John Johnston (c.1570–1611) was a Scottish poet.

Life

He was born not later than 1570. He styled himself ''Aberdonensis'', i.e. "from

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

". After studying at

King's College, Aberdeen King's College in Old Aberdeen, Scotland, the full title of which is The University and King's College of Aberdeen (''Collegium Regium Abredonense''), is a formerly independent university founded in 1495 and now an integral part of the Universi ...

, he spent eight years at continental universities, sending home in 1587 from the University of Helmstadt a manuscript copy of

George Buchanan George Buchanan ( gd, Seòras Bochanan; February 1506 – 28 September 1582) was a Scottish historian and humanist scholar. According to historian Keith Brown, Buchanan was "the most profound intellectual sixteenth century Scotland produced." ...

's ''Sphæra'', along with two of his own

epigrams An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, and sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word is derived from the Greek "inscription" from "to write on, to inscribe", and the literary device has been employed for over two millen ...

. At the

University of Rostock The University of Rostock (german: link=no, Universität Rostock) is a public university located in Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. Founded in 1419, it is the third-oldest university in Germany. It is the oldest university in continen ...

See entry o
John Johnston
in

Rostock Matrikelportal The Rostock Matrikelportal (matriculation portal) disseminates about 186,000 individual-level datasets drawn from the student registers of the University of Rostock from its establishment in 1419 to today. Each entry is faithfully transcribed and li ...

he formed a lasting friendship with

Justus Lipsius Justus Lipsius (Joest Lips or Joost Lips; 18 October 1547 – 23 March 1606) was a Flemish Catholic philologist, philosopher, and humanist. Lipsius wrote a series of works designed to revive ancient Stoicism in a form that would be compatible w ...

. The influence of

Andrew Melville Andrew Melville (1 August 1545 – 1622) was a Scottish scholar, theologian, poet and religious reformer. His fame encouraged scholars from the European continent to study at Glasgow and St. Andrews. He was born at Baldovie, on 1 August 154 ...

may have helped Johnston to obtain the professorship of divinity at the

University of St Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

, about 1593. His career became closely linked with Melville's. In 1598, when the general assembly of the Scottish church was sitting at Dundee, both were ordered from the town together, because of their opposition to church representation in

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

. In 1603 they jointly appealed with success to

Philippe de Mornay Philippe de Mornay (5 November 1549 – 11 November 1623), seigneur du Plessis Marly, usually known as Du-Plessis-Mornay or Mornay Du Plessis, was a French Protestant writer and member of the anti-monarchist '' Monarchomaques''. Biography H ...

against a decision of the synod of Gap on a polemical question. Johnston had been offered the position of second minister in Haddington, East Lothian, but he retained his university chair till his death in October 1611. Johnston's wife, Catharine Melville, and two children predeceased him, and he enshrined their memories in epigrams.

Works

In 1602 Johnston published at Amsterdam ''Inscriptiones Historicæ Regum Scotorum, continuata annorum serie a Fergusio I. ad Jacobum VI.; præfixus est Gathelus, sive de gentis origine Fragmentum Andreæ Melvini; additæ sunt icones omnium regum nobilis Familiæ Stuartorum''. The ''Inscriptiones'' are a series of epigrammatic addresses to the Scottish kings from Fergus I to James VI; to the latter the work is dedicated. It was followed by a similar work, ''Heroes ex omni Historia Scotica lectissimi'', Leyden, 1603. Both series are included in Arthur Johnston's ''Deliciæ Poetarum Scotorum''. Johnston's other works were: * ''Consolatio Christiana sub Cruce, et Iambi de Felicitate Hominis Deo reconciliati'', Leyden, 1609. * ''Iambi Sacri'', Leyden, 1611. * ''Tetrasticha et Lemmata Sacra, item Cantica Sacra, item Icones Regum Judæ et Israelis'', Leyden, 1612. He also wrote an unpublished work on Scottish and English martyrs, and he contributed to

William Camden William Camden (2 May 1551 – 9 November 1623) was an English antiquarian, historian, topographer, and herald, best known as author of ''Britannia'', the first chorographical survey of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, and the ''Ann ...

's ''Britannia'' epigrams on Scottish towns. Letters of his occur in Camden's correspondence and in

Robert Wodrow Robert Wodrow (167921 March 1734) was a Scottish minister and historian, known as a chronicler and defender of the Covenanters. Robert Wodrow was born at Glasgow, where his father, James Wodrow, was a professor of divinity. Robert was educate ...

's ''Life of Robert Boyd'', one of which shows that some of his writings were printed at Saumur.

References

Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnston, John 1570s births 1611 deaths 16th-century Scottish poets 17th-century Scottish poets 16th-century Scottish writers 16th-century male writers 17th-century Scottish writers Writers from Aberdeen Alumni of the University of Aberdeen Academics of the University of St Andrews University of Helmstedt alumni University of Rostock alumni 16th-century Ministers of the Church of Scotland 17th-century male writers 17th-century Ministers of the Church of Scotland