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‘The Face of Ane Perfyt Reformed Kyrk’: St Andrews and the Early Scottish Reformation*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2016

Jane E. A. Dawson
Jane E. A. Dawson*
Affiliation:
University of St Andrews
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Extract

With supreme self-confidence the St Andrews kirk-session declared on 31 May 1564:

Seing it hes pleased the gudnes of the Eternall, our God, of his meir mercy, to deliver and reduce us furth of the bondage and yok of Antecrist, to the lycht of the Ewangell of Jesus Crist be plenteows prechyng of the same; so that the face of ane perfyt reformed kyrk hes beyn seyn wythin this cite be the space of fyve yearis, the sacramentis deuly ministrat, all thingis done in the kyrk be comly ordor establesched, disciplyn used and resavit wythowtyn contempt or ony plane contradiccione of ony person’.

Type
Part III. The Church in Scotland
Information
Studies in Church History Subsidia , Volume 8: Humanism and Reform: The Church in Europe, England, and Scotland, 1400-1643 , 1991 , pp. 413 - 435
Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 1991 

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Footnotes

*

I have benefited from reading Achim Guessgen’s unpublished dissertation, ‘Die Reformation in St. Andrews (1546–1573) in vergleichender Perspektive zu den mitteleuropaischen Stadtreformationen’ (University of Giessen, 1987), which the author has been kind enough to allow me to consult.

References

1 Fleming, D. H., ed.,Register of the Minister, Elders and Deacons of the Christian Congregation of St Andrews, 1559–1600, SHS, 2 vols (Edinburgh, 1889-90) [hereafter RStAKS], 1, p. 198Google Scholar.

2 Cameron, J. K., ed., The First Book of Discipline (Edinburgh, 1972), pp. 15–17, 32–9, 87f., 16sf.Google Scholar; Henderson, G., ed., Confession of Faith (Edinburgh, 1937)Google Scholar; Hazlect, W. I. P., ‘The Scots Confes sion, 1560: Context, Complexion and Critique’, ARG, 78 (1987), pp. 287–320Google Scholar.

3 Parker, G., ‘The “Kirk by Law Established” and the Origins of “The Taming of Scodand”; St Andrews, 1559–1600’ in Leneman, L., ed., Perspectives in Scottish Social History (Aberdeen, 1988), pp. 1–2, 24–5Google Scholar.

4 Cant, R. G., The University of St Andrews, rev. edn (Edinburgh, 1970), pp. 45–152; and The Collegeof St Salvator (Edinburgh, 1950)Google Scholar; Herkless, J. and Hannay, R. K., The College of St Leonard (Edin burgh, 1905Google Scholar).

5 McRoberts, D., The Medieval Church of St Andrews (Glasgow, 1976), pp. 63–136Google Scholar.

6 Lynch, M., ed.. The Early Modem Town in Scotland (London, 1987), pp. 1—35Google Scholar.

7 Cameron, J. K., ‘The Uproar of Religioun’, Alumnus Chronicle of St Andrews University, 50 (1959), pp. 20–3Google Scholar; Jo/m Knox’s History of the Reformation in Scotland, ed. Dickinson, W. Croft, 2 vols (Edinburgh, 1949), 1, pp. 179–81Google Scholar; letter from Knox to Anne Locke, 23 June 1559, The Works of John Knox, ed. D. Laing, 6 vols (Edinburgh, 1846–64), 6, pp. 21–7; Historie of the Estate of Scotland from July 1558 to April 1560 in Laing, D., ed., Miscellany of the Wodrow Society (Edin burgh, 1844), 1, p. 59Google Scholar; Croft to Privy Council, 20 June 1559, Calendar of State Papers Foreign, Elizabeth, ed. Stevenson, J. et al, 23 vols (London, 1863-1950), 1559-60, 1, p. 321Google Scholar.

8 Knox, History, 1, pp. 280–1; Knox to Railton, 29 Jan. 1560, Works, 6, pp. 105–7; RStAKS, p. 1zn. Historie, p. 78. The ships were sighted on 23 Jan. 1560, Glasgow, T., ‘The Navy in the First Elizabethan Undeclared War, 1559–60’, Mariners Mirror, 54 (1968), pp. 23–37Google Scholar.

