occasion of the baptism of the young prince Henry at Stirling
, 23 August 1594, Lindsay delivered a learned speech to the ambassadors in French. He came to Edinburgh from Falkland Palace
in 1600 in order to assure the clergy of the truth of the official version of the Gowrie House conspiracy of 5 August 1600. When the clergy declined to order a general service of thanksgiving for the king's deliverance, a service was conducted by Lindsay at the market cross, and on the arrival of the king at Leith, 16 August, Lindsay also preached a thanksgiving sermon in his own church. Soon afterwards he received a special mark of royal favour by his crown provision on 5 November 1600, in accordance with the act for the establishment of a modified episcopacy, to the bishopric of Ross. On 30 September he was also admitted a member of the privy council. His provision was renewed on 22 December 1604, on both occasions the honour was purely titular until the restoration of regular episcopal succession in 1610; he did not receive consecration as bishop on either 23 or 24 January 1611.
As bishop of Ross
Lindsay sat and voted in parliament
, but in the assembly of the kirk the new bishoprics were not recognised till November 1602. At that date commissions were appointed for general visitation; Lindsay and the other bishops were sent as commissioners to the districts of which they were bishops, and thus, laments James Melville, "thair was thrie bishops put in possession of thair bishoprics". Lindsay was one of those who accompanied King James
to England, when he set out to take possession of the English throne. On 1 April 1604, he obtained a pension of 200 pounds per annum for life. At the parliament held at Perth in July of this year he was appointed a commissioner for the union with England. He died on 14 August 1613, "having", according to his son-in-law, Archbishop Spotiswood
, "attained to fourscore and two or three years". "He was", says the same authority, "of a placable nature, and greatly favoured of the king, to whom he performed diverse good services, especially in the troubles he had with the church: a man universally beloved and well-esteemed of by all wise men". His corpse was interred at Leith by his own direction, as desiring to rest along with that people on whom he had taken great pains in his life.
, and David Lindsay (d. 1627) — and a daughter, Rachel, who married John Spotiswood, afterwards archbishop of St. Andrews.
Bishop of Ross
The Bishop of Ross was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Ross, one of Scotland's 13 medieval bishoprics. The first recorded bishop appears in the late 7th century as a witness to Adomnán of Iona's Cáin Adomnáin. The bishopric was based at the settlement of Rosemarkie until the mid-13th...
and a privy councillor in 1600. He died in 1613 and his body was interred at Leith.
Biography
Lindsay was the son of Robert Lindsay of Kirkton, brother of David, ninth Earl of CrawfordDavid Lindsay, 9th Earl of Crawford
David Lindsay, 9th Earl of Crawford was a Scottish peer and Member of Parliament.He married Catherine Campbell, daughter of Sir John Campbell of Lorn and they had a son, John Lindsay of Balcarres, Lord Menmuir....
. He was said to have been a student of the university of St Andrews
University of St Andrews
The University of St Andrews, informally referred to as "St Andrews", is the oldest university in Scotland and the third oldest in the English-speaking world after Oxford and Cambridge. The university is situated in the town of St Andrews, Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It was founded between...
, though his name does not appear as such in any of the university records. He appears to have been an associate of John Knox
John Knox
John Knox was a Scottish clergyman and a leader of the Protestant Reformation who brought reformation to the church in Scotland. He was educated at the University of St Andrews or possibly the University of Glasgow and was ordained to the Catholic priesthood in 1536...
in Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
.
During travels in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
Lindsay imbibed Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
principles, and he was one of the twelve original ministers nominated in July 1560 to the "chief places in Scotland", the town assigned him being Leith
Leith
-South Leith v. North Leith:Up until the late 16th century Leith , comprised two separate towns on either side of the river....
. He was present in December following at the first meeting of the general assembly of the kirk
General Assembly of the Church of Scotland
The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is the sovereign and highest court of the Church of Scotland, and is thus the Church's governing body[1] An Introduction to Practice and Procedure in the Church of Scotland, A Gordon McGillivray, 2nd Edition .-Church courts:As a Presbyterian church,...
