Robert Leighton (prelate)
Encyclopedia
Robert Leighton was a Scottish
prelate
and scholar, best known as a church minister, Bishop of Dunblane
, Archbishop of Glasgow
, and Principal of the University of Edinburgh
from 1653 to 1662. He was "noted for his Christian piety, his humility and gentleness, and his devotion to his calling".
to Scottish
parents in 1611. His father was Doctor Alexander Leighton
, who was tortured by King Charles I
for his puritan
beliefs after authoring a pamphlet Zion's Plea against Prelacy in which he criticised the church, condemning Bishops as "antiChristian and satanic". Robert Leighton's mother was Alexander Leighton's first wife. According to Gilbert Burnet
, Leighton was distinguished for his "saintly disposition" from his earliest childhood, even despite the persecution of his family. In 1627 (before his father published his pamphlet) at the age of sixteen, Robert Leighton went to study at the University of Edinburgh
, graduating with an MA
in 1631.
Following his graduation, his father sent him to travel abroad, and he is understood to have spent several years in France
, where he acquired a complete mastery of the French language
. While there he passed a good deal of time with relatives at Douai
who had become Roman Catholics, and with whom he kept up a correspondence for many years afterwards. Either at this time or on some subsequent visit he had also a good deal of intercourse with members of the Jansenist party. This intercourse contributed to the charity towards those who differed from him in religious opinion, which ever afterwards formed a feature in his character.
on 16 December 1641. The ordination took place at Newbattle
in Midlothian
and thirty year-old Leighton was installed as Parish Minister of Newbattle on the same date. Following the furore over his father's actions, it took a while before Leighton was accepted as Minister. Parish records show that he had to deliver five trial sermons - two of which had to be delivered on the same day - before being accepted:
Leighton signed the Solemn League and Covenant
in 1643. Leighton served at Newbattle for eleven years, before resigning his charge in 1652. What led him to take this step is not immediately clear, though the account given is that he had little sympathy with the fiery zeal of his brother clergymen on certain political questions, and that this led to severe censures on their part.
, and primarius professor of divinity
. The position was originally supposed to be filled by William Colvill
, but Colvill was unable to take possession of it, since he was in Holland and so the position was declared vacant again, and Leighton appointed in Colvill's place. Leighton continued in this post until 1662, when he was succeeded by Colvill, who had since returned to Scotland.
A considerable number of his Latin prelections and other addresses (published after his death) are remarkable for the purity and elegance of their Latinity, and their subdued and meditative eloquence. They are valuable instructions in the art of living a holy life rather than a body of scientific divinity. Throughout, however, they bear the marks of a deeply learned and accomplished mind, saturated with both classical and patristic reading, and like all his works they breathe the spirit of one who lived very much above the world.
of Dunblane
by King Charles II
. His mild mannered nature gave him problems in this role, and he attempted to resign in 1665, making a trip to London for that purpose. However he did not go through with this after King Charles II agreed to milder measures. He repeated his trip to London again in 1669, but little result followed.
In 1670, he agreed (with hesitation) to accept appointment as Archbishop of Glasgow
. In this higher sphere he redoubled his efforts with the Presbyterians to bring about some degree of conciliation with Episcopacy, but the only result was to embroil himself with the hot-headed Episcopal party as well as with the Presbyterians.
He resigned the archbishopric in 1674.
.
Leighton died suddenly on 25 June 1684 during a trip to London, in an inn in the shadow of a partly finished St Paul's Cathedral
. His final parting wish was that "At eventide there might be light".
Leighton was buried in Horsted Keynes
, Sussex
. In his will, he bequeathed his collection of 1,400 volumes and a hundred pounds for the erection of the Leighton Library
. He also gave instruction that all his personal papers and manuscripts be destroyed, though this never took place.
Following his death, a commentary of his on 1 Peter, was published in two volumes in 1693 and 1694, and has rarely been out of print ever since.
