MACHABAEUS, CHRISTIAN [SSNE 1547]
- Surname
- MACHABAEUS, MACCABAEUS, MACALPINE
- First name
- CHRISTIAN, KRISTIAN
- Title/rank
- PROFESSOR, ABBOT
- Nationality
- SCOT
- Social status
- NOBILITY
- Education
- UNIVERSITY
- Religion
- LUTHERAN
Text source
Christian Machabaeus Macalpine was born in 1541, the son of a Scots blackfriar and divine, John Macalpine and Agnes Matheson, who settled in Denmark (Copenhagen, 1554). He studied at Wittenberg 1555-8. Following the death of his father in December 1557, Christian pursued his studies back home in Copenhagen (B.A. 1559) and at Cambridge 1561-3 (M.A. 1563). He had also once been the dean of Ely Cathedral.
Macalpine rose to become the Professor of pedagogics in the University of Copenhagen between 1565-7. Later, he became Canon of the Cathedral of Lund in February 1567. Macalpine thereafter became a master in the monastery of Soro by 4/10/1570 and was appointed 'abbot' and supervisor of the monastery of Ringsted by October 1583. This appointment was added to when he became the director of the newly founded school of Soro between 1586-97. Christian was twice member of embassies to Russia, with some sources giving his status as ambassador rather than an envoy.
In June 1573 Christian was in Lystrup, near Aarhus, where he met his friend Morten Knudsen and signed his autograph album. A few years later, again in June, in 1577 Christian appended a quote in an album belonging to Otto Heinrich, the Pfalzgraf of Sulzbach. In May 1579 Christian left his mark in Vilhelm Dresselberg's autograph collection. Finally in 1592 he signed Christian Paulsen Noviomagus' autograph album.
Macalpine married in 1573 to Kirstine Clausdatter Gagge who outlived he husband. He died in 1598 while she was still alive in February 1607. They had at least two children Claus and Johannes. Machabaeus' aristocratic birth was recognised in 1580 and he himself became a Danish noble. His son Claus was also ennobled to Maccabaeus of Ettrup. Between 1584-1587, Christian Macalpine served as lensman of Ringsted. He was one of only a handful of Britons [all Scots] ever to be ennobled by that country. Christian owned the manor Bisbo near Assens by 1596. He was, beyond his other accomplishments, the author of several epitaphs.
Sources:
K. Erslev, Danmark-Norges Len og Lensmænd (2 vols., Copenhagen, 1885), I, p.149; A. Thiset and P.L. Wittrup 'Nyt Dansk Adelslexicon', p.185; DBL; T. L. Christensen, ‘Scots in Denmark in the Sixteenth Century’, Scottish Historical Review, 49 (1970), pp. 137-8; T. Riis, Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot (Odense, 1988), I, pp. 114-20 and II, pp. 68-69; Steve Murdoch, Network North: Scottish Kin, Commercial and Covert Associations in Northern Europe, 1603-1746 (Brill, Leiden, 2006), pp. 114-115; E. R. Holloway, Andrew Melville and Humanism in Renaissance Scotland, 1545-1622 (Leiden, 2011), pp. 41-2; J. Durkan, ‘Heresy in Scotland: The Second Phase, 1546-58’, Records of the Scottish Church History Society,24 (1992), pp. 326, 333-4; V. Helk, Dansk-Norske Studierejser fra Reformationen til Enevælden, 1536-1660 (Odense, 1987), p. 306.
This entry was kindly updated by Dr Thomas Brochard.
Service record
- SCOTLAND, WITTENBURG
- Arrived 1555-01-01
- Departed 1558-12-31
- Capacity STUDENT, purpose ACADEMIC
- SCOTLAND, COPENHAGEN
- Arrived 1559-01-01
- Departed 1559-12-31
- Capacity STUDENT, purpose ACADEMIC
- SCOTLAND, CAMBRIDGE
- Arrived 1561-01-01
- Departed 1563-12-31
- Capacity STUDENT, purpose ACADEMIC
- DENMARK-NORWAY, ELY CATHEDRAL
- Arrived 1563-01-01
- Departed 1564-12-31
- Capacity DEAN, purpose ECCLESIASTICAL
- SCOTLAND, COPENHAGEN
- Arrived 1565-01-01
- Departed 1567-01-31
- Capacity ACADEMIC, PROFESSOR, LECTURER, purpose ACADEMIC
- DENMARK-NORWAY, LUND
- Arrived 1567-02-02
- Departed 1569-01-31
- Capacity CANON, purpose ECCLESIASTICAL
- DENMARK-NORWAY, RUSSIA
- Arrived 1568-01-01
- Departed 1568-12-31
- Capacity AMBASSADOR, purpose DIPLOMACY
- DENMARK-NORWAY, SORO
- Arrived 1570-10-04
- Departed 1583-10-06
- Capacity ABBOT, purpose ECCLESIASTICAL
- DENMARK-NORWAY, RUSSIA
- Arrived 1571-01-01
- Departed 1571-12-31
- Capacity AMBASSADOR, purpose DIPLOMACY
- DENMARK-NORWAY, RINGSTED
- Arrived 1583-10-06
- Departed 1587-12-31
- Capacity ABBOT, LENSMAND, GOVERNOR, purpose ECCLESIASTICAL, CIVIC
- SCOTLAND, SORO
- Arrived 1586-01-01
- Departed 1597-12-31
- Capacity DIRECTOR, purpose ACADEMIC