James Mitchell | |
|---|---|
| Personal | |
| Died | 18 January 1678 |
| Religion | Christianity |
| School | Presbyterianism |
| Profession | Tobacconist |
| Senior posting | |
| Profession | Tobacconist |
James Mitchell or James Mitchel, (d. 18 January 1678), was a religious covenanter who tried to assassinate Archbishop James Sharp.
Mitchell is a central character in James Robertson's historical novel, The Fanatic.
Mitchell was the son of "obscure parents" in Midlothian. [1] He graduated in Divinity at Edinburgh University on 9 July 1656, and at the same time signed the National Covenant and the Solemn League and Covenant. He attached himself to the party of remonstrator presbyterians, and studied popular divinity under David Dickson. He was refused a position by the presbytery of Dalkeith on the grounds of insufficiency, and appears to have become ‘a preacher, but no actual minister,’ in or near Edinburgh. In 1661 he was recommended to some ministers in Galloway by Robert Traill, a minister in Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh, as suitable for teaching in a school or as private tutor.
He entered the house of the Laird of Dundas as domestic chaplain and tutor to his children, but was dismissed for immoral conduct. Returning to Edinburgh he made the acquaintance of Major Weir, who procured for him the post of chaplain in a ‘fanatical family, the lady whereof was niece to Sir Archibald Johnston of Warriston.
He resigned his post in November 1666 in order to join the rising of the covenanters in the west, at Ayr.
He was in Edinburgh on 28 November, when the rebels were defeated at Pentland, but was pronounced guilty of treason in a proclamation of 4 December 1666, and on 1 October 1667 was excluded from the pardon granted to those engaged in the rising. [2]
About four to six weeks after the defeat, he went over to Flanders on mercantile transactions, where he joined a cousin, a factor in Rotterdam. He stayed there around 9 months, and then returned to Scotland in a Dutch vessel, bringing with him a cargo of goods for sale. While abroad, he had opportunities of meeting and conversing with Mr John Livingstone, and the other ministers who had been banished for their adherence to Presbytery. [3]
His attempt upon the life of Archbishop Sharp was made not many months after his arrival from the continent.
After wandering in England and Ireland he returned to Edinburgh in 1668. There he married, and opened a shop for the sale of tobacco and spirits.
Mitchell became convinced that Archbishop James Sharp was the sole barrier that stood between him and the clemency of the Government; and, also that this recreant was the "prime cause" of all the trouble in Scotland. Mitchell therefore made an attempt at the assassination of the bishop. [4]
He was lodging in a house on the Cowgate with his later infamous friend, Major Weir and Weir's sister, Grizel. He was aware that Bishop Sharp lived nearby on Blackfriars Wynd. On 9 July 1668 he tracked down the Bishop who was in his coach on the Royal Mile at the head of the Wynd. He fired a pistol into the coach, but instead of hitting Sharp, hit his friend, Bishop Andrew Honeyman, bishop of Orkney, in the arm. [5]
Mitchell then ran down Niddry's Wynd on the opposite side of the road, without opposition, and escaped.
Early in 1674 he was recognised in the street by Sharp, whose brother, Sir William Sharp, obtained a confession from him, after the archbishop had pledged himself that no harm should come to him. But he was imprisoned at the Bass Rock, [7] and, at the instigation of Sharp, brought before the council on 10 February 1674. He made a full confession on 12 February on receiving a promise of his life. Mitchell was indicted before the High Court of Justiciary and sentenced to have his right hand cut off by the common executioner, at the "Mercat Cross" of Edinburgh.
Indicted afresh, before the High Court in 1675, for his participation in the Pentland Rising and the attempt on the Archbishop's life, he retracted his Confession and pleaded "Not Guilty." Having no other proof in support of the latter charge except his Confession (and that having been recanted) the Court ordered the "torture of the Boot," with the view that he might be constrained anew to adhere to it. However, no amount of torture could induce him to incriminate himself; and he was accordingly sent to the Tolbooth Prison where he lay until the beginning of 1677, when he was transferred to the Bass Rock.