Father: Alexander Leighton
Mother: Unknown (Alexander's first wife)
(or Bibliotheca Leightoniana), which is the oldest purpose built library
in Scotland
. It contains a collection of around 4000 volumes and 78 manuscripts from the 16th to the 19th century, and is founded on the personal collection of Leighton, who had left the books to Dunblane Cathedral. Some of the collection was originally owned by Newbattle
and was stored at the Old Manse, but it is now held in its entirety at The Cross, Dunblane
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
prelate
Prelate
A prelate is a high-ranking member of the clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin prælatus, the past participle of præferre, which means "carry before", "be set above or over" or "prefer"; hence, a prelate is one set over others.-Related...
and scholar, best known as a church minister, Bishop of Dunblane
Bishop of Dunblane
The Bishop of Dunblane or Bishop of Strathearn was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Dunblane/Strathearn, one of medieval Scotland's thirteen bishoprics. It was based at Dunblane Cathedral, now a parish church of the Church of Scotland. The bishopric itself certainly derives from an older...
, Archbishop of Glasgow
Archbishop of Glasgow
The Bishop of Glasgow, from 1492 Archbishop of Glasgow, was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Glasgow and then, as Archbishop of Glasgow, the Archdiocese of Glasgow...
, and Principal of the University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
from 1653 to 1662. He was "noted for his Christian piety, his humility and gentleness, and his devotion to his calling".
Early life
Leighton was born in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
parents in 1611. His father was Doctor Alexander Leighton
Alexander Leighton
Alexander Leighton was a Scottish medical doctor and puritan preacher and pamphleteer best known for his 1630 pamphlet that attacked the Anglican church and which led to his torture by King Charles I.-Early life:...
, who was tortured by King Charles I
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
for his puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
beliefs after authoring a pamphlet Zion's Plea against Prelacy in which he criticised the church, condemning Bishops as "antiChristian and satanic". Robert Leighton's mother was Alexander Leighton's first wife. According to Gilbert Burnet
Gilbert Burnet
Gilbert Burnet was a Scottish theologian and historian, and Bishop of Salisbury. He was fluent in Dutch, French, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. Burnet was respected as a cleric, a preacher, and an academic, as well as a writer and historian...
, Leighton was distinguished for his "saintly disposition" from his earliest childhood, even despite the persecution of his family. In 1627 (before his father published his pamphlet) at the age of sixteen, Robert Leighton went to study at the University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
, graduating with an MA
Master of Arts (Scotland)
A Master of Arts in Scotland can refer to an undergraduate academic degree in humanities and social sciences awarded by the ancient universities of Scotland – the University of St Andrews, the University of Glasgow, the University of Aberdeen and the University of Edinburgh, while the University of...
in 1631.
Following his graduation, his father sent him to travel abroad, and he is understood to have spent several years in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, where he acquired a complete mastery of the French language
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
. While there he passed a good deal of time with relatives at Douai
Douai
-Main sights:Douai's ornate Gothic style belfry was begun in 1380, on the site of an earlier tower. The 80 m high structure includes an impressive carillon, consisting of 62 bells spanning 5 octaves. The originals, some dating from 1391 were removed in 1917 during World War I by the occupying...
who had become Roman Catholics, and with whom he kept up a correspondence for many years afterwards. Either at this time or on some subsequent visit he had also a good deal of intercourse with members of the Jansenist party. This intercourse contributed to the charity towards those who differed from him in religious opinion, which ever afterwards formed a feature in his character.
