John Craig (reformer)

John Craig was born about 1512.[8] His father was killed at the Battle of Flodden in 1513, as was the father of John Spottiswood. Craig studied philosophy at the University of St. Andrews[9][10] and may have witnessed the burnings of Patrick Hamilton and Henry Forrest.[11] After graduating he served as tutor to the children of Lord Dacre for two years in the north of England.[12]

He returned to Scotland and entered the Dominican Order at their priory in St Andrews.[13] Being cleared of a suspicion of heresy, probably after several months detention, he left, in 1537, around aged 23, for England.[13] He had hoped to study at Cambridge with the help of Lord Dacre but was disappointed and then travelled to Rome via France.[13][14]

The English Cardinal Reginald Pole, one of the Spirituali; he lost the papal election by one vote. Cardinal Pole's archenemy Cardinal Carafa, who would later become Pope Paul IV, acted to suppress the Spirituali before and after attaining the papacy, and under him many went on trial before the Inquisition.

John Craig depicted in 1877

Pope Paul IV. A fellow prisoner at the time was Benjamin Nehemiah ben Elnathan who left an account of his confinement. It has been published under the title Living under the Evil Pope.[15]

Through the influence of Cardinal Pole, Craig obtained a position instructing novices at the Dominican house in Bologna. Hewat says: "There must have been something arresting about this young monk, for it was on the recommendation of one so great and influential as Cardinal Pole that he was admitted to a place among the Dominicans in the city of Bologna, where he soon became Master of the Novices."[16] It has been suggested that John Craig had theological leanings towards the Spirituali.[17] Spottiswoode relates: "Afterwards when they perceived his diligence and dexterity in businesses, he was employed in all their affairs throughout Italy, and sent on commission to Chios, an isle situated in the Ionic Sea, to redress things that were amiss amongst those of their order".[14] Craig became rector or head official of the Dominican College which had links with the university.[18] Ironically, since Dominicans were charged with suppressing ideas judged to be heretical, Craig here had access to the library of the Inquisition holding forbidden books like John Calvin's Institutes and came through his analysis to adopt some of Calvin's views.[19] Craig himself was thus sent to Rome charged as a heretic. Sentenced to be burned on 19 August 1559,[20] Craig escaped the day before during civil unrest prompted by the death of the unpopular Pope Paul IV on 18 August, upon which crowds broke into the prisons to free his captives.[21]

The stories of Craig's confinement and the dog

There are two accounts, in Row[22][23] and one in Spottiswoode,[24] of Craig's activities between his arrest and his preaching in Vienna where he is next found.[25] Kerr speculates that Craig may have met the reformer John Row of Perth, the father of his namesake, the historian, in Italy,[26] although Row's history is largely based on the writings of his father-in-law David Ferguson.

Domini Canis? John Craig's dog from the 1883 plaque at St Giles' Cathedral. Critics argued the dog's black colour showed its devilish origin rather than being a sign of God's gracious Providence.[27][28]

John Howie in the Scots Worthies tells about the dog: "During his travels abroad he was frequently delivered out of very great dangers, by the kind interposition of a gracious Providence: an instance of which we have while he was in Italy. Being obliged to flee out of that country, on account of his regard for the Reformation, in order to avoid being apprehended, he was obliged to lurk in obscure places in the day-time, and travel over night. By this means any little money he had was soon exhausted, and being in the extremity of want, a dog brought a purse to him with some gold in it, by which he was supported until he escaped the danger of being taken."[29] John Hamilton argued "...a black dog gave to him by the way a purse of gold. The colour of the dog may declare whether it was sent by a good spirit or not; for the Holy Spirit descended upon Christ in the likeness of a white dove."[27]

Robert Lippe dismisses these stories saying: "Row adds some additional particulars regarding this imprisonment, such as his being confined in a deep and gloomy vault, where the prisoners had to stand twice a day up to their waists in water by the admission of the tide.[30] These and other additions to Craig's imprisonment and escape, may be safely dismissed as mythical accretions, as we know there are no tides in the Mediterranean, and consequently none at Rome. We need not repeat his providential deliverance, escape, and journey to Vienna, and his reception by the Imperial House there — with all the startling attending circumstances — events which read more like a chapter of a thrilling romance than a plain and sober narrative of an actual life."[31]