, and thenceforth was one of its recognised leaders. He was moderator of the assembly
Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland
The Moderator of the General Assembly of Church of Scotland is a Minister, Elder or Deacon of the Church of Scotland chosen to "moderate" the annual General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, which is held for a week in Edinburgh every May....
which met in February 1568, and subsequently held the same office on five different occasions. He visited Knox on his deathbed in 1572, and at Knox's request, though "he thought the message hard", went to the castle of Edinburgh
Edinburgh Castle
Edinburgh Castle is a fortress which dominates the skyline of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, from its position atop the volcanic Castle Rock. Human habitation of the site is dated back as far as the 9th century BC, although the nature of early settlement is unclear...
to warn William Kirkcaldy of Grange
William Kirkcaldy of Grange
Sir William Kirkcaldy of Grange , Scottish politician and general, was the eldest son of Sir James Kirkcaldy of Grange , a member of an old Fife family...
that unless he gave it up he "should be brought down over the walls of it with shame and hang against the sun".
Lindsay visited Kirkcaldy after his condemnation, and was sent by him to Morton
James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton
James Douglas, jure uxoris 4th Earl of Morton was the last of the four regents of Scotland during the minority of King James VI. He was in some ways the most successful of the four, since he did manage to win the civil war which had been dragging on with the supporters of the exiled Mary, Queen of...
to intercede for his life, being empowered to offer Kirkcaldy's whole estate as a ransom. The intercession having failed, Lindsay, at Kirkcaldy's special request, attended him on the scaffold, and thus, according to Calderwood, became witness of the literal fulfilment of the doom pronounced by Knox. Always inclined to moderate counsels, Lindsay in 1579 took part in the successful mediation between Morton and the dissentient lords. On the arrival shortly afterwards of Esmé Stuart
Esmé Stewart, 1st Duke of Lennox
Esmé Stewart, 1st Duke of Lennox, 1st Earl of Lennox was the son of John Stewart, 5th Lord of Aubigny who was the younger brother of Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox...
, the secret catholic emissary from France, Lindsay, at the king's request was, on account of his knowledge of French, appointed by the kirk to attend on him with a view to his conversion to protestantism
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
.
By Lindsay's nominal success, he became the unconscious tool of Stuart in his designs against Morton. After the banishment of those concerned in the Ruthven raid, Lindsay endeavoured to obtain the co-operation of Robert Bowes
Robert Bowes (ambassador)
Robert Bowes was an English diplomat, stationed as permanent ambassador to Scotland from 1577 to 1583.-Life:The fifth son of Richard Bowes and Elizabeth Aske, he was educated at Queens' College, Cambridge. He served under his father in the defence of the borders...
, the English ambassador, to bring about a reconciliation between the two factions, but his endeavours were unsuccessful. He had gradually won considerable influence with the king, and acquired the reputation of being "the minister whom the court liked best". On this account he was in May 1584 selected by the ministers in and around Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
to induce the king to delay his assent, until a meeting of the assembly, to certain acts circumscribing the authority of the kirk; but as he entered the palace gate he was apprehended and lodged in Blackness Castle
Blackness Castle
Blackness Castle is a 15th century fortress, near the village of Blackness, Scotland, on the south shore of the Firth of Forth. It was built, probably on the site of an earlier fort, by Sir George Crichton in the 1440s. At this time, Blackness was the main port serving the Royal Burgh of...
. Here he had a remarkable dream, recorded at length by Calderwood. On the fall of Arran shortly afterwards, he was set at liberty. Lindsay was the only one of the ministers of the kirk — with the exception of the "king's own minister" — who complied with the request of the king to pray for Queen Mary before her execution.
As chaplain
Chaplain
Traditionally, a chaplain is a minister in a specialized setting such as a priest, pastor, rabbi, or imam or lay representative of a religion attached to a secular institution such as a hospital, prison, military unit, police department, university, or private chapel...
of the king Lindsay accompanied him in October 1589 when he set sail for Norway to bring home his bride, Anne of Denmark
Anne of Denmark
Anne of Denmark was queen consort of Scotland, England, and Ireland as the wife of King James VI and I.The second daughter of King Frederick II of Denmark, Anne married James in 1589 at the age of fourteen and bore him three children who survived infancy, including the future Charles I...