Church career
Having returned to Scotland, Leighton was ordained as a Minister in the Church of ScotlandChurch of Scotland
The Church of Scotland, known informally by its Scots language name, the Kirk, is a Presbyterian church, decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....
on 16 December 1641. The ordination took place at Newbattle
Newbattle
Newbattle is a village in Midlothian, in the ancient Roman Catholic Diocese of St. Andrews, about seven miles from Edinburgh. There was an abbey there founded about 1140, being the second of the six Cistercian Monasteries established by King David I of Scotland.-Newbattle Abbey:Newbattle Abbey was...
in Midlothian
Midlothian
Midlothian is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and a lieutenancy area. It borders the Scottish Borders, East Lothian and the City of Edinburgh council areas....
and thirty year-old Leighton was installed as Parish Minister of Newbattle on the same date. Following the furore over his father's actions, it took a while before Leighton was accepted as Minister. Parish records show that he had to deliver five trial sermons - two of which had to be delivered on the same day - before being accepted:
- On the 16th of December, decreed as a whilk day for the appointment of Mr Robert Lichtoune, a sermon was delivered by John Knox, based on HebrewsHebrewsHebrews is an ethnonym used in the Hebrew Bible...
13 Verse 17. After his sermon, Mr John Knox put to Robert Lichtoune and the parishioners, sundry questions competent to ye occasion and after the imposition of hands and ye solemne prayer, was admitted minister of Newbattle (Session Records)
Leighton signed the Solemn League and Covenant
Solemn League and Covenant
The Solemn League and Covenant was an agreement between the Scottish Covenanters and the leaders of the English Parliamentarians. It was agreed to in 1643, during the First English Civil War....
in 1643. Leighton served at Newbattle for eleven years, before resigning his charge in 1652. What led him to take this step is not immediately clear, though the account given is that he had little sympathy with the fiery zeal of his brother clergymen on certain political questions, and that this led to severe censures on their part.
University of Edinburgh
Early in 1653, Leighton was appointed principal of the University of EdinburghUniversity of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
, and primarius professor of divinity
Divinity
Divinity and divine are broadly applied but loosely defined terms, used variously within different faiths and belief systems — and even by different individuals within a given faith — to refer to some transcendent or transcendental power or deity, or its attributes or manifestations in...
. The position was originally supposed to be filled by William Colvill
William Colvill
For the American Civil War colonel, see William J. Colvill.William Colvill, sometimes spelt William Colville was a Scottish clergyman and scholar and was the Principal of the University of Edinburgh from 1662 to 1675....
, but Colvill was unable to take possession of it, since he was in Holland and so the position was declared vacant again, and Leighton appointed in Colvill's place. Leighton continued in this post until 1662, when he was succeeded by Colvill, who had since returned to Scotland.
A considerable number of his Latin prelections and other addresses (published after his death) are remarkable for the purity and elegance of their Latinity, and their subdued and meditative eloquence. They are valuable instructions in the art of living a holy life rather than a body of scientific divinity. Throughout, however, they bear the marks of a deeply learned and accomplished mind, saturated with both classical and patristic reading, and like all his works they breathe the spirit of one who lived very much above the world.
Bishop and Archbishop
Despite his strong presbyterian leanings, in 1661, Leighton allowed himself to be appointed BishopBishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
of Dunblane
Dunblane
Dunblane is a small cathedral city and former burgh north of Stirling in the Stirling council area of Scotland. The town is situated off the A9 road, on the way north to Perth. Its main landmark is Dunblane Cathedral and the Allan Water runs through the town centre, with the Cathedral and the High...
by King Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
. His mild mannered nature gave him problems in this role, and he attempted to resign in 1665, making a trip to London for that purpose. However he did not go through with this after King Charles II agreed to milder measures. He repeated his trip to London again in 1669, but little result followed.
In 1670, he agreed (with hesitation) to accept appointment as Archbishop of Glasgow
Archbishop of Glasgow
The Bishop of Glasgow, from 1492 Archbishop of Glasgow, was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Glasgow and then, as Archbishop of Glasgow, the Archdiocese of Glasgow...
. In this higher sphere he redoubled his efforts with the Presbyterians to bring about some degree of conciliation with Episcopacy, but the only result was to embroil himself with the hot-headed Episcopal party as well as with the Presbyterians.
He resigned the archbishopric in 1674.