On 6 March the council framed an act, in which they declared themselves free of any promise made. On 25 March Mitchell was again brought before the court, but there being no evidence against him beyond the confession, since retracted, the lords of justiciary deserted the diet, with the consent of the lord advocate, Sir John Nisbet, Lord Dirleton. Mitchell was then returned to the Tolbooth and afterwards removed to the Bass Rock. He was sent there along with James Fraser of Brea and James Drummond. The attempted murder was an act that met with no sympathy from the great body of the Covenanters, who rather repudiated everything approaching to private revenge and assassination. [8]
On 18 January 1677 he again in the presence of a committee of justices, of which Linlithgow was chairman, denied his confession. A further attempt was made on 22 January with the same result, despite a threat of the ‘boots.’ On 24 January, in the Parliament House, he was examined under torture as to his connection with the rebellion of 1666 This accusation he also denied, and reminded those present that there were two other James Mitchells in Midlothian. The torture and questioning continued till the prisoner fainted when he was carried back to the Tolbooth.
In December 1677 the council ordered criminal proceedings against him for the attempted assassination of the archbishop. On 7 January the trial commenced. He was ably defended by Sir George Lockhart, Lord Carnwath and John Elies. His confession and the testimonies of Bishops Sharp and Honeyman were the main evidence against him. Most of the discussion focussed upon the "promise of life" by the Bishop.
Rothes swore to having seen Mitchell sign his confession, which was countersigned by himself. But both he and the archbishop denied that the promise of life had been given. Mitchell's counsel produced a copy of the Act of Council of 12 March 1674, in which his confession under promise of life was recorded, but a request that the books of the council might be produced was refused. The trial was remarkable for the number of witnesses of high station. Mitchell was judged guilty.
The following day, 10 January, sentence was passed. The death sentence adjudged him "to be taken to the Grassmarket of Edinburgh, upon Friday, the 18th day of January instant, betwixt two and four o’clock in the afternoon, and there to be hanged on a gibbet till he be dead, and all his moveable goods and gear to be escheat (confiscated) and inbrought to His Majesty’s use." It appears that, after the passing of this sentence, the unprincipled Lauderdale was ill-at-ease. He had great searchings of conscience and was anxious to obtain a reprieve for Mitchell, in the hope that the King might grant him his life. But Sharp was inexorable and insisted that the "extreme penalty" should be inflicted, alleging that for "favour to be shown to such an assassin was, upon the matter, to expose his person to any man who would attempt to murder him." "Then," said Lauderdale, with a profane and heartless jest, "let Mitchell glorify God in the Grassrmarket." (Dickson pg 224). He was hung, as proposed, on the afternoon of 18 January 1678.
Halton was eventually indicted for the perjury on 28 July 1681, the evidence against him being two letters that he had written on 10 and 12 February 1674 to the Earl of Kincardine [see Bruce, Alexander, second Earl], in which he gave an account of Mitchell's confession, ‘upon assurance of his life.’ The letters are printed in Wodrow, ii. 248-9.
Mitchell is described as ‘a lean, hollow-cheeked man, of a truculent countenance’ (Ravillac Redivivus, p. 11). He himself attributed his attempt on Sharp as ‘ane impulse of the spirit of God’ (Kirkton, History of the Church of Scotland, p. 387).
Mitchell was married. His son James, who graduated at the University of Edinburgh on 11 Nov. 1698, was licensed by the presbytery there on 26 July 1704, ordained on 5 April 1710, and became minister of Dunnotar in the same year. He was summoned to appear before the justices of the peace on 24 March 1713 to answer for the exercise of church discipline in the session. He died on 26 June 1734.
Richard Cameron was a leader of the militant Presbyterians, known as Covenanters, who resisted attempts by the Stuart monarchs to control the affairs of the Church of Scotland, acting through bishops. While attempting to revive the flagging fortunes of the Covenanting cause in 1680, he was tracked down by the authorities and killed in a clash of arms at Airds Moss in Ayrshire. His followers took his name as the Cameronians and ultimately formed the nucleus of the later Scottish regiment of the same name, the Cameronians. The regiment was disbanded in 1968.
