Sir Thomas Craig was a 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...

 jurist

Jurist

A jurist or jurisconsult is a professional who studies, develops, applies, or otherwise deals with the law. The term is widely used in American English, but in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth countries it has only historical and specialist usage...

 and poet

Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

.

Biography

It is possible that he was the eldest son of William Craig

William Craig

William "Bill" Craig was a Northern Irish politician best known for forming the Unionist Vanguard movement.-Early life:...

 of Craigfintray, or Craigston, in Aberdeenshire

Aberdeenshire

Aberdeenshire is one of the 32 unitary council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area.The present day Aberdeenshire council area does not include the City of Aberdeen, now a separate council area, from which its name derives. Together, the modern council area and the city formed historic...

, but beyond the fact that he was in some way related to the Craigfintray family nothing regarding his birth is known with certainty. Alternatively, it is thought that his parents were Robert Craig, an Edinburgh merchant, and Katherine Bellenden

Katherine Bellenden

Katherine Bellenden was a courtier working in the wardrobe of James V of Scotland. Her niece of the same name was similarly employed....

 who both worked in the wardrobe of James V of Scotland

James V of Scotland

James V was King of Scots from 9 September 1513 until his death, which followed the Scottish defeat at the Battle of Solway Moss...

, and his brother was the physician John Craig

John Craig (physician)

John Craig M.D. was a Scottish physician, known also as an astronomer. He was physician to James VI of Scotland, and accompanied him to England. He also corresponded with Tycho Brahe, and associated with John Napier.-Physician:...

.

He was educated at the Royal High School

Royal High School (Edinburgh)

The Royal High School of Edinburgh is a co-educational state school administered by the City of Edinburgh Council. The school was founded in 1128 and is one of the oldest schools in Scotland, and has, throughout its history, been high achieving, consistently attaining well above average exam results...

, Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

, and at the University of St Andrews

University of St Andrews

The University of St Andrews, informally referred to as "St Andrews", is the oldest university in Scotland and the third oldest in the English-speaking world after Oxford and Cambridge. The university is situated in the town of St Andrews, Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It was founded between...

, where he took the Bachelor of Arts

Bachelor of Arts

A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 degree in 1555. From St. Andrews he went to 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...

, to study the canon and the civil law

Civil law (legal system)

Civil law is a legal system inspired by Roman law and whose primary feature is that laws are codified into collections, as compared to common law systems that gives great precedential weight to common law on the principle that it is unfair to treat similar facts differently on different...

. He returned to the Kingdom of Scotland

Kingdom of Scotland

The Kingdom of Scotland was a Sovereign state in North-West Europe that existed from 843 until 1707. It occupied the northern third of the island of Great Britain and shared a land border to the south with the Kingdom of England...

 about 1561, and was admitted advocate

Advocate

An advocate is a term for a professional lawyer used in several different legal systems. These include Scotland, South Africa, India, Scandinavian jurisdictions, Israel, and the British Crown dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man...

 in February 1563.

In 1564, he was appointed justice-depute by the justice-general, Archibald Campbell, 5th Earl of Argyll

Archibald Campbell, 5th Earl of Argyll

Archibald Campbell, 5th Earl of Argyll was one of the leading figures in the politics of Scotland during the reign of Mary, Queen of Scots, and the early part of that of James VI.-Biography:...

; and in this capacity he presided at many of the criminal trials of the period in Edinburgh, and in 1606 was made procurator for the church. He never became a lord of session, a circumstance that was unquestionably due to his own choice.

He is said to have refused the honour of knighthood which James I of England

James I of England

James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...

 conferred on him in 1604. He had come to London

London

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...

 as one of the Scottish commissioners regarding the personal union

Personal union

A personal union is the combination by which two or more different states have the same monarch while their boundaries, their laws and their interests remain distinct. It should not be confused with a federation which is internationally considered a single state...

 between the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England

Kingdom of England

The Kingdom of England was, from 927 to 1707, a sovereign state to the northwest of continental Europe. At its height, the Kingdom of England spanned the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and several smaller outlying islands; what today comprises the legal jurisdiction of England...

, the only political object he seems to have cared about. But in accordance with James's command he has always been styled and reputed a knight.

Craig was married to Helen, daughter of Heriot of Lumphoy 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....

, by whom he had four sons and three daughters. His eldest son, Sir Lewis Craig

Lewis Craig

Sir Lewis Craig, Lord Wrightslands , was a Scottish judge.Craig was the eldest son of Sir Thomas Craig of Riccarton, by Helen, daughter of Heriot of Traboun. He was educated at Edinburgh University, where he graduated M.A. in 1597...

 (1569–1622), was raised to the bench in 1604, and among his other descendants are several well-known names in the list of Scottish lawyers.

Works

Except his poems, the only one of Craig's works which appeared during his lifetime was his Jus feudale (1603; ed. R. Burnet, 1655; Leipzig, 1716; ed. J. Baillie 1732). The object of this treatise was to assimilate the laws of England and Scotland, but, instead of this, it was an important factor in building up and solidifying the law of Scotland into a separate system.

Other works were

• De unione regnorum Britanniae tractatus,
• De jure successionis regni Angliae, and
• De hominio disputatio. Translańtions of the last two have been published, and in 1910 an edition of the De Unione appeared, with translation and notes by C. S. Terry.

Craig's first poem, an epithalamium

Epithalamium

Epithalamium refers to a form of poem that is written specifically for the bride on the way to her marital chamber...

 in honor of the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots, and Darnley

Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley

Henry Stewart or Stuart, 1st Duke of Albany , styled Lord Darnley before 1565, was king consort of Scotland and murdered at Kirk o'Field...

, appeared in 1565. Most of his poems have been reprinted in the Delitiae poetarum Scotorum.

External links