Peter Blackburn (bishop)

Last updated

Peter Blackburn (d.1616) was a Scottish scholar and prelate. He was the second Protestant Bishop of Aberdeen.

Contents

Life

Born in the east of Scotland he studied at St Andrews University. He became a "regent" (lecturer) in Philosophy at the University of Glasgow in 1572 and continued this role until 1582. During this period he was promoted to Professor of Physics and Astronomy. [1]

In 1582 he became minister of West Kirk in Aberdeen and was translated to the East Kirk in 1596. He was Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland 1597/8. In 1600 he was made Chancellor of King's College, Aberdeen. [1]

On 2 September 1600, King James VI of Scotland provided him as Bishop of Aberdeen, [2] attaching to the appointment a seat in the Parliament of Scotland – an innovation which was denounced by Charles Ferme. [3] Another part of the controversy was that no new bishop had been appointed since 1585, and Blackburn's provision, along with those of David Lindsay to the bishopric of Ross and George Gledstanes' provision to the bishopric of Caithness, broke this lull. [4]

He was not formally consecrated until 1611, in a ceremony at Brechin Cathedral. He died at his house in Guestrow, Aberdeen, after a long illness on 14 June 1616, at Aberdeen. [2] He is buried in the Kirk of St Nicholas in central Aberdeen. [1]

Family

He married Isobel Johnston, daughter of George Johnston of Johnston and Caskichen, and Christian Forbes, daughter of Lord Forbes, and sister of the poet Arthur Johnston. Their children included: [1]

Publications

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae; vol. 7; by Hew Scott
  2. 1 2 Watt, Fasti Ecclesiae, p. 4.
  3. Gordon, "Ferme [Fairholm], Charles (1565/6–1617)".
  4. MacDonald, "Gledstanes , George (c.1562–1615)".
  5. Fasti Ecclesiastae Scoticana vol.6

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthur Johnston (poet)</span> Scottish poet and physician

Arthur Johnston (c.1579–1641) was a Scottish poet and physician. He was born in Caskieben near Inverurie in Aberdeenshire. His father, Sir George Johnston, was an Aberdeenshire laird, and his mother Christian Forbes was the daughter of Lord Forbes.

George Gledstanes was an Archbishop of St Andrews during the seventeenth century.

Donald Campbell was a 16th-century Scottish noble and churchman. He was the son of Archibald Campbell, 2nd Earl of Argyll and Elizabeth Stewart, daughter of John Stewart, 1st Earl of Lennox. From 1522, he was a student of St Salvator's College, at the University of St Andrews. After graduation, he became a cleric in his home diocese, the diocese of Argyll.

Robert Crichton was a 16th-century Scottish Catholic cleric.

George Haliburton (1616–1665) was a 17th-century Scottish minister who served as Bishop of Dunkeld.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Cunningham (bishop)</span> Scottish prelate and diplomat

David Cunningham or Cunynghame was a 16th-century Scottish prelate and diplomat. He was the first Protestant Bishop of Aberdeen. His predecessor, William Gordon began as a Roman Catholic bishop, but accepted the Church of Scotland's authority.

William Gordon was a 16th-century Scottish noble and prelate, the last of the pre-Reformation bishops of Aberdeen owing allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church.

Alexander Forbes (1564–1617) was a late 16th-century and early 17th-century senior Church of Scotland figure who was a Protestant Bishop of Aberdeen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patrick Forbes (bishop of Aberdeen)</span>

Patrick Forbes was a late 16th-century and early 17th-century Scottish churchman rising to the post of Protestant Bishop of Aberdeen.

Robert Forman was a late medieval Scottish churchman. He was the son of one Janet Blackadder and her husband, a Berwickshire landowner named Nicholas Forman of Hatton. Sometime before 11 February 1500, he was made Precentor of Glasgow. He was Dean of Glasgow from 1505, a position he would hold until his death. Between 1506 and 1511 he was also in possession of the Chancellorship of the diocese of Moray.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Law</span> Minister of the Church of Scotland, Bishop of Orkney, Archbishop of Glasgow

James Law was Archbishop of Glasgow. Entering the church after graduation from university, he rose to the position of Bishop of Orkney, reorganising the diocese, before rising to hold the position of Archbishop of Glasgow.

Patrick Lindsay (1566–1644), bishop of Ross, archbishop of Glasgow, son of John Lindsay, and a cadet of the house of Lindsays of Edzell, Angus, was born in 1566, and studied at St Leonard's College, St Andrews, where he was laureated in 1587.

Andrew Lamb, was Bishop of Brechin and Bishop of Galloway.

George Graeme (1565–1643), Bishop of Dunblane and Bishop of Orkney, was a late sixteenth- and early seventeenth century Church of Scotland prelate.

Alasdair Caimbeul or Alexander Campbell of Carco was a Scottish noble and prelate. Coming from a branch of Clan Campbell in the allegiance of the Earl of Argyll, his career began in the 1560s still only a minor, serving the Earl of Argyll's interest. He was made Bishop of Brechin, and almost immediately alienated the majority of the bishopric's historical resources into the hands of the earl.

John Forbes (c.1568–1634) was a Scottish minister exiled by James VI and I. He founded a Church of Scotland in Middelburg in the Netherlands. He was born about 1568, and was third son of William Forbes of Corse and Elizabeth, daughter of Alexander Strachan of Thornton. He graduated M.A. at St Andrews in 1583, and was settled in Alford in 1593. In November 1602 the General Assembly chose him as one of those whom the King might select for nominating commissioners from the various Presbyteries to Parliament. At Alford he came into conflict with the powerful sept of the Gordons, who were vigorous opponents of Protestantism, and when the Synods of Aberdeen and Moray excommunicated the Marquess of Huntly, and Huntly had appealed successfully to the Privy Council, Forbes was sent by these Synods to London to represent the case to King James. He was elected Moderator of the General Assembly of Aberdeen on 2 July 1605 contrary to the King's order. Of twelve Aberdeenshire ministers who were present ten afterwards admitted the illegal nature of the Assembly, but Forbes [and Charles Fearn, minister of Fraserburgh] having been summoned before the Privy Council, declined the Council's jurisdiction, on the ground that the Assembly had dealt wholly with spiritual matters. For this he was imprisoned at Blackness, tried for high treason, and banished the country. On 7 November 1606 he sailed from Leith for Bordeaux, and after spending a time with Boyd of Trochrig at Saumur, he proceeded to Sedan. Much of his work thereafter consisted in visiting the Reformed Churches and Universities on the Continent, in which were many Scots students and professors. In 1611 he became minister of the English congregation at Middelburg, Holland, and soon after he was offered release from his sentence, but upon conditions he could not accept. In 1616 he came to London, where he had an interview with the King, who promised to annul his banishment — a promise which was not fulfilled. In 1621 he was minister at Delft, but the hatred of his former ministerial brethren, some of whom were now bishops, instigated Laud and the English Government to procure his dismissal, and this was carried out in 1628. He died in Holland in 1634.

Charles Ferm, Ferme, Farholme or Fairholm, was a leading campaigning Presbyterian minister in the Church of Scotland, and the Principal of the short lived Fraserburgh University, Scotland.

Richard Mocket (1577–1618) was an English churchman and academic, warden of All Souls' College, Oxford, from 1614.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Hewat (minister)</span>

Peter Hewat (c.1570–1645) was a Scottish minister who twice served as a minister of St Giles Cathedral.

References

Religious titles
Preceded by Bishop of Aberdeen
1600–1616
Succeeded by