Porto di Ripetta

Kerr responded about the water: "Craig was kept imprisoned for upwards of nine months. Row's Coronis is shown to over-step geography in stating that he was confined within "a base prison or pit, into which the River Tiber flowed at every tide, so that the prisoners stood in water sometimes almost to their middle". This has been rebutted on the grounds that the Mediterranean is practically tideless. However, as devastating floods are not uncommon in Italy, the situation described was far from impossible. He further argues concerning the dog: "Craig himself frequently referred to this adventure. "He often repeated it to many in good standing", are Spottiswoode's words. Catholic opponents knew of it and repeated that it only proved that he had been in league with the Devil! But long before John Hamilton, able Catholic apologist questioned the story's authenticity in his Facile Tractise (1600) it was alluded to in the satirical verse of Nicol Burne."[27] Later he says: "In sneering at Craig, Hamilton furnished gratuitously corroborative facts about him. This direct reference to his adventures, show that these were already well-known to friend and foe alike, and that by neither were they held in doubt. It is of interest to note that Hamilton's references have more in common with Row's account than Spottiswoode's."[27]

Other writers have identified Palazzo di Ripetta near Porto di Ripetta and Ponte Cavour as a possible site for Craig's confinement.[21][32][33]

Magdalen Chapel inscription above the doorway

Craig made his way to Vienna, where as a Dominican, he preached before emperor Maximilian II, and soon became a favourite at court but his surrender was demanded by the new pope Pius IV. The Emperor gave him letters of safe conduct to England where he fled in 1560. John Willock, later one of the "six Johns" of the Scots Confession, was known to have been in London in the summer of 1560 and a meeting has been suggested, Kerr calling it "more than likely".[34] Craig returned to Scotland in 1561 where he preached (in Latin) in the Magdalen Chapel in the Cowgate of Edinburgh.[5]

Craig's bold preaching against the nobles who seized the revenues of the church, so that "we can nocht discern the earl from the abbot," provoked the anger of William Maitland of Lethington, and in the memorable conference between that statesman and Knox in 1564 Craig backed his colleague's argument with a telling precedent of a discussion in the university of Bologna, where he had been present in 1554, and heard the thesis maintained "that all rulers, be they superior or inferior, may and ought to be refused or deposed by them by whom they are chosen, empowered, and admitted to their office, as oft as they break their promise made by oath to their subjects, because the prince is no less bound to his subjects than subjects to their princes." This had been applied, he said, in the case of a pope, whose governor had exceeded his limits and attempted to alter the law in part of his temporal dominions. "Then started up," narrates Knox, "ane lawbreaker of that corrupt court, and said, "Ye know nocht what ye say, for you tell us what was done in Bononia; we are ane kingdom and thou are but ane commonwealth;" to which Craig had the ready answer, "My lord, my judgment is that evrie kingdom is, or at least should be, ane commonwealth, albeit that evrie commonwealth be nocht ane kingdom.""[43]

Craig's name appears with that of Knox in the list of persons privy to Rizzio's death on 9 March 1566, sent by the Earl of Bedford and Randolph to William Cecil. Mackay says "Proof of actual complicity is wanting, but there can be little doubt that the ministers of the reformed church approved the act after it was done, as Mary did the assassination of her brother James Stewart."[43] Kerr says: "Queen Mary, now for the moment all-powerful, issued through her Privy Council a list of those implicated, and it surely bespeaks the innocence of Knox and Craig that they are not mentioned."[49] The refusal by Craig to publish the banns between Mary and Bothwell is probably the act of his life most widely known.[50][51]

It certainly showed courage to remonstrate when Edinburgh was in the hands of Bothwell's followers. At an interview with Bothwell and the privy council Craig laid to his charge "the law of adultery, the law of ravishing, the suspicion of collusion between him and his wife, the sudden divorcement and proclaiming within the space of four days, and last, the suspicion of the king's death, which her marriage would confirm."[43][50][51]

He got no explanation on any of these points, but a letter from Mary having been shown him denying that she was under restraint, he in the end proclaimed the banns with a protest that "he abhorred and detested the marriage." In the General Assembly of Christmas Day 1567 Craig was blamed by some of his brethren for his compliance. Craig submitted a statement about his actions and at the Assembly of 6 July 1569 a resolution was passed absolving him, while Adam Bothwell, the bishop who performed the ceremony, was suspended.[43][50][51]

Knox was convinced that his colleague had followed the proper course. He wrote:

"Notwithstanding all this done and said by Master Craig, and the opposition of many that wished well to the Queen, and were jealous of her honour, the marriage went on . . . And a bishop must bless the marriage. The good Prelate was Bishop of Orkney. If there is a good work to be done, a bishop must do it. Here mark the difference betwixt this worthy minister, and this base bishop."[52][53]