Later life
After leaving his position as Archbishop in 1674, Leighton retired to the mansion of his widowed sister Sapphira (Mrs Edward Lightmaker), and her son, at Broadhurst in SussexSussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
.
Leighton died suddenly on 25 June 1684 during a trip to London, in an inn in the shadow of a partly finished St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral, London, is a Church of England cathedral and seat of the Bishop of London. Its dedication to Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604. St Paul's sits at the top of Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London, and is the mother...
. His final parting wish was that "At eventide there might be light".
Leighton was buried in Horsted Keynes
Horsted Keynes
Horsted Keynes is a village and civil parish in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England. The village is located about eight kilometres north east of Haywards Heath, in the Weald...
, Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
. In his will, he bequeathed his collection of 1,400 volumes and a hundred pounds for the erection of the Leighton Library
Leighton Library
The Leighton Library, or Bibliotheca Leightoniana, in The Cross, Dunblane, is the oldest purpose built library in Scotland. Its collection of around 4000 volumes and 78 manuscripts from the 16th to 19th century is founded on the personal collection of Robert Leighton , Bishop of Dunblane and...
. He also gave instruction that all his personal papers and manuscripts be destroyed, though this never took place.
Following his death, a commentary of his on 1 Peter, was published in two volumes in 1693 and 1694, and has rarely been out of print ever since.
Family
Leighton never married, and so had no children.Father: Alexander Leighton
Alexander Leighton
Alexander Leighton was a Scottish medical doctor and puritan preacher and pamphleteer best known for his 1630 pamphlet that attacked the Anglican church and which led to his torture by King Charles I.-Early life:...
Mother: Unknown (Alexander's first wife)
- Brother: Elisha Leighton (???-1684) (later Sir Ellis Leighton) who was secretary to John Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley of StrattonJohn Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley of StrattonJohn Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley of Stratton was an English royalist soldier. From 1648 he was closely associated with James, Duke of York, and rose to prominence, fortune and fame.-First English Civil War:...
when he was Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland in 1670 and British Ambassador to France in 1675. - Sister: Sapphira (later Mrs Edward Lightmaker) (1623-1704)
- Other Siblings who did not survive to maturity: James, Caleb, Elizabeth. However it is possible that Elizabeth did survive to maturity, as Leighton mentioned his mother and sisters (as opposed to sister) in some correspondence to his brother-in-law, Mr Edward Lightmaker (year unknown):
- My mother writes to me and presses my coming up. I know not yet if that can be. But I intend, God willing, so soon as I can conveniently ... Remember my love to my sisters. The Lord be with you, and lead you in his ways.
Leighton Library
Leighton's legacy remains today in the Leighton LibraryLeighton Library
The Leighton Library, or Bibliotheca Leightoniana, in The Cross, Dunblane, is the oldest purpose built library in Scotland. Its collection of around 4000 volumes and 78 manuscripts from the 16th to 19th century is founded on the personal collection of Robert Leighton , Bishop of Dunblane and...
(or Bibliotheca Leightoniana), which is the oldest purpose built library
Library
In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. It contains a collection of around 4000 volumes and 78 manuscripts from the 16th to the 19th century, and is founded on the personal collection of Leighton, who had left the books to Dunblane Cathedral. Some of the collection was originally owned by Newbattle
Newbattle
Newbattle is a village in Midlothian, in the ancient Roman Catholic Diocese of St. Andrews, about seven miles from Edinburgh. There was an abbey there founded about 1140, being the second of the six Cistercian Monasteries established by King David I of Scotland.-Newbattle Abbey:Newbattle Abbey was...
and was stored at the Old Manse, but it is now held in its entirety at The Cross, Dunblane
Dunblane
Dunblane is a small cathedral city and former burgh north of Stirling in the Stirling council area of Scotland. The town is situated off the A9 road, on the way north to Perth. Its main landmark is Dunblane Cathedral and the Allan Water runs through the town centre, with the Cathedral and the High...