James Melville (26 July 1556 – 1614) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

divine Divinity (from Latin ) refers to the quality, presence, or nature of that which is divine—a term that, before the rise of monotheism, evoked a broad and dynamic field of sacred power. In the ancient world, divinity was not limited to a singl ...

and reformer, son of the laird of Baldovie, in

Forfarshire Angus (; ) is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland, and a lieutenancy area. The council area borders Aberdeenshire, Dundee City and Perth and Kinross. Main industries include agriculture and fishing. Global pharmaceuticals ...

Life

Melville was born at Baldovie in Angus in 1556 and he was educated at Montrose and St Leonard's College,

St Andrews St Andrews (; ; , pronounced ʰʲɪʎˈrˠiː.ɪɲ is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fourth-largest settleme ...

and in 1574 proceeded to the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

. There his uncle,

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 ...

, the reformer and scholar, was principal. Within a year James became one of the regents.

Teaching role

When, in 1580, Andrew became Principal of

St Mary's College, St Andrews St Mary's College, founded as New College or College of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is the home of the Faculty and School of Divinity within the University of St Andrews, in Fife, Scotland. History The college was founded in ...

(then called ''New College''), James accompanied him, and acted as Professor of

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

and Oriental Languages. For three and a half years he lectured in the university, chiefly on Hebrew, but he had to flee to Berwick in May 1584 (a few months after his uncle's exile) to escape the attacks of his ecclesiastical enemy, Bishop Patrick Adamson. After a short stay there and at

Newcastle-on-Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , RP: ), is a cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located on the River Tyne's northern bank opposite Gateshead to the ...

, and again at Berwick, he proceeded to London, where he joined some of the leaders of the Scottish Presbyterian party. The taking of

Stirling Castle Stirling Castle, located in Stirling, is one of the largest and most historically and architecturally important castles in Scotland. The castle sits atop an Intrusive rock, intrusive Crag and tail, crag, which forms part of the Stirling Sill ge ...

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.

Other roles

In 1589 James was moderator of the General Assembly and on several occasions represented his party in conferences with the court. Despite his antagonism to

James VI James may refer to: People * James (given name) * James (surname) * James (musician), aka Faruq Mahfuz Anam James, (born 1964), Bollywood musician * James, brother of Jesus * King James (disambiguation), various kings named James * Prince Ja ...

'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 in exile at Berwick on 20 January 1614.Plaque in Holy Trinity church in Berwick

Legacies

Source materials

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 Knox John Knox ( – 24 November 1572) was a Scottish minister, Reformed theologian, and writer who was a leader of the country's Reformation. He was the founder of the Church of Scotland. Born in Giffordgate, a street in Haddington, East Lot ...

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.

Verse

As a writer of verse he compares unfavourably with his uncle. All his pieces, with the exception of a '' libellus supplex'' to

, are written in Scots. He translated a portion of the Zodiacus vitae of Palingenius, and adapted some passages from

Scaliger The House of Della Scala, whose members were known as Scaligeri () or Scaligers (; from the Latinized ''de Scalis''), was the ruling family of Verona and mainland Veneto (except for Venice) from 1262 to 1387, for a total of 125 years. History ...

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

sonnet A sonnet is a fixed poetic form with a structure traditionally consisting of fourteen lines adhering to a set Rhyme scheme, rhyming scheme. The term derives from the Italian word ''sonetto'' (, from the Latin word ''sonus'', ). Originating in ...

s show no originality and indifferent technical ability. The Diary was printed by the

Bannatyne Club The Bannatyne Club, named in honour of George Bannatyne and his famous anthology of Scots literature the Bannatyne Manuscript, was a text publication society founded by Sir Walter Scott to print rare works of Scottish interest, whether in history ...

in 1829, and by the

Wodrow Society The Wodrow Society, established in Edinburgh in 1841, was a society 'for the publication of the works of the fathers and early writers of the Reformed Church of Scotland'. The society, established in May 1841, was named after Robert Wodrow, the h ...

in 1842. Large portions of it are incorporated in

David Calderwood David Calderwood (157529 October 1650) was a Scottish minister of religion and historian. Calderwood was banished for his nonconformity. He found a home in the Low Countries, where he wrote his great work, the ''Altare Damascenum'' which was a ...

's (1575-1650) ''History of the Kirk of Scotland'' (first printed in 1678). For the life and times, see Thomas M'Crie's ''Life of Andrew Melville''.

Notes

References

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External links

''The Diary of Mr James Melville'', Bannatyne Club (1829)
googlebooks {{DEFAULTSORT:Melville, James 1556 births 1614 deaths 16th-century Scottish educators 16th-century Presbyterians 17th-century Presbyterians 16th-century Scottish poets 16th-century Scottish male writers 17th-century Scottish poets 17th-century Scottish male writers 16th-century Scottish diarists 17th-century Scottish diarists 16th-century letter writers 17th-century letter writers People from Angus, Scotland Alumni of the University of St Andrews Alumni of the University of Glasgow Principals of the University of St Andrews Moderators of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland