Stewart, Alexander, 1493-1513, Archbishop of St Andrews

Alexander Stewart, Archbishop of St. Andrews, was the natural son of King James IV by Margaret, daughter of Archibald Boyd of Bonshaw. In 1505, he was appointed Archbishop of St. Andrews. He is usually stated to have obtained the primacy at the age of eighteen but in a letter of James IV to Pope Julius II regarding the appointment he is referred to as being below the age of puberty. According to Erasmus, he was twenty years of age when he was killed at Flodden, which means he was probably born about 1493.

In his earlier years his education was entrusted to Dr. Patrick Panter. He was then sent to the continent, probably in 1506, under the guardianship of Sir Thomas Halkerston, and, visited the Low Countries and France. He settled at Padua, in 1508, where he studied rhetoric and logic under Erasmus.

In July 1509, James IV wrote a letter of thanks to the pope for reserving to his son, the archbishop of St. Andrews, his primacy and legateship, and confirming the liberties of the chapel royal. Also that year he wrote to the pope, proposing that the priory of Coldingham, hitherto attached to Durham, and then vacant, should be annexed and made canonically subject to the abbey of Dunfermline, then held by the archbishop of St. Andrews. His ambition was further gratified by his appointment, some time before 2 April 1510, to the office of Lord Chancellor of Scotland. It is in fact very evident that the youthful archbishop was as resolutely bent on worldly preferment as any churchman of his time, and probably had he lived the reformers would have found him to be a resolute opponent.

At the same time he was an enlightened patron of learning. In 1512, he augmented the stipends of the professors of St Mary's College, St Andrews, and gave them the benefits of the church of St. Michael of Tarvat, near Cupar. He also rebuilt the chapel of St. John the Evangelist, in the same College, after it had collapsed. In the same year, along with Prior John Hepburn, he was founder of the College of St. Leonard's, endowing it with the tithes of that parish, and of the hospice for pilgrims who came to visit the see at St. Andrews.

The Archbishop joined his father on the fatal expedition into England, which would end in disaster. He was killed at the battle of Flodden, on 9 September 1513.

Stewart was greatly influenced by his teacher, Erasmus, who in his "Adagia" praises his character and scholarship.

None

1505-1513: Archbishop of St Andrews

1510-1513: Lord Chancellor of Scotland

List of sources for the biographical information:

Harrison, B. (editor), Dictionary of National Biography, (http://www.lib.gla.ac.uk/Resource/Databases/d.shtmlOxford University Press, 1995)

Authority record created according to the National Council on ArchivesRules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names (NCA Rules)1997 and International Council on Archives: Ad Hoc Committee on Descriptive StandardsInternational Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families (ISAAR)CPF1995.

Personal name authority record compiled for the GASHE project by John O'Brien, Glasgow University Archive Services, 9 August 2002