, and on 23 November he married them at Uppsala
Uppsala
- Economy :Today Uppsala is well established in medical research and recognized for its leading position in biotechnology.*Abbott Medical Optics *GE Healthcare*Pfizer *Phadia, an offshoot of Pharmacia*Fresenius*Q-Med...
. He and Robert Bruce crowned them in the abbey kirk, Edinburgh, on 12 May 1590. On the occasion of the baptism of the young prince Henry at Stirling
Stirling
Stirling is a city and former ancient burgh in Scotland, and is at the heart of the wider Stirling council area. The city is clustered around a large fortress and medieval old-town beside the River Forth...
, 23 August 1594, Lindsay delivered a learned speech to the ambassadors in French. He came to Edinburgh from Falkland Palace
Falkland Palace
Falkland Palace in Falkland, Fife, Scotland, is a former royal palace of the Scottish Kings. Today it is in the care of the National Trust for Scotland, and serves as a tourist attraction.-Early years:...
in 1600 in order to assure the clergy of the truth of the official version of the Gowrie House conspiracy of 5 August 1600. When the clergy declined to order a general service of thanksgiving for the king's deliverance, a service was conducted by Lindsay at the market cross, and on the arrival of the king at Leith, 16 August, Lindsay also preached a thanksgiving sermon in his own church. Soon afterwards he received a special mark of royal favour by his crown provision on 5 November 1600, in accordance with the act for the establishment of a modified episcopacy, to the bishopric of Ross. On 30 September he was also admitted a member of the privy council. His provision was renewed on 22 December 1604, on both occasions the honour was purely titular until the restoration of regular episcopal succession in 1610; he did not receive consecration as bishop on either 23 or 24 January 1611.
As bishop of Ross
Bishop of Ross
The Bishop of Ross was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Ross, one of Scotland's 13 medieval bishoprics. The first recorded bishop appears in the late 7th century as a witness to Adomnán of Iona's Cáin Adomnáin. The bishopric was based at the settlement of Rosemarkie until the mid-13th...
Lindsay sat and voted in parliament
Parliament of Scotland
The Parliament of Scotland, officially the Estates of Parliament, was the legislature of the Kingdom of Scotland. The unicameral parliament of Scotland is first found on record during the early 13th century, with the first meeting for which a primary source survives at...
, but in the assembly of the kirk the new bishoprics were not recognised till November 1602. At that date commissions were appointed for general visitation; Lindsay and the other bishops were sent as commissioners to the districts of which they were bishops, and thus, laments James Melville, "thair was thrie bishops put in possession of thair bishoprics". Lindsay was one of those who accompanied King James
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
to England, when he set out to take possession of the English throne. On 1 April 1604, he obtained a pension of 200 pounds per annum for life. At the parliament held at Perth in July of this year he was appointed a commissioner for the union with England. He died on 14 August 1613, "having", according to his son-in-law, Archbishop Spotiswood
John Spottiswoode
John Spottiswoode was an Archbishop of St Andrews, Primate of All Scotland and historian of Scotland.-Life:...
, "attained to fourscore and two or three years". "He was", says the same authority, "of a placable nature, and greatly favoured of the king, to whom he performed diverse good services, especially in the troubles he had with the church: a man universally beloved and well-esteemed of by all wise men". His corpse was interred at Leith by his own direction, as desiring to rest along with that people on whom he had taken great pains in his life.
Family
By his wife, a daughter of Ramsay of Clattie, Lindsay had two sons — Jerome, who was knighted as Sir Jerome Lindsay of Annatland, and appointed Lyon king-at-arms, and who is now represented by a family in VirginiaVirginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, and David Lindsay (d. 1627) — and a daughter, Rachel, who married John Spotiswood, afterwards archbishop of St. Andrews.