Andrew Ramsay (1574–1659)

Born at Fettercairn, youngest son of David Ramsay of Balmain and Katherine Carnegie. He studied for his MA at Marischal College, Aberdeen. Travelled to France where he studied reformed theology at the University of Saumur (or Amyraldism, an important strand of Calvinistic Protestant thought of the seventeenth century) eventually becoming a professor there. Ramsay returned to Scotland in 1606, was appointed minister to the village of Arbuthnott, north of Aberdeen. He married Maire Fraser to whom he had four sons, one of whom, Sir Andrew Ramsay (c1620-1688), became Lord Provost of Edinburgh (1662). In supporting King James, he was awarded the parish of Greyfriars, Edinburgh in 1614. To gain favour of William Laud, the Archbishop of Canterbury, he composed 'Poemata sacra . . . et epigrammata sacra' (a collection of Latin sacred verse written in the style of Ovid) (Edinburgh, 1633) to coincide with the coronation of Charles I. These were reprinted at Amsterdam in 1637 in the 'Delicias Poetarum Scotorumâ', and according to William Lauder, they formed one of the sources from which Milton plagiarised his 'Paradise Lost' and 'Regained.' He became the first Professor of Divinity at the University of Edinburgh in 1620.

Ramsay disapproved of the innovations being introduced into the church and composed 'A warning to come out of Babylon' (Edinburgh, 1638) giving his support to the covenant and the Church of Scotland. In 1640 he became moderator of the General Assembly, but was removed from the Assembly in 1649 after the Church came into conflict with the State. He retired to Abbotshall. In 1655, in attempting to regain his ministry, Ramsay applied to the synod of Lothian. After much discussion and consideration and 'with regards to his age and great esteem for piety and learning', his request was granted.

He died on 30 December 1659, at Abbotshall in Fife, the property of his son, and was buried there. He founded four divinity bursaries in the University of Edinburgh.

Positions

• Rector of the University, 1620-1626 (resigned); 1646-1648
• Professor of Divinity, University of Edinburgh, 1620-1626 (resigned)
• Subdean of the Chapel Royal, 1629
• Moderator of the General Assembly of Scotland, 1640

Publications

• Oratio (1600)
• Paraenesis et orationes de laudibus academae Salmuriensis (Saumur, n.d.)
• Poemata Sacra (Edinburgh, 1633)
• Miscellanea et Epigrammata Sacra (Edinburgh, 1633)
• A Warning to Come out of Babylon (Edinburgh, 1638)

Sources

• Vaughan T. Wells, 'Ramsay, Andrew (1574-1659)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004) [[1], accessed 25 June 2010]