The Building of St Andrews Cathedral

The renaissance tradition in the reformed church of Scotland(presidential address)

“…He regards the pagan literature and art not as things to be rejected but It has sometimes been a matter of regret that the leading figures of the Scottish renaissance confined themselves almost enclusively to writing in Latin to the neglect of their native tongue as a vehicle of literary expression. 80 The relation between Scottish literature in the vernacular and the neo-Latin poetry of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries still awaits much detailed critical study, and it would be misleading to give the impression that those who were so strongly under the spell of classical humanism did not venture to write in the language of the day as did Dunbar and that great advocate of reform, Sir David Lyndesay of the Mount, who by his Ane plesant satyre of the thrie estatis and other literary attacks upon the failings of the king, the court and the clergy did much to prepare the way for the success of the reformation. 81 Of those few who did write in their mother tongue John Davidson, minister at Prestonpans may be briefly mentioned.…”

“…Printed without Davidson's knowledge, the satire raised a considerable furore which eventually compelled the author to leave the country for England and the continent. Shortly thereafter he matriculated at the university of Basel for the session 1575-6 in the company of Laurence Bodley, the younger brother of Sir Thomas who subsequently visited Basel and signed the matriculation register for 80 1578-9. 83 Davidson was in all probability acting as tutor to Laurence who later became a canon of Exeter and who, according to the Dictionary of National Biography, was probably responsible for the donation by the dean and chapter of Exeter, in 1602, of 'eighty-one early and valuable manuscripts from the library of their cathedral to the new library at Oxford, including .…”

“…In recent studies Andrew Melville's influence on the development of the church's polity and her relation with the state have been stressed and subjected to criticism almost to the total neglect of his contribution to education, yet it should not be forgotten that he was throughout his life an academic. For some thirty five years 80 until deprived by king James, he was intimately connected with the universities of Glasgow and St Andrews and was the one person primarily responsible for the revitalisation of education in the service of church and state. 23 For this long-delayed task Melville had undergone a remarkable apprenticeship.…”