Alexander Henderson (c1583–1646)
Henderson, Alexander (c.1583–1646) served as Rector of Edinburgh University from 1640 until his death.
Biography
Henderson was one of the prominent figures of the Covenanting movement and amongst the Church of Scotland's most important theologians. He was born in Criech, Fife, and graduated MA from St Salvator’s College, Aberdeen in 1603. He was quickly appointed a regent at Aberdeen University, teaching logic and rhetoric. He was licensed to preach in 1611 and became Minister of Leuchars in 1612. Henderson had hitherto held Episcopal views of church government, but was converted to a Presbyterian stance in 1615.
In 1618, at the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, Henderson led the opposition to the ‘Five Articles of Perth’, by which King James VI and I aimed to impose an Episcopal model on the Kirk. Little is known of his activities over the next twenty years, but in 1637, he headed a campaign to reject the new Anglican-leaning Scottish Prayer Book, culminating in the Edinburgh Prayer Book Riot of 23 July. On 12 February 1638, Henderson and Archibald Johnston, Lord Wariston were tasked with drawing up a new National Covenant in defence of the Reformed religion. The Covenant was signed by a large gathering in the kirkyard of Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh, on 28 February 1638, and copies were sent around the country for signing. Subscribers swore to maintain religion in the form established in the National Covenant of 1581 and reject all innovations introduced since then, but also to remain loyal to the King.
In March 1638, Henderson and Wariston drafted the paper, 'The Least that Can Be Asked to Settle the Church and Kingdom in a Solid and Durable Peace', which demanded a free General Assembly and the withdrawal of both the Prayer Book and the Articles of Perth. Henderson subsequently led the Covenanters’ negotiations with the King’s Commissioner, the Marquess of Hamilton, defending their refusal to hand over the subscribed covenants. The first General Assembly since 1618 opened at Glasgow on 21 November with Henderson as Moderator. The General Assembly declared null the general assemblies of 1606 to 1616, abjured the five articles of Perth, abolished episcopacy, and deposed the bishops.
In January 1639 Henderson left Leuchars to become minister of St Giles in Edinburgh. As the King prepared for war, Henderson drafted the paper ‘The Remonstrance of the Nobility, Barons, Burgesses, Ministers and Commons, within the Kingdom of Scotland’, which generated much support for the Covenanters. Another widely-circulated manuscript tract by Henderson, ‘Instructions for Defensive arms’ argued that the people could legitimately take up arms against a ruler who broke the terms of his covenant with them. In June 1639, Henderson was among the Scottish commissioners who negotiated the ‘Pacification of Berwick’ with Charles I, bringing to an end the First Bishops’ War, and referring all disputed questions to the General Assembly and the Scottish Parliament.
In 1640 he published two tracts defending the Scottish invasion of Northern England in the Second Bishops' War. Again, he participated in the peace negotiations leading to the signing of the Treaty of Ripon, which ceded Northumberland and County Durham to Scotland.
After the covenanter army had occupied Newcastle, Henderson participated in the peace negotiations of October which culminated in the signing of the treaty of Ripon. Between November 1840 and July 1641, Henderson was in London where he preached to English Puritans and wrote the final draft of the Scottish demand for war reparations. He also wrote papers arguing for uniformity of religion and church government in England and Scotland, urging both to adopt Presbyterianism. He continued to campaign for British uniformity on his return to Scotland in 1641. On 14 August, Charles I arrived in Edinburgh and Henderson was appointed Chaplain to the King (with whom he appears to have enjoyed good personal relations) and Dean of the Chapel Royal at Holyrood. In August 1642 Henderson was a part of a Commission that visited his alma mater in St Andrews, which led him to donate £1000 towards the building a university library. In June 1643, Henderson went to Stirling in an unsuccessful attempt to dissuade the Earl of Montrose from breaking with the Covenanter movement. In August 1643 he was again elected Moderater of the General Assembly and negotiated with commissioners from the English Parliament and Westminister Assembly in an effort to create a Covenanter-Parliamentarian alliance. In September 1643, he arrived London as one of the Scottish commissioners to the Westminster Assembly of Divines, which had been appointed to restructure the Church of England. For the next three years, Henderson argued strenuously for the adoption of the Scottish model of church governance and worked on drawing up a Catechism and Confession. In January 1645, Henderson was appointed to assist the commissioners of the English and Scottish parliaments in their ultimately unsuccessful negotiations with the King and Episcopalian divines at Uxbridge. When the First English Civil War ended with Charles surrendering to a Scottish army in May 1646, Henderson was sent to Newcastle to persuade him to accept the Solemn League and Covenant. Contemporary observers felt that these fruitless negotiations fatally undermined Henderson’s fragile health. He died in Edinburgh on 19 August 1646, and is buried in Greyfriars Churchyard.
Henderson as Rector
In January 1640 Henderson was elected rector of Edinburgh University, a position to which he was re-elected annually until his death. He was very successful at finding funds for the university: he raised a loan of £21,777 Scots, increased the number of benefactions, and persuaded the 1641 parliament to assign the rents of the bishoprics of Edinburgh and Orkney to the college. The building of a college library began in 1644, and Henderson purchased books for it during his visits to London. He also encouraged the appointment of a professor of Hebrew.