9 Knox, History, i, pp. 181–2 and notes; McRoberts, D., ed., Essays on the Scottish Reformation, 1513–1523 (Glasgow, 1962), pp. 430–1Google Scholar and n. 73. Verschuur, M. B., ‘The Outbreak of the Scottish Reformation at Perth, 11 May 1559’, Scotia (1987), pp. 41–53Google Scholar.

10 The hitherto unknown letter found in the Breadalbane Papers (SRO, GD.112/39/1 no. 5) from Argyll and Lord James to the Lords Menteith and Ruthven and the Lairds of Tulli bardine and Glenorchy, written from St Andrews on 10 June is59, was probably one of several sent out to supporters of the Congregation. Menteith, Ruthven, and Tullibardine had all been at Perth during its Reformation and the subsequent negotiations with the Regent (Knox, History, 1, p. 180) and Glenorchy might have joined them in Perth to await just such a summons.

11 Knox, History, i, p. 181.

12 Verschuur, M., ‘The Perth Charterhouse in the Sixteenth Century’, InR, 39 (1988), pp. 1–11; ‘Outbreak’, p. 47Google Scholar. For St Andrews see McRoberts, D., ‘Material Destruction caused by the Scottish Reformation’ in McRoberts, ed., Essays, pp. 415–62Google Scholar; McRoberts, , Medieval House, p. 119Google Scholar.

13 For the development of reforming ideas within the University see Cameron, J. K., ‘Aspects of the Lutheran Contributions to the Scottish Reformation, 1528–1552’, RSCHS, 22 (1984), pp. 1—12; ‘Catholic Reform in Germany and in the Pre-Reformation Church in Scotland’, RSCHS, 20 (1978—80), pp. 105–17Google Scholar; “The Cologne Reformation and the Church of Scotland’, JEH, 30 (1979), pp. 39–64; ‘John Johnstone’s “An Confortable Exhortation of our mooste holy Christen faith and her frutes”: an early example of Scots Lutheran Piety’, in Baker, D., ed., Reform and Reformation, SCHS, 2 (1979), pp. 133–47Google Scholar; Wiedermann, G., ‘Martin Luther versus John Fisher: some ideas concerning the debate on Lutheran theology at the University of St Andrews, 1525–30’, RSCHS, 22 (1984), pp. 13–34Google Scholar.

14 Archbishop Hamilton’s behaviour at this critical juncture has not been satisfactorily explained, Herkless, J. and Hannay, R. K., The Archbishops of St Andrews, 5 vols (Edinburgh, 1915), 5, pp. 105Google Scholarf.; Finnie, E., ‘The House of Hamilton’, Ink, 36 (1985), pp. 3–28Google Scholar.

15 Phillips, J., The Reformation of Images (Berkeley, Calif., 1973)Google Scholar; Aston, M., England’s Iconoclasts (Oxford, 1988)Google Scholar; Davis, N. Z., Society and Culture in Early Modem France (London, 1975), ch. 7CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

16 McRoberts, , Essays, p. 431 and n. 75, 443Google Scholar.

17 Rankin, W., The Parish Church of Holy Trinity, St Andrews (Edinburgh, 1955), pp. 54–99, 138Google Scholar; on idolatry, Book of Discipline, pp. 88, 94–5.

18 Donaldson, G., ‘Reformation to Covenant’ in Forrester, D. and Murray, D., eds, Studies in the History of Worship in Scotland (Edinburgh, 1984), pp. 33—51Google Scholar; MacMillan, W., The Worship of the Scottish Reformed Church, 1550–1638 (London, 1931Google Scholar).

19 MacMillan, Worship, ch. 20.

20 The public face of the Church was important: Book of Discipline, pp. 6, 87, 180;Knox, History, 1, pp.148f. The strong emphasis upon the local nature of the congregation did not mean that the wider aspects of the ‘universali church’ were ignored at either the national or the international level, Book of Discipline, pp. 34, 68.