In 1571 Knox, who had quarrelled with Mary, left Edinburgh for St. Andrews, but Craig, of a more conciliatory disposition, remained, and even lamented in a sermon "that there was no neutral man to make agreement between the two parties, seeing whatsoever party shall be overthrown the country shall be brought to ruin." Although he gave offence by this lukewarm attitude, he was chosen by the convention of the kirk at Leith one of the deputies to wait upon the queen's friends in the castle. The outspoken part he took in the conference, when he was again pitted against Lethington, is recorded in the Memorials of Bannatyne,[54] who was himself present.[43]

At the General Assembly of June, 1565, Craig was on the business committee where he and a few others were appointed to collect causes for a public fast. Knox and Craig were commissioned to set down the form of exercise to be used, and to have it printed by Robert Lekprevik.[55] A momentous event during this year, 1565, was the appearance of the completed Psalter for use in the Reformed Church. There are reasons for believing that Craig was author of fifteen of its psalm-versions and, that these include the familiar second versions of Psalms 102, 136, 143 and 145.[56]

The General Assembly of June 1566 instructed Craig and John Spottiswood to interview the Queen who was then resident in the Castle. An audience being granted, they presented to her a supplication for the payment of ministers’ stipends due them out of the Thirds of benefices. Mary received the two representatives graciously.[57] The next General Assembly convened during December, 1566, at which a letter, headed by the signature of John Craig, was sent to "their brethren the bishops and pastors of God's Church in England, who profess with us in Scotland, the truth of Jesus Christ." Kerr comments: "That Craig's name appears at the top of the signatures on the letter, would seem to indicate that at Knox's request, he had assumed the leadership of the Scottish Reformers during the absence of his colleague."[58]

Craig played a vital role in writing the Second Book of Discipline for the Scottish Church. He was elected Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland on three occasions. He drew up the National Covenant of 1581, and wrote a very popular catechism known as "Craig's Catechism". Craig was moreover a vigorous defender of the presbyterial form of church government in opposition to episcopacy, which brought him into conflict with King James.

On 21 July 1588 Craig officiated at the wedding of Henrietta Stewart and the Earl of Huntly at Holyroodhouse. Before the wedding the couple were made to declare their Protestant faith, without which he would not declare the banns.[59]

Craig was a member of twelve out of thirteen Assemblies, and Moderator of General Assembly 1 March 1570 and 24 October 1576; was a commissioner for visiting the province of Aberdeen in 1575, and in 1576 one of five for that duty, having for his district "the laigh of Mar and Garioch with the Kirks of the Mearns beyond the Mounth on Deeside." He drew up the Confession of Faith which was subscribed by James VI, 2 March 1580, and adopted by the nation; was elected Moderator of the General Assembly for the third time, 17 October 1581. He was appointed in 1582 to make a collection of the Acts of Assembly, and in 1592 wrote an answer to an attack made on the Confession of Faith: neither of these was printed. He died 12 December 1600.[5]

In Oct. 1583 the General Assembly app. him to intimate its approval of the seizure of the King by the Earl of Gowrie in the raid of Ruthven, and boldly rebuked James for his conduct. He denounced the Black Act passed by Parliament in 1584, restoring Episcopacy and recognising the Royal supremacy. At the conference at Falkland, to which he was summoned by Royal command, he had a stormy scene with Arran. For refusing submission to the Royal Ordinance he was interdicted from preaching and threatened with banishment. He, however, acted as mediator between the extreme Presbyterians led by Melville and the King and was successful in making a compromise in the form of the Oath required as to the King's supremacy in matters ecclesiastical "as far as the Word of God allows." In 1585 he preached before Parliament and in 1590 composed, at the request of the General Assembly, "A Form of Examination before Communion"[4]

Always a member of assembly, he was twice moderator. As a member of the committee of the assembly of 1575, to consider the question of the episcopal office, he reported against it, and this report was followed by the abolition of episcopacy in 1581. In 1579 Craig, having been appointed one of the king's chaplains, returned to Edinburgh, when he took part in the composition of ‘The Second Book of Discipline’ and ‘The National Covenant’ of 1580.[43]

In 1581, to meet a panic of a revival of papacy caused by the arrival of the Duke of Lennox from France, he wrote: ‘Ane Shorte and Generale Confession of the true Christian Fayth and Religion, according to God's Worde and Actes of our Parliamentes.’ This confession was signed by the king and his household, from which circumstance it received the name of the king's confession. It was required to be signed by all parish ministers, and in 1585 by all graduates. It was confirmed in 1590 and 1595, and became the basis of the covenant of 1638 as well as the solemn league and covenant of 1643. In October 1581 Craig was sent by the assembly to intimate their approval of the seizure of the king by the Earl of Gowrie in the raid of Ruthven, and boldly rebuked James for his conduct, drawing tears from him as Knox had done from Mary.[43]