James Sharp, or Sharpe, was a minister in the Church of Scotland, or kirk, who served as Archbishop of St Andrews from 1661 to 1679. His support for Episcopalianism, or governance by bishops, brought him into conflict with elements of the kirk who advocated Presbyterianism. Twice the victim of assassination attempts, the second cost him his life.
Alexander Peden, also known as "Prophet Peden", was one of the leading figures in the Covenanter movement in Scotland.
The Killing Time was a period of conflict in Scottish history between the Presbyterian Covenanter movement, based largely in the southwest of the country, and the government forces of Kings Charles II and James VII. The period, roughly from 1679 to the Glorious Revolution of 1688, was subsequently called The Killing Time by Robert Wodrow in his The History of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland from the Restoration to the Revolution, published in 1721–22. It is an important episode in the martyrology of the Church of Scotland.
Robert Douglas (1594–1674) was the only minister of the Church of Scotland to be Moderator of the General Assembly five times.
James Ramsay (c.1624–1696), bishop of Dunblane, bishop of Ross, was son of Robert Ramsay (1598?–1651). The latter was successively minister of Dundonald (1625–40), of Blackfriars or College Church, Glasgow (1640–7), and of the High Church, Glasgow (1647–51); was dean of the faculty of the University of Glasgow 1646 and 1650–1, rector in 1648, and principal from 28 August 1651 until his death in the following September. He is buried in Canongate Churchyard. His grave is officially "lost" but the ornate, illegible stone on the east side of the church, now somewhat spuriously ascribed to Rizzio is probably his.
Robert Fleming the elder was a Scottish Presbyterian Minister. Following the Restoration of King Charles II, he declined to accept the authority of the newly imposed bishops in the Kirk. He was therefore ejected as minister at Cambuslang. For the next ten years he remained in Scotland, preaching as he had opportunity. In 1669 he published the first part of Fulfilling of the Scripture in Rotterdam; it was later expanded to 3 parts and it is for this work and other treatises that Fleming is chiefly remembered. On 3 September 1672 he declined indulgence at Kilwinning, disobeyed a citation of the Privy Council, and fled to London, where his Scottish speech somewhat marred his usefulness. On 30 December 1677 he was admitted colleague to John Hog, minister of the Scots Kirk, Rotterdam. After the Revolution he might have been restored to Cambuslang, but preferred to remain in Holland. While on a visit to London, he died of fever, 25 July 1694, after a short illness. Daniel Burgess preached at his funeral and also recorded some memoirs of Fleming's life.
Covenanters were members of a 17th-century Scottish religious and political movement, who supported a Presbyterian Church of Scotland and the primacy of its leaders in religious affairs. The name is derived from covenant, a biblical term for a bond or agreement with God.
The Restoration was the return of the monarchy to Scotland in 1660 after the period of the Commonwealth, and the subsequent three decades of Scottish history until the Revolution and Convention of Estates of 1689. It was part of a wider Restoration in the British Isles that included the return of the Stuart dynasty to the thrones of England and Ireland in the person of Charles II.
David Hackston or Halkerstone, was a militant Scottish Covenanter, remembered mainly for his part in the murder of Archbishop James Sharp of St. Andrews in 1679 and his involvement in the events of 1680 which led to his capture and execution.
Scottish religion in the seventeenth century includes all forms of religious organisation and belief in the Kingdom of Scotland in the seventeenth century. The 16th century Reformation created a Church of Scotland, popularly known as the kirk, predominantly Calvinist in doctrine and Presbyterian in structure, to which James VI added a layer of bishops in 1584.
Andrew Honeyman or Honyman (1619–1676) was a Scottish priest: he was Bishop of Orkney from 1664 until 1676.
Robert Garnock was a Scottish covenanter. He was baptised by James Guthrie and like him was hanged in Edinburgh although at a different time and place; Guthrie was executed about 20 years before Garnock.
Robert Bennet of Chesters was a 17th-century Scottish gentleman. He lived in the Scottish Borders. Chesters or Grange lies on the banks of the Teviot and is close to the town of Ancrum in Roxburghshire.
James Drummond was a seventeenth century Scottish covenanting field preacher. He was imprisoned on Bass Rock for around nine months. At the time of his incarceration his occupation was listed as chaplain to Margaret, Marchioness of Argyll.
