Thomas Barclay (c. 1570–1632) was a Scottish jurist, professor at

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

and

Poitiers Poitiers (, , , ; Poitevin: ''Poetàe'') is a city on the River Clain in west-central France. It is a commune and the capital of the Vienne department and the historical centre of Poitou. In 2017 it had a population of 88,291. Its agglomerat ...

Life

Barclay was a native of

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 ...

, but as a young man he studied humane letters and

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

. Here he gained the support of Robert Balfour, the Aristotelian scholar. He was called to preside over the at Toulouse, where according to Thomas Dempster, he served his first literary campaign, under Balfour. It was about 1596 that Dempster left

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, intending to work his way to

. Here Barclay concentrated on law; and accepted the offer of a regius professorship at Poitiers. His reputation procured a recall to Toulouse, where he was still living when Dempster drew up his ''Historia Ecclesiastica'' about 1620. Dempster states that his lectures on civil law were well attended. He left no written works.

References

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Barclay, Thomas Scottish scholars and academics 17th-century scholars 17th-century Scottish people 16th-century births 17th-century deaths Academic staff of the University of Toulouse Academic staff of the University of Poitiers University of Bordeaux alumni People from Aberdeen 1570s births Year of birth uncertain 1632 deaths