When parliament in 1584 passed the Black Acts restoring episcopacy and recognising the royal supremacy, Craig denounced them from the pulpit, and in answer to Arran and the court declared that ‘he would find fault with everything that is repugnant to the word of God.’ A conference at Falkland, where he was summoned by the king, gave rise to a stormy scene between him and Arran, who then ruled the court. Interdicted from preaching and threatened with banishment for refusing submission to the royal ordinance, Craig again tried to act the part of a mediator between the king and the extreme presbyterian party led by Melville, and proposed an addition to the oath required as to the king's supremacy in matters ecclesiastical ‘as far as the word of God allows.’ This compromise was accepted by the king, and the oath was so taken by Craig and the other royal chaplains, Erskine of Drum, and many of the ministers of the north. In 1585 a sermon he preached before parliament from the text, ‘God sitteth among the assembly of the gods,’ from which he deduced the duty of obedience to kings, was severely condemned. A curious discussion of it between the Earl of Angus and David Hume of Godscroft is given by Calderwood (History, iv. 466).[43]

Craig was now in the decline of life, and his moderation did not please more youthful zealots. But he showed no signs of departing from the reformed doctrines. In 1590 he composed, at the request of the assembly, A Form of Examination before Communion,[60] and in 1593 James requested the assembly to choose a list from which he might select two in respect "of Mr. Craig's decrepit age," but he continued to hold his office of chaplain for some time longer.

In August 1595 the English diplomat George Nicholson wrote that Craig was "old and now almost past teaching."[61]

John Craig died on 12 December 1600 at the age of eighty-eight. His wife and his son William were named executors of his will, but are requested to take the advice of his relative, Thomas Craig, advocate.[43] A portrait of Thomas Craig's third son John Craig had been thought to portray the reformer.

Window in Edinburgh Castle's Great Hall. George Wishart (c.1513 – 1 Mar 1546), Walter Miln (d. Apr 1558), James Guthrie (1612? – 1 Jun 1661)

John Craig died 1655.[62] Physician to James VI and Charles I. Third son of the reformer's nephew Thomas Craig. This seems to be the portrait of "John Craig" which Hew Scott mentions[5] and Kirkwood Hewat describes in great detail.[63] They both seem to think it was the reformer although Kerr casts doubt on this.[64]

He married before 1574, Marion Smail or Small, who died in 1630, and had issue —

• William, M.A., Professor of Divinity in University of Samur, "grave, learned, retired, moderate, and without reproach," baptized 9 October 1575, died "in the Blackfriars' Wynd," Edinburgh, November 1616.[5] This son was a professor in the college of Edinburgh in 1599, but in the year of his father's death went to St. Andrews as professor of divinity, from which he afterwards returned to Edinburgh, where he died in 1616.[43]
• Margaret (married 29 November 1598, Robert Favelie, goldsmith)[5]
• Barbara [65] who married William Watson, minister at Marchinch and had issue — William, bapt. 27 July 1595 ; James, bapt. 29th March 1598, died young ; Janet (marr. David Phin, sailor, Burntisland); Rebecca

One of Psalms translated by John Craig ("I.C.") ca. AD 1564, Scottish Psalter

• A Shorte Summe of the Whole Catechisme (Edinburgh, printed by Henry Charteris, 1581)[66][67]
• Ane Form of Examination before the Communion (Edinburgh, 1591)[60][67]
• He is believed to have been the translator of fifteen psalms which have the initials I.C. in the Metrical Psalms (Edinburgh, 1565), and the "second versions" of Psalms 102, 136, 143, and 145 are his.[68][56]
• There was thought to be a portrait of Craig in possession of Sir Henry Gibson-Craig, Bart., at Riccarton[5]

• Bain's Cal. Scottish State Papers
• Register of the Privy Council Scotland
• Knox's, Calderwood's and Grub's Eccles. Histories
• Hay Fleming's Mary, Queen of Scots[69]
• Knox's History of the Reformation[70]
• Edin. Tests.
• Laing MSS.
• Hist. MS. Com., 167
• Principal Story's John Craig (privately printed, 1884)[71]
• Edin. Bibliog. Soc. Proc. (1898)[5]