21 Donaldson, ‘Reformation to Covenant’, pp. 33, 38.

22 Book of Discipline, pp.91, 170, 182–3; Donaldson, ‘Reformation to Covenant’, pp. 38–9; RStAKS, pp. 194–5.

23 Book of Discipline, pp. 34, 172; RStAKS, pp. 205–6; Donaldson, ‘Reformation to Covenant’, p.39.

24 Book of Discipline, pp. 90–3, and 91, n. 9.92 n. 13.

25 Book of Discipline, pp. 87f., 180;Hazlett, ‘Scots Confession’, pp. 310–11.

26 Wallace, R. S., Calvin’s Doctrine of the Word and Sacrament (Edinburtfi, 1953), chs 12–13, 16–18Google Scholar; Shaw, D., ‘Zwinglian Influences oft the Scottish Reformation’, RSCHS, 22 (1985), pp. 119–39Google Scholar; Burnet, G., The Holy Communion in the Reformed Church of Scotland, 1560–1960 (Edinburgh, 1960)Google Scholar.

27 Wallace, Calvin, pp. 208, 210.

28 Book of Discipline, p. 87.

29 Book of Discipline, pp. 180f; RStAKS, pp. 344–5; Donaldson, ‘Reformation to Covenant’, p. 37.

30 Thomson, T., ed., The Booke of the Universali Kirk, Acts and Proceedings of the Cenerai Assemblies of the Kirk of Scotland, 1560–1618, Bannatyne and Maidand Clubs (Edinburgh, 1839–45), 1, p. 72Google Scholar. In 1577 the kirk-session took order to ensure that St Andrews should not be ‘defrauded’ of preaching, RStAKS, p. 428.

31 Napier, John, A Plaine Discovery of the whole Revelation of Saint John (Edinburgh, 1593)Google Scholar, fol. A6r; RStAKS, p. 829; Book of Discipline, p. 185 and n. 20.

32 Book of Discipline, pp. 42f., 187f., andn. 30; A. I. Dunlop. ed., Acta Facultatis Artium Universitatis Sanctiandree, 1413–1588, SHS (Edinburgh, 1964), p. 416.

33 Book of Discipline, pp. 184–5; Berry, L., ed., Geneva Bible:facsimile edition (Madison, Wisconsin, ‘969). pp. 1–24Google Scholar.

34 McMillan, , Worship, chs 10–11; Donaldson, ‘Reformation to Covenant’, p. 37; Book of Discipline, p. 182Google Scholar.

35 McMillan, Worship, chs 5–7; Patrick, M., Four Centuries of Scottish Psalmody (London, 1949), chs 1–6Google Scholar.

36 Patrick, Psalmody, ch. 6; Laing, D., ‘An Account of the Scottish Psalter of A.D. 1566’, Proceedings of Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 7 (1866-8), pp. 445–58Google Scholar; Elliot, K., ‘Scottish Music of the Early Reformed Church’, Transactions of the Scottish Ecclesiological Society, 15 (1961), pp. 18–41Google Scholar.

37 Reid, W. S., ‘The Battle Hymns of the Lord: Calvinist Psalmody of the Sixteenth Century’, Sixteenth Century Essays and Studies, 2 (1971), pp. 36–54Google Scholar.

38 STAKSR, pp. 340–1; Donaldson, ‘Reformation to Covenant’, p. 39. The Book of Common Order contained a translation of Calvin’s Catechism: Book of Discipline, p. 40, 130–1, 182.

39 Collinson, Cf. P., The Birthpangs of Protestant England (London, 1988), p. 54Google Scholar.

40 RStAKS, pp. Ivi, 34–5 and n. 2, 196, 254, 436; Book of Discipline, pp. 183–4; Booke of the Universali Kirk, i, pp. 30, 58.

41 Book of Discipline, pp. 44–5, 191–9; problems with hand-fasting, RStAKS, pp. xl-xli, 29, 145, 248–9, 280, 330; Parker, ‘“Kirk by Law Established”’, p. 20, appendix 1.

