HAMILTON, ARCHIBALD [SSNE 1345]
- Surname
- HAMILTON, CASSILIENSIS
- First name
- ARCHIBALD
- Title/rank
- ARCHBISHOP
- Nationality
- SCOT (IRISH INTEREST)
- Region
- DUMBARTON, DUNBARTONSHIRE
- Social status
- GENTRY
- Education
- UNIVERSITY
- Religion
- EPISCOPALIAN
Text source
Archibald Hamilton (c.1580- c.1659), Archbishop of Cashel and Emly in Ireland, was the son of Claud Hamilton of Cochno in Dumbartonshire, Scotland, and his wife Margaret Betoun, the daughter of Robert Betoun of Creich. Hamilton had three brothers (including Matthew and Claud) and one sister. Of his siblings only Claud outlived him. Very little and is known of his early life.In 1598 Hamilton matriculated at Glasgow University and obtained his M.A. degree the following year. He spent several years working at the college, initially as a Master in 1602-3, a Regent from 1605 to 1612, and finally a Doctor of Divinity in 1617. He had already become the minister for the parish of Paisley in 1610, and also became a member of the General Assembly that year. He built a manse, which no longer survives, in 1612 for the ministers of the First Charge of the Abbey Church. During this time he married his first wife, of whom little is known other than that her initials, A.L., were apparently carved above the manse entrance. She may have been Alison Hay, former nurse to Elizabeth Stuart, now Queen of Bohemia. An Alison Hay had been married to Alexander Livingston of Terrintirren, Stirlingshire, which would have given her the initials A.L. Hamilton was a member of the Court of High Commission between 1619 and 1622. However by this time, in 1621, he had already approached King James VI in request of a bishopric, which the king subsequently promised him in Ireland. Alexander Seton, first Earl of Dunfermline, then intervened on Hamilton's behalf suggesting that the bishopric of Cashel would be suitable. It was not until two years later that he was appointed Bishop of Killala on 3 March/21 May. Hamilton also held the bishopric of Achonry on King Charles I's commendation and these two diocese were joined. It was not until 1630 that Hamilton became the Archbishop of Cashel and Emly on the death of the previous Archbishop, Malcolm Hamilton. In 1632 he inherited the rights to Bellonie from his brother Matthew. Apparently Hamilton's relationship with Archbishop Laud was so fraught with friction that he was summoned to Dublin to explain matters. Elizabeth Stuart interceded on Hamilton's behalf in 1637, commending his wife as a loyal subject. It is unknown when he married his second wife, Anna, who was the daughter of Balfour of Burleigh. Previously she was believed to be the daughter of Elizabeth MacDowall and James Haig of Bemersyde. MacDowall was Elizabeth's nursemaid. The names of four of Hamilton's children have survived: James, the eldest son, to whom Hamilton bequeathed all his Irish property in 1641; John, who matriculated at the university of Glasgow in 1631 and his brother Malcolm who matriculated in 1633. Thomas, a fourth son, studied at Trinity in 1639-40. During the Irish civil war Hamilton and his family were forced to flee Cashel, being initially sheltered by some friendly Catholic neighbours, before leaving Ireland and losing goods and property worth £9090 in the process. Hamilton obtained a recommendation for Charles I from the Scottish cleric John Durie, but as the king himself was engaged in three civil wars he probably found little comfort at the Stuart court. Hamilton then also petitioned the Prince of Orange, relating that he had received help from a certain Mr George Rataller, implying that Hamilton had already made contacts in the Netherlands. He was employed as a Professor of Theology there in Zeven province in 1644, but moved to Sweden after five years in the Netherlands. Hamilton applied to gain a teaching post at Leiden university, which was rejected on 3 December 1647, although the academic board agreed to give him 600 Fl. for his upkeep. In 1653 he stayed with Louis de Geer and in 1654 he was in Konigsburg for a time as he wrote a letter to Chancellor Oxenstierna then. He is believed to have died either in Uppsala in 1658 (according to Werner and Schroder) or in Stockholm in 1659 aged 80. He is seemingly buried in Uppsala Cathedral, in the choir below the altar to the right, in the same tomb as the 1st Lutheran Archibishop, Laurentius Petri Nericius.
Sources: Swedish Riksarkiv, Pergamentsbreven och Johan Casimirs Arkiv in Stegeborgssamlingen, letter by Archbishop Hamilton, Norrköping, September 1648; Swedish Riksarkiv, Carl Gustaf's Arkiv i Stegeborgssamlingen, undated letter from Hamilton; Swedish Riksarkiv, Axel Oxenstiernas Brefvexling, E619, bundle of 17-20 pages from letters in Latin dated 1653-4; Swedish Riksarkiv, Ericsbergsarkivet, Autografsamlingen, vol. 269, letter to Gabriel de la Gardie; H. Scott, Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae, vol. ii, part 1, (Edinburgh, 1868); H. Scott, Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae, vol. viii, (Edinburgh, 1950); Lt. Colonel George Hamilton, 'A History of the House of Hamilton' (Edinburgh, 1933), p.251; Letters and State Papers during the reign of King James the Sixth (Edinburgh, 1838); S. Murdoch, 'Northern Exposure: Irishmen and Scandinavia in the seventeenth century', in History Ireland, Autumn 1998; A.Grosjean, 'Scots and the Swedish state: diplomacy, military service and ennoblement 1611-1660', unpublished PhD, Aberdeen 1998; Hartlib Papers, 3/1/16A-16B, John Durie to Samuel Hartlib, 3 December 1643; J. A. Worp, De Briefwisseling van Constantijn Huygens, 1640-44 (3 vols, The Hague, 1914), vol.3, p.368; F. Werner and J.H. Schröder, Upsala Domkyrka med dess märkvärdigheter, (Stockholm, 1826), p.20; Old DNB article; P.C. Molhuysen, Bronnen tot de geschiedenis der leidsche universiteit, ('S Gravenhage, 1918), III, p.9; Anna Balfour Hamilton made a deposition recording his losses caused by the Irish Rebellion in 1641. The deposition is on fols 15r-15v (though may run onto 17v, there doesn't seem to be any other deposition until 18r) in Trinity College Dublin, MS 821, County Tipperary. Thanks to Dr Edda Frankot for this reference; Steve Murdoch, Network North: Scottish Kin, Commercial and Covert Associations in Northern Europe, 1603-1746 (Brill, Leiden, 2006), pp.105-107, 308, 311.
This is he: https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/A0069704_00133#?c=&m=&s=&cv=132&xywh=3469%2C761%2C2367%2C1365
Service record
- SCOTLAND, GLASGOW UNIVERSITY
- Arrived 1598-01-01
- Departed 1599-12-31
- Capacity STUDENT, purpose ACADEMIC
- Arrived 1602-01-01
- Departed 1623-12-31
- Capacity ACADEMIC, PROFFESSOR, purpose ACADEMIC
- IRELAND, KILLALA, CASHEL
- Arrived 1623-01-01, as BISHOP
- Departed 1641-12-31, as ARCHBISHOP
- Capacity BISHOP, purpose ECCLESIASTICAL
- THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, ZEVEN PROVINCE
- Arrived 1643-02-01, as PROFESSOR
- Departed 1644-12-31, as PROFESSOR
- Capacity PROFESSOR, purpose ACADEMIC, ECCLESIASTICAL
- STUART KINGDOMS, SWEDEN, SWEDEN
- Arrived 1645-01-01
- Departed 1659-12-31
- Capacity ARCHBISHOP, purpose ECCLESIASTICAL, ACADEMIC
- , KONIGSBERG
- Arrived 1654-01-01
- Capacity MISC, purpose MISC