Murdoch MacKenzie () (1600–1688) was a 17th-century
Scottish minister and
prelate
A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Minister (Christianity), Christian clergy who is an Ordinary (church officer), ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which me ...
who served as Protestant
Bishop of Orkney.
Life
He was born in 1600, the son of John MacKenzie of the
Gairloch, his family being an offshoot of the kin of the
earls of Seaforth. After being ordained by
John Maxwell,
Bishop of Ross, he served as a
chaplain in a regiment of King
during the
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...
. He returned from
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
to become
parson (i.e.
rector) of the
parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...
of
Contin in
Ross, moving to take charge of the church of
Inverness, and then taking over as minister of Elgin. Following
the Restoration and re-establishment of
Episcopacy, MacKenzie was selected to be the new
Bishop of Moray on 18 January 1662. He was
translated to the
bishopric of Orkney on 14 February 1677. He was nearly a hundred years old, and yet enjoyed the perfect use of all his faculties to the very last. See Keith's Historical Catalogue of the Scottish Bishops, p. 228.
M'Kenzie is said to have sworn the Covenant ten times, and, according to others, not less than fourteen times.
He died on 17 February 1688.
Family
He married Margaret MacLey the daughter of Dòmhnall Mac an Lèigh (
Anglicised
Anglicisation or anglicization is a form of cultural assimilation whereby something non-English becomes assimilated into or influenced by the culture of England. It can be sociocultural, in which a non-English place adopts the English language ...
: ''Donald McLey''),
bailie of the burgh of
Fortrose. Murdoch and Margaret had several children.
References
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mackenzie, Murdoch
1600s births
1688 deaths
Bishops of Moray
Bishops of Orkney
People from Ross and Cromarty
Scottish military chaplains
Thirty Years' War chaplains
Scottish Restoration bishops
Members of the Parliament of Scotland 1661–1663
Members of the Convention of the Estates of Scotland 1665
Members of the Parliament of Scotland 1669–1674