James Melville (26 July 1556 – 1614) was a
ScottishScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
divine and reformer, son of the laird of Baldovie, in Forfarshire. He was educated at
MontroseMontrose is a coastal resort town and former royal burgh in Angus, Scotland. It is situated 38 miles north east of Dundee between the mouths of the North and South Esk rivers...
and St Leonard's College,
St AndrewsSt Andrews is a town and former royal burgh on the east coast of Fife in Scotland. The town is named after Saint Andrew the Apostle. St Andrews has a population of 16,596 making this the fifth largest settlement in Fife....
.
In 1574 he proceeded to the
University of GlasgowThe University of Glasgow is the fourth-oldest surviving university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ancient universities...
. There his uncle,
Andrew MelvilleAndrew Melville was a Scottish scholar, theologian and religious reformer. His fame encouraged scholars from the European Continent to study at Glasgow and St Andrews.-Early life and early education:...
, the reformer and scholar, was principal. Within a year James became one of the regents.
When, in 1580, Andrew became Principal of
St Mary's College, St AndrewsSt Mary's College of the University of St Andrews, in Fife, Scotland - in full, the New College of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary - was founded in 1538 by Archbishop James Beaton, uncle of Cardinal David Beaton on the site of the pedagogy or St Johns College .St Mary's College was...
(then called
New College), James accompanied him, and acted as Professor of
HebrewHebrew is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family. Culturally, it is considered a Jewish language. Hebrew in its modern form is spoken by more than seven million people in Israel while Classical Hebrew has been used for prayer or study in Jewish communities around the world for over...
and Oriental Languages.
For three and a half years he lectured in the university, chiefly on Hebrew, but he had to flee to
BerwickBerwick-upon-Tweed or simply Berwick, is a town in the county of Northumberland and is the northernmost town in England, on the east coast at the mouth of the River Tweed. It is situated 2.5 miles south of the Scottish border....
in May 1584 (a few months after his uncle's exile) to escape the attacks of his ecclesiastical enemy, Bishop Adamson.
James Melville (26 July 1556 – 1614) was a
ScottishScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
divine and reformer, son of the laird of Baldovie, in Forfarshire. He was educated at
MontroseMontrose is a coastal resort town and former royal burgh in Angus, Scotland. It is situated 38 miles north east of Dundee between the mouths of the North and South Esk rivers...
and St Leonard's College,
St AndrewsSt Andrews is a town and former royal burgh on the east coast of Fife in Scotland. The town is named after Saint Andrew the Apostle. St Andrews has a population of 16,596 making this the fifth largest settlement in Fife....
.
In 1574 he proceeded to the
University of GlasgowThe University of Glasgow is the fourth-oldest surviving university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ancient universities...
. There his uncle,
Andrew MelvilleAndrew Melville was a Scottish scholar, theologian and religious reformer. His fame encouraged scholars from the European Continent to study at Glasgow and St Andrews.-Early life and early education:...
, the reformer and scholar, was principal. Within a year James became one of the regents.
When, in 1580, Andrew became Principal of
St Mary's College, St AndrewsSt Mary's College of the University of St Andrews, in Fife, Scotland - in full, the New College of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary - was founded in 1538 by Archbishop James Beaton, uncle of Cardinal David Beaton on the site of the pedagogy or St Johns College .St Mary's College was...
(then called
New College), James accompanied him, and acted as Professor of
HebrewHebrew is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family. Culturally, it is considered a Jewish language. Hebrew in its modern form is spoken by more than seven million people in Israel while Classical Hebrew has been used for prayer or study in Jewish communities around the world for over...
and Oriental Languages.
For three and a half years he lectured in the university, chiefly on Hebrew, but he had to flee to
BerwickBerwick-upon-Tweed or simply Berwick, is a town in the county of Northumberland and is the northernmost town in England, on the east coast at the mouth of the River Tweed. It is situated 2.5 miles south of the Scottish border....
in May 1584 (a few months after his uncle's exile) to escape the attacks of his ecclesiastical enemy, Bishop Adamson. After a short stay there and at Newcastle-on-Tyne, and again at Berwick, he proceeded to London, where he joined some of the leaders of the Scottish Presbyterian party.
The taking of
Stirling CastleStirling Castle, located in Stirling, is one of the largest and most important castles, both historically and architecturally, in Scotland. The castle sits atop Castle Hill, a volcanic crag, which forms part of the Stirling Sill geological formation. It is surrounded on three sides by steep...
in 1585 having changed the political and ecclesiastical positions in the north, he returned to Scotland in November of that year, and was restored to his office at St Andrews. From 1586 to his death he took an active part in Church controversy.
In 1589 he was moderator of the General Assembly and on several occasions represented his party in conferences with the court. Despite his antagonism to James's episcopal schemes, he appears to have won the king's respect. He answered, with his uncle, a royal summons to London in 1606 for the discussion of Church policy.
The uncompromising attitude of the kinsmen, though it was made the excuse for sending the elder to the Tower, brought no further punishment to James than easy detention within ten miles of Newcastle-on-Tyne. During his residence there it was made clear to him by the king's agents that he would receive high reward if he supported the royal plans. In 1613 negotiations were begun for his return to Scotland, but his health was broken, and he died at Berwick in January 1614.
Melville has left ample materials for the history of his time from the Presbyterian standpoint, in (a) correspondence with his uncle Andrew Melville (MS. in the library of the university of Edinburgh), and (b) a diary (MS. in the Advocates Library, Edinburgh). The latter is written in a vigorous, fresh style, and is especially direct in its descriptions of contemporaries. His sketch of
John KnoxJohn Knox was a Scottish clergyman and leader of the Protestant Reformation who is considered the founder of the Presbyterian denomination. He was educated at the University of St Andrews and worked as a notary-priest. Influenced by early church reformers such as George Wishart, he joined the...
at St Andrews is one of his best passages. It is an original authority for the period, written with much naïveté, and revealing an attractive personality.
As a writer of verse he compares unfavourably with his uncle. All his pieces, with the exception of a
libellus supplex to King James, are written in Scots. He translated a portion of the Zodiacus vitae of Palingenius, and adapted some passages from
ScaligerThe noble family of the Scaliger were Lords of Verona. When Ezzelino III was elected podestà of the commune in 1226, he was able to convert the office into a permanent lordship...
under the title of
Description of the Spainyarts naturall. His
Spiritual Propine of a Pastour to his People (1598),
The Black Bastill, a lamentation for the kirk (1611),
Thrie may keip Counsell, give Twa be away,
The Beliefe of the Singing Soul,
Davids Tragique Fall, and a number of
sonnetThe sonnet is one of the poetic forms that can be found in lyric poetry from Europe.The term "sonnet" derives from the Occitan word sonet and the Italian word sonetto, both meaning "little song". By the thirteenth century, it had come to signify a poem of fourteen lines that follows a strict rhyme...
s show no originality and indifferent technical ability.
The Diary was printed by the
Bannatyne ClubThe Bannatyne Club was founded by Sir Walter Scott to print rare works of Scottish interest, whether in history, poetry, or general literature. It printed 116 volumes in all. It was dissolved in 1861....
in 1829, and by the Wodrow Society in 1842. Large portions of it are incorporated in
David CalderwoodDavid Calderwood , was a Scottish divine and historian.-Early life:Calderwood was educated at Edinburgh, where he took the degree of MA in 1593. In about 1604, he became minister of Crailing, near Jedburgh in Roxburghshire, where he became conspicuous for his resolute opposition to the introduction...
's (1575-1650)
History of the Kirk of Scotland (first printed in 1678). For the life and times, see Thomas McCrie's
Life of Andrew Melville.