The life of John Erskine of Dun. 1509-1590

Abstract

The history of Scotland in the sixteenth century is far from being one of the untilled fields orf original research. It is the more surprising that the life of John Erskine of Dun, soldier, diplomatist, and superintendent of the Kirk, has not received the attention which, Dr.D.Hay Fleming encouragingly assured the writer, is warranted by the importance of the subject. About two centuries ago, the indefatigable Wodrow collected such information about Erskine as he could .find; a hundred years later, James Bowick wrote a short life of Erskine; and more recently Miss Mary Webster was responsible for two brief notices of the superintendent. But a great mass of material is now available in print, to which Wodrow and Bowick were strangers, and apparently, since the preparation of the Maitland Club edition of Wodrow's Biographical Collections, no systematic search has been made among the national records with the purpose of throwing light on Erskine's career. The bibliography which follows this preface will enable the reader to judge the extent to which accessible sources of information concerning Erskine have been multiplied, particularly by the Historical Clubs and other Societies in which Scotland has been fortunately rich. The unprinted sources in the Historical Department of the General Register House, Edinburgh, have been pretty carefully examined, and it is hoped that little has been missed which could have made this biographical essay more accurate or more detailed: it is much to be regretted that few remains of Erskine's own composition are in existence, and the writer was sadly disappointed by the poverty of the results which followed an inspection of the Burgh Papers of Montrose.The almost total disappearance of what must have been the considerable correspondence of Erskine of Dun leaves us without that-self-revelation which, of one who impressed his contemporaries so favourably, would have been most welcome, but the record of his life certainly shows us a man of marked energy and industry, sharing in all the activities of the time, and conspicuously successful as an ecclesiastical administrator, if not so deserving of fame as an ecclesiastical statesman; and the information which :the writer has been able to supply regarding the finances of the Reformed Church of Scotland may perhaps prove-of value, particularly in a fresh assessment of Morton's services to his country, while the impression that John Erskine served the Church as a layman only is shown to be without foundation.If it be possible to regard Erskine as the most successful of the small band of superintendents to whom was entrusted the supervision of the Protestant Church of Scotland in its early years, it appears probable that the merit of being responsible for the revival of Greek studies in Scotland must be denied to the laird of Dun. But if that claim be surrendered, it is to George Wishart, the martyr, that the credit must be transferred, and the doubts which in this essay are thrown on Erskine's traditional service to learning accordingly escape being merely destructive.A study of Erskine's life demonstrates how inevitable the Reformation was in Scotland. Apprenticed early to the diplomatic business of the Crown, ready to fight, and to fight hard, against the "auld enemy ", intimately concerned in the prosperity of Scottish commerce, prepared to play an effective part in the politics of his time, yet withal indisposed to set private gain before national welfare, he stands out as one moved by no unworthy motives to advance the Protestant. cause in his native country. The very caution with which he approached religious revolt may be interpreted as proof of the sincerity of his convictions, once they were strong enough to influence his activities. But in one respect he rose superior to most of his contemporaries. His undoubted zeal for religion did not obscure his judgment in ecclesiastical affairs, and if his moderate temper had been more widely shared by the ministers of the Church it is conceivable that they might have won before the Union a security which was only attained at the Revolution.