Thomas Smeton, Smeaton or Smieton (1536–1583) was a Scottish minister and

Principal of Glasgow University The Principal of the University of Glasgow is the working head of the University, acting as its chief executive. He is responsible for the day-to-day management of the university as well as its strategic planning and administration. The Principa ...

Life

He was born at

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, near

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, was educated at the school at Perth, and in 1553 incorporated a student in St. Salvator's College, St. Andrews. A promising scholar, he was made a regent of the college, and remained there until the reformers gained the ascendency. He was then ejected, and went to Paris. There he associated with many of the reformers, and enjoyed the friendship of

Andrew Melville Andrew Melville (1 August 1545 – 1622) was a Scottish scholar, theologian, poet and religious reformer. His fame encouraged scholars from the European continent to study at Glasgow and St. Andrews. He was born at Baldovie, on 1 August 154 ...

. Still a Catholic, he entered the

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as a probationer, and proceeded to their college at

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, visiting

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on his way. After continuing in Rome about a year and a half, he found himself suspect in Rome as a favourer of Protestant doctrine. He left for Paris, and shortly after proceeded to Clermont, in both places lecturing on the

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. In Paris in 1571, Thomas Maitland, a younger brother of William Maitland of Lethington, persuaded Smeton to accompany him to Italy. Maitland died there, and Smeton went on to Geneva, where he conversed with the reformers, and finally decided to leave the Roman Catholic church. He was in Paris during the massacre of St. Bartholomew, taking refuge with

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, the English ambassador. On arriving in England he publicly renounced Catholicism, and settled in

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as a schoolmaster. In 1577 he returned to Scotland, and was appointed minister of

Paisley Abbey Paisley Abbey is a parish church of the Church of Scotland on the east bank of the River Cart, White Cart Water in the centre of the town of Paisley, Renfrewshire, about west of Glasgow, in Scotland. Its origins date from the 12th century, base ...

and dean of faculty to Glasgow University. He soon took a prominent part in church matters. In October 1578 he was nominated one of the assessors to the moderator in the general assembly, and in the following year was himself chosen moderator. On 3 January 1580

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appointed him principal of Glasgow University, in succession to Andrew Melville. In April 1583 he was again chosen moderator of the general assembly. At this time Andrew Melville was anxious that Smeton should succeed him at the

University of St. Andrews 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 ...

, but the king, instigated by the prior of St. Andrews, who was opposed to the appointment, forbade his nomination, on the grounds of the loss it would inflict on the university of Glasgow. On his return to Glasgow Smeton was seized with a high fever, and died on 13 December 1583. He married before 1575, and had a son Thomas.

Works

Smeton was author of ''Ad Virulentum Archibaldi Hamiltonii Apostatae Dialogum, de Confusione Calvinianae Sectae apud Scotos, impie conscriptum. Orthodoxa Responsio, Edinburgh, 1579''; a reply to Archibald Hamilton. With this work was a life of

John Knox John Knox ( – 24 November 1572) was a Scottish minister, Reformed theologian, and writer who was a leader of the country's Reformation. He was the founder of the Church of Scotland. Born in Giffordgate, a street in Haddington, East Lot ...

, ''Eximii viri Joannis Knoxii, Scoticanae Ecclesiae Instauratori, vera Extreme Vitae Obitus Historia.''

Thomas Dempster Thomas Dempster (23 August 1579 – 6 September 1625) was a Scottish scholar and historian. Born into the aristocracy in Aberdeenshire, which comprises regions of both the Scottish highlands and the Scottish lowlands, he was sent abroad as a yo ...

also attributes to Smeton ''Epitaphium Metellani''.

References

* *

External links

Electric Scotland page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smeton, Thomas 1536 births 1583 deaths 16th-century ministers of the Church of Scotland 16th-century Scottish Presbyterian ministers Alumni of the University of St Andrews Principals of the University of Glasgow Moderators of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland