John Spottiswood ( English John Spottiswoode ; 1565 - November 26, 1639 ) - Archbishop of Glasgow (1603-1615) and St. Andrews (1615-1639), the largest church figure in Scotland at the beginning of the 17th century , ideologist of the Jacobite compromise policy.
Biography
John Spottyswood came from a family of Protestant pastors, his father was superintendent of Lothian . Educated at the University of Glasgow under the leadership of Andrew Melville , the founding father of Presbyterianism , John became pastor of the church parish in Caldera, which his father had previously held. Being a supporter of an ultra-Protestant party in his youth, Spottywood gradually tended to a more moderate policy over time, which allowed him to gain the trust of one of the courtiers, the Duke of Lennox , whom John accompanied during the embassy in France in 1601-1603, and later King James VI . After Jacob entered the English throne, Spottyswood was appointed Archbishop of Glasgow .
Reforms of James VI of the end of the XVI - the beginning of the XVII centuries ensured the achievement in the Scottish Presbyterian Church of a certain equilibrium, satisfying both the royal power and the Protestant clergy. The basic principles and church hierarchy of Presbyterianism laid down by Knox and Melville were preserved, however, the king’s power was strengthened, primarily over the appointments and financial support of the clergy, and the bishopric was restored. A system of “ Jacobite compromise ” has developed. John Spottyswood became the main ideologist and resolute defender of this system.
Perfectly familiar with the mood of the Scottish clergy, Archbishop Spottyswood became the king's leading expert in church matters and became a member of the Privy Council of James VI in 1605 . In 1615, he was elected Archbishop of St Andrews and the Primate of the Scottish Church. Spotiswood contributed to the restoration of the rights and influence of the bishops, however, he repeatedly persuaded the king to abandon attempts to radically restructure the Scottish church. So in 1617 the archbishop opposed the king’s proposed changes to the Presbyterian liturgy (“ Five Perth Articles ”), the adoption of which, under pressure from Jacob VI, led to widespread indignation and the formation of a new opposition. Largely due to the influence of the archbishop on the king, Jacob VI ultimately abandoned the decisive introduction of the “Five Articles” into church practice, which allowed him to remain calm in the country.
As a member of the Privy Council, James VI, Spottywood was actively addressing the issue of subjugating the mountain clans to central authority. In particular, he managed to convince the king to abandon the idea of eliminating the clan system in the Scottish highlands and recognize the clan as a socio-political unit, whose head should be responsible for the order and observance of laws by its members. In this regard, the archbishop was an ardent opponent of Count Argyll , who was building up his power at the expense of the small clans of western Scotland.
After the accession to the thrones of England and Scotland by King Charles I in 1625, the influence of Archbishop Spottywood further intensified. In 1633, he carried out the coronation of Charles I by the Scottish king, and in 1635 he was appointed Lord Chancellor of Scotland, and for the first time in almost a century since the Protestant revolution this priest received the most important post in the country after the king.
Charles I began to fight more decisively for the establishment of royal prerogatives in the Scottish church and actively attracted bishops to public office. This policy, however, led to increased dissatisfaction with the Presbyterians and Scottish barons, which resulted in the uprising in Edinburgh in 1637 against the king and bishops, quickly spreading throughout the country. When the Covenant was adopted by the National Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1638 , Spottieswood tried to soften this manifesto by making it more acceptable to the king, but time was lost. The uprising developed rapidly, and the archbishop was forced to leave Scotland. The work of his whole life was destroyed. At the end of 1639, John Spottyswood died in London .
John Spottyswood wrote one of the best works on Scottish history of that time, “ The History of the Church and State of Scotland ” (published in 1655 ), which has a good literary style and structure, as well as great accuracy and variety of material used.
Literature
- Spottiswood, John (1565-1639) // Dictionary of National Biography