42 Book of Discipline, pp. 45–6, 199–201; W. D. Maxwell, John Knox’s Genevan Service Book (Edin burgh, 1931).

43 Ross, A., ‘Reformation and Repression’, in McRoberts, ed., Essays, pp. 392–401Google Scholar.

44 RStdKS, pp. viii, 6–10.

45 Cameron, J. K., ‘The Church and the Universities in Scotland in the era of the Reformation’, The Church in a Changing Society (Uppsala, 1978), pp. 217–22Google Scholar; Duräop, Acta, p. 415.

46 Of the 32 to 39 canons at the Priory in 1560, 21 served in the Reformed Church, McRoberts, Medieval Church, pp. 132–3.

47 Donaldson, G., All the Queen’s Men (London, 1983), pp. 9–30Google Scholar.

48 Book of Discipline, pp. 32–4, 165–73. Cameron, J. K., ‘Scottish Calvinism and the Principle of Intolerance’, inGerrish, B. A., ed., Reformatio Perennis: Essays on Calvin and the Reformation (Pittsburgh, 1981), pp. 113–28Google Scholar.

49 RStAKS, pp. xxviii-xxix, 86; Ross, ‘Reformation’, p. 394 and n. 9s.

50 RStAKS, pp. xii-xx, 10–15, 169–71, 191, 297, 318–20, 322–3, 352–3, 375–6.

51 Ibid., pp. 16–18; McRoberts, Essays, pp. 197–9, 400.

52 Ross, ‘Reformation’, p. 400; RStAKS, pp. xvi, 81–2; (Wilson), pp. xii, 11–13.

53 RStAKS, pp. xvi-xvii, lxi-xii, 77, 135–9, 317–18, 609;Ross,’Reformation’, p. 397.

54 RStAKS, pp. 173–4.

55 In 1562 adulterers were handed over to ‘the bailies present to be civile correctif and punist according to the ordour resavit in this citie’, RStAKS, pp. lvii, 141.

56 Ibid., pp. 33–0.

57 Ibid., pp. Ivi, 194–206.

58 Ibid., p. 206.

59 Book of Discipline, pp. 168–70. The ‘Order of Excommunication’ of 1569: Knox, Work, 6, pp. 390, 460, 462t.; Booke of the Universali Kirke, i, p. 37.

60 For the’taming’, Parker,’“Kirk by Law Established”’, pp. 1–32.

61 Book of Discipline, pp. 49f., 68–9, 97f., 11 sf.; (Superintendent of Fife), p. 119. Winram’s election, 13 April 1561, RStAKS, pp. 72–5; Cameron, J- K., ‘The Office of Superintendent in the “First Book of Discipline”’, Vogler, B., ed., Miscellanea Historiae Ecclesiasticae, 8 (Brussels, 1987), pp. 239–50Google Scholar.

62 For a recent survey, Lynch, M., ‘Calvinism in Scotland, 1559–1638’ in Prestwich, M., ed., International Calvinism (Oxford, 1985), pp. 225–55Google Scholar.

63 RStAKS, pp. xxviii, 107, 184, 231, 346–7, 370; (the oath of the elders and deacons), pp. 369–70.

64 On 22 June 1569 the Superintendent did empower the session to act in his absence, but this seems an isolated incident, ibid., p. 321, and in one case where he was personally involved the case was conducted by the session, pp. 82–9.

65 For example, Dec. 1563: Book of the Universall Kirk, I, pp. 39, 43.

66 RStAKS.p. 175.

67 The main problem facing the Kirk was the lack of a properly trained and funded ministry, Book of Discipline, pp. 17–22, 96–107.

68 Professor Cameron and Mr Smart discovered a damaged manuscript in St Andrews University Library which contains a list of ecclesiastical decrees. Some of these emanated from the General Assembly, but others appear to have a more local provenance, possibly from the superintendent of Fife’s synod, STAUL MS 30451, fol. 3V for decree forbidding excommunicants to become elders.

69 Book of the Universali Kirk, 1, p. 4.

70 For example, John Rutherford, Provost of St Salvator’s, or James Wylkie, later Provost of St Leonards. There was also the old problem of appropriated parishes in the General Assembly of June 1565. St Salvator’s was in trouble for not providing a preacher for their church at Kilmany; Book of the Universall Kirk, 1, pp. 62–3.