Education in post-Reformation Scotland : Andrew Melville and the University of St Andrews, 1560-1606
Abstract
Andrew Melville (1545-1622) was the leader of the Presbyterian wing of the Scottish
Kirk between 1574 and 1607, and he and his colleagues were a perpetual irritant to
James VI and I in his attempts to establish a royal and Episcopal dominance over the
Kirk. Yet much of Melville’s reputation has been based on the seventeenth-century
Presbyterian historical narratives written by the likes of James Melville (Andrew’s
nephew) and David Calderwood. These partisan accounts formed the basis of modern
historiography in Thomas M’Crie’s monumentally influential Life of Andrew Melville.
Modern historians broadly agree that Melville’s portrayal as a powerful and decisive
church leader in these narratives is greatly exaggerated, and that he was at best an
influential voice in the Kirk who was quickly marginalised by the adult James VI.
However, only James Kirk has commented at any length on Melville’s other role in
Jacobean Scotland—that of developing and reforming the Scottish universities.
Melville revitalised the near-defunct Glasgow University between 1574 and 1580, and
from 1580 to 1607 was principal of St Mary’s College, St Andrews, Scotland’s only
divinity college. He was also rector of the University of St Andrews between 1590
and 1597. This thesis provides a detailed account of Melville’s personal role in the
reform and expansion of the Scottish universities. This includes an analysis of his
direct work at Glasgow, but focuses primarily on St Andrews, using the untapped
archival sources held there and at the Scottish National Library and Archives to create
a detailed picture of the development of the University after the Reformation. This
thesis also evaluates the intellectual content of Melville’s reform programme, both as
it developed during his time in Paris, Poitiers and Geneva, and as we see it in action in
St Andrews.
Type
Thesis, PhD Doctor of Philosophy
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