Peter Blackburn (d.1616) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

scholar 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 ...

. He was the second Protestant

Bishop of Aberdeen The Bishop of Aberdeen (originally Bishop of Mortlach, in Latin Murthlacum) was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Aberdeen, one of Scotland's 13 medieval bishoprics, whose first recorded bishop is an early 12th-century cleric named Nech ...

Life

Born in the east of Scotland he studied at

St Andrews University The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, following the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, t ...

. He became a "regent" (lecturer) in Philosophy at the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

in 1572 and continued this role until 1582. During this period he was promoted to Professor of Physics and Astronomy.''Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae''; vol. 7; by Hew Scott In 1582 he became minister of West Kirk in Aberdeen and was translated to the East Kirk in 1596. He was

Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland The moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is the minister or elder chosen to moderate (chair) the annual General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, which is held for a week in Edinburgh every year. After chairing the Ass ...

1597/8. In 1600 he was made Chancellor of

King's College, Aberdeen King's College in Old Aberdeen, Scotland, the full title of which is The University and King's College of Aberdeen (''Collegium Regium Aberdonense''), is a formerly independent university founded in 1495 and now an integral part of the Univer ...

. On 2 September 1600, King

James VI of Scotland James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until ...

provided him as

,Watt, ''Fasti Ecclesiae'', p. 4. attaching to the appointment a seat in the

Parliament of Scotland In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

– an innovation which was denounced by

Charles Ferme Charles Ferm, Ferme, Farholme or Fairholm (–1617), was a leading campaigning Presbyterian minister in the Church of Scotland, and the Principal of the short lived Fraserburgh University, Scotland. Early life and education Ferm was born in E ...

. Another part of the controversy was that no new bishop had been appointed since 1585, and Blackburn's provision, along with those of David Lindsay to the bishopric of Ross and George Gledstanes' provision to the bishopric of Caithness, broke this lull. He was not formally consecrated until 1611, in a ceremony at

Brechin Cathedral Brechin Cathedral is a Scottish Church building which dates from the 13th century. It is the former Cathedral of the former Roman Catholic Diocese of Brechin but has not served that function since the Scottish Reformation in the 16th century. I ...

. He died at his house in Guestrow, Aberdeen, after a long illness on 14 June 1616, at

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

. He is buried in the Kirk of St Nicholas in central Aberdeen.

Family

He married Isobel Johnston, daughter of George Johnston of Johnston and Caskieben, and Christian Forbes, daughter of Lord Forbes, and sister of the poet Arthur Johnston. Their children included: *Peter Blackburn of Dyce, their heir *William Blackburn of Endowie *Janet Blackburn, married Rev Alexander Rait of Kintore *Archibald Blackburn, minister of St Nicholas Kirk, Aberdeen from 1601 to 1625Fasti Ecclesiastae Scoticana vol.6 *Margaret Blackburn, married

Andrew Adie Andrew is the English form of the given name, common in many countries. The word is derived from the , ''Andreas'', itself related to ''aner/andros'', "man" (as opposed to "woman"), thus meaning "manly" and, as consequence, "brave", "strong", "c ...

, Principal of

Marischal College Marischal College ( ) is a large granite building on Broad Street in the centre of Aberdeen in north-east Scotland, and since 2011 has been the headquarters of Aberdeen City Council. The building was constructed for and is on long-term lease fr ...

*Christian Blackburn, married Abraham Sibbald of

Old Deer Old Deer (, ) is a parish and village in the district of Buchan, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The population in 2011 was 152. The village lies on the A950, beside the Deer or South Ugie Water, west of Peterhead and from Mintlaw. Industries incl ...

*Elspet *Isobel

Publications

*A Treatise against James Gordon the Jesuit

Notes

References

* Gordon, Alexander, "Ferme airholm Charles (1565/6–1617)", rev. Alan R. MacDonald, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200
, accessed 22 Feb 2007
* Keith, Robert, ''An Historical Catalogue of the Scottish Bishops: Down to the Year 1688'', (London, 1924) * MacDonald, Alan R., "Gledstanes , George (c.1562–1615)", in the ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 200
, accessed 22 Feb 2007
Blackburn, David Blackburn, David Blackburn, David Blackburn, David Blackburn, David Blackburn, David Members of the pre-1707 Parliament of Scotland 16th-century Scottish people 17th-century bishops of the Church of Scotland 17th-century Scottish bishops Members of the Parliament of Scotland 1612 Moderators of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland Scottish bishops 1560–1638 {{Scotland-reli-bio-stub