Rev Thomas Hog of Kiltearn (1628–1692) was a controversial 17th century Scottish minister.
Sir Alexander Gordon of Earlston (1650–1726) was a 17th-century Scottish gentleman. He was known as a Covenanter and was member of the United Societies network. He was involved in the early 1680s in fomenting rebellion against the Crown in Scotland.
John M'Gilligen was a 17th-century Presbyterian minister. He resisted the demands of the Episcopalian authorities and was imprisoned on the Bass Rock. His name is sometimes also spelled as John MacKilligen or John M'Killican or John MacKillican or even John M'Gilligine.
John Brown, of Wamphray, church leader, was probably born at Kirkcudbright; he graduated at the university of Edinburgh 24 July 1630. He was probably not settled till 1655, although he comes first into notice in some highly complimentary references to him in Samuel Rutherford's letters in 1637. In the year 1655 he was ordained minister of the parish of Wamphray in Annandale. For many years he seems to have been quietly engaged in his pastoral duties, in which he must have been very efficient, for his name still lives in the district in affectionate remembrance. After the restoration he was not only compelled by the acts of Parliament of 1662 to leave his charge, but he was one of a few ministers who were arrested and banished, owing to the ability and earnestness with which they had opposed the arbitrary conduct of the king in the affairs of the church. On 6 November 1662 he was sentenced to be kept a close prisoner in the Tolbooth of Edinburgh, his crime being that he had called some ministers ‘false knaves’ for keeping synod with the archbishop. The state of the prison causing his health to break down, he was banished 11 December from the king’s dominions, and ordered not to return on pain of death. He went to Holland. In 1676 Charles II urged the States-General to banish him from their country, a step which they refused to take. For a few years he was minister of the Scottish church in Rotterdam, and shortly before his death, which occurred in 1679, he took part in the ordination of Richard Cameron.
Hugh Mackail, Scottish martyr, was born about 1640 at Liberton, near Edinburgh. His father was Matthew Mackail who was minister at Bothwell before being deprived of his ministry by the government in 1662. At an early age he went to reside with an uncle, Hugh Mackail, one of the ministers of Edinburgh. He entered the University of Edinburgh, studying divinity, where he distinguished himself, graduating, as the records show, in 1658 under Thomas Crawford. Shortly afterward he became chaplain and tutor in the family of Sir James Stuart of Coltness and Goodtrees, then Lord Provost of Edinburgh. In 1661, being then in his twenty-first year, he was licensed by the Presbytery of Edinburgh and afterward preached several times with much success. A sermon which he delivered in the High Church, Edinburgh, in September 1662, in which he declared that "the church of Scotland had been persecuted by an Ahab on the throne, a Haman in the state, and a Judas in the church," gave such offence that a party of horse was sent to apprehend him. He escaped, however, and, after lying concealed in his father's house in Bothwell for some time, retired into Holland, where he improved his time by studying for several years perhaps near Rotterdam. Then, returning to Scotland, he lived chiefly at his father's house, until in November 1666 he joined a rising of the covenanters. After nine days' marching, however, his weak health obliged him to leave the insurgents, and on his way back to Liberton he was arrested, carried to Edinburgh, and committed to the Tolbooth. He was several times brought before the council and tortured with the boot. Finally, after trial, despite the efforts of his cousin, Matthew Mackail, an apothecary, who interceded with James Sharp, archbishop of St. Andrews, on his behalf, Hugh was hanged at the market-cross of Edinburgh on 22 December 1666, amid "such a lamentation," says Kirkton, "as was never known in Scotland before, not one dry cheek upon all the street, or in all the numberless windows in the market-place." According to MS. Jac. V. 7. 22, in the Advocates' Library, "immediately after the execution of the aforementioned four men there came a letter from the king, discharging the executing of more; but the Bishop of St. Andrews kept it up till Mr. Hew was executed," Mackail behaved with great fortitude on the scaffold, addressing the crowd with singular impressiveness. He was buried in Greyfriars churchyard. Wodrow describes him as "universally beloved, singularly pious, and of very considerable learning."
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