- The large monument to the Earl of Middlesex and his second wife, erected in the middle of St. Benedict's chapel in 1645, has removed all trace of Spottiswood's grave. Two copies of an inscription, however, seemingly from Spottiswood's coffin have been recorded. The first, which appears in a manuscript owned by the late Lord Mostyn and now preserved in the Library of Westminster Abbey (MS 44) reads as follows:
Depositum Johannis Spottiswoode
D.D. Sanct. andrea Archiep:
Scotiae Primatis et Cancellarij
XX. annos Presbyter
XI. annos Glasaven Archiep:
XXV. annos Sanct. Andreae Archiep:
IV annos Regni Cancellarius
Ex hac vita feliciter migravit Londini vii Cal. xbris
Anno xpi. M.DC.XXXIX,
Annoq Regis Caroli XV.
Vixit annos LXXiiij: Mens: ii dyes xvij.
Presul Senator pa[e]ne Martyr hic jacet,
Quo nemo Sanctior, gravior constantior
Pro Ecclia, pro Rege, pro recta fide
Contra sacrilegos, perduelles perfidos
Stetit supremum ad usq spiritum,
Solitumq talium meritorum praemium
Dira rapinas, exiliumq pertulit,
Nunc hac in urna, in ore posterum in Deo
Victor potitur pace, fama, Gloria.
The first part of the inscription may be translated thus:
Here lies John Spottiswood, Doctor of Divinity, Archbishop of St Andrews, Primate and Chancellor of Scotland, Twenty years a priest, eleven years Archbishop of Glasgow, twenty-five years Archbishop of St Andrews, four years Chancellor of the kingdom. He departed happily this life at London on 25 November in the year of Christ 1639 in the 15th year of King Charles. He lived 74 years, 2 months and 17 days.
The elaborate Latin poem which follows praises Spottiswood's defence of the church.
The inscription recorded in the Mostyn Hall manuscript differs in various ways from the version recorded in Brian Duppa's life of Spottiswood:
MEMORIAE SACRUM.DOMINUS JOANNES SPOTISWOOD,
ECCLESIAE SANCTI ANDREAE
ARCHIEPISCOPUS, SCOTIAE PRIMAS
ET REGNI CANCELLARIUS
VIGINTI ANNOS PRESBYTER,
UNDECEM ANNOS ARCHIEPISCOPUS GLASGOENSIS,
VIGINTI QUINQUE ANNOS S.ANDREAE,
ET PER QUATUOR ANNOS REGNI SCOTIAE CANCELLARIUS
EX HAC VITA IN PACE MIGRAVIT
ANNO DOMINI 1639.
SEXTO CALENDAS DECEMBRIS,
REGNI CAROLI 15.
AETATIS SUAE 74
Praesul, Senator, pene Martyr hic jacet,
Quo nemo Sanctior, Gravior, Constantior
Pro Ecclesia, pro Rege, pro Recta Fide,
Contra Sacrilegos, Perduelles, Perfidos,
Stetit ad extremum usque Vitae Spiritum,
Solitumque talium Meritorum Praemium
Diras Rapinas Exiliumque pertulit.
Sed hac in Urna, in Ore Posterum, in Deo
Victor potitur Pace, Fama, Gloria.
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| Notes |
- John Spottiswood studied at the University of Glasgow. When relations between the kirk and the crown deteriorated towards the end of the 16th century, however, he came increasingly to support royal policy, and when James VI succeeded to the English throne in 1603 Spottiswood accompanied him to London. He was appointed Archbishop of Glasgow in the same year (although he did not receive episcopal consecration until 1610) and thereafter was an important figure in the king's attempts to reduce the influence which the ministers of the Scottish church had come to exert on affairs of state. He was translated to the archbishopric of St Andrews in 1615 and at the General Assembly of the Kirk in 1618, having made himself Moderator, he successfully argued for the imposition of the Five Articles of Perth which included the requirement that Communion should be received kneeling. He married Rachel, daughter of David Lindsay, Bishop of Ross and had two sons Sir John and Sir Robert (l596-l646) and a daughter Anne who married Sir William Sinclair.
Spottiswoode continued in royal favour under Charles I was made Chancellor of Scotland in 1635. He loyally supported the attempt to impose the Book of Common Prayer though he thought the move mistaken. Riots in Edinburgh in 1637 and the signing of the National Covenant in 1638 proved his misgivings to be justified and Spottiswood fled to Newcastle, fearing for his life. He was deposed in his absence on a series of spurious charges including adultery, incest and sacrilege.
From Genealogy of the Spotswood Family in Scotland and Virginia, Charles Campbell, J. Munsell, Albany NY, 1868, p. 7, 9-10:
John Spottiswoode, of that ilk, born anno 1565, who afterward became one of the greatest men of the kingdom, for knowledge, learning, virtue and merit. He had few equals, and was excelled by none. He was archbishop of St. Andrews, lord high chancellor of Scotland, etc., etc., and in every station of life acquitted himself with dexterity, fidelity and honor, and as the life and transactions of this truly great man are fully recorded in his 'History of the Church of Scotland', and briefly, by Mr. Crawford, in his 'Lives of the Officers of the State', to these we refer the reader. We shall only here observe that upon the death of his cousin, John of Spottiswoode, without issue, as before mentioned, he succeeded to the estate of Spottiswoode, as heir male, and was ever after designated by that title. However, in the year 1620, he sold the barony of Spottiswoode to three brothers of the name of Bell, with whom and their heirs, it remained till it was purchased by the heir of the family, anno 1700, as will be mentioned hereafter. But before this time the bishop had purchased several other lands, particularly, the barony of Dairzie, in Fife, etc., etc.
He married Rachel, daughter of Doctor David Lindsay, bishop of Ross, a son of the family of Edzill, by whom he had two sons and one daughter: 1, John, afterwards Sir John, his heir: 2, Sir Robert, who carried on the line of this family. His daughter Anne, was married to Sir William Sinclair, of Roslin, and had issue. He died at London, 2d of December, 1639, in the 74th year of his age, and by the king's order was most pompously interred, in King Henry VIIth's chapel, in Westminster Abbey, and was succeeded by his eldest son.
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1565 - 1639 (74 years)
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