January 1687-1689 A.D. Alexander Rose—(Non-juror)
Scots Episcopal Bishop of Edinburgh;
Episcopacy Abolished
Alexander Rose
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Alexander Rose
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See
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In office
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1687–1689
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Predecessor
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Successor
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Episcopacy abolished
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Orders
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Consecration
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1687
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Personal details
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Born
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1645 x 1146
Scotland |
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Died
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Previous post
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Alexander
Rose (1647-1720) was a Scottish
scholar, minister and bishop. He was a Church of Scotland minister before becoming Professor of Divinity at the
University of Glasgow and Principal of St Mary's College, St Andrews. He rose to become Bishop of Moray and then Bishop of Edinburgh. He was responsible for failing to convince King William III of England that the Scottish bishops could be trusted, leading
to the abolition of Episcopacy in Scotland. Rose continued as a nonjuring bishop, eventually becoming leader of the informal and embryonic Scottish Episcopal Church.
Contents
Early life and career
Alexander was born in either
1645 or 1646, a year that can be calculated because we know that he was 74
years old at his death in March 1720. The Rose [Ross] family originally came
from Kilravock near Inverness. His father had been Prior of Monymusk. He entered the University of Aberdeen for a Master of Arts, but moved to the University of Glasgow to study divinity under Dr. Gilbert Burnet, later Bishop of Salisbury.
Rose received his licence as a
minister from the Presbytery of Glasgow on 20 April 1670. He became a minister
at Perth in August 1672, but only after the town had unsuccessfully tried to
secure the appointment of Alexander's uncle, Arthur Rose. He was ordained in the following October after the necessary trials. In
1682 Alexander became Professor of Divinity at Glasgow, almost certainly with the help of his
uncle, now Archbishop of Glasgow. On 22 October 1686 he got a royal presentation to
be principal of St Mary's College, St Andrews.
Bishop of Moray and Edinburgh
Rose's career rise continued.
In December of this year (1686), he was recommended by the king to be selected
as the new Bishop of Moray. The royal mandate for his consecration was issued on 8 March 1687. However, before even taking possession of the diocese of Moray, he was translated to the diocese of Edinburgh, after his name had been put forward by Colin
Lindsay, 3rd Earl of Balcarres. He was elected on 21 December, and despite the protests of some
dissenting ministers, was appointed to the position on 31 December.
In December 1688, Bishop Rose
and Bishop Andrew Bruce were chosen by the Scottish bishops to travel to London, but Bishop Bruce fell ill
and Rose was compelled to continue alone. The situation he found himself in was
having to decide on behalf of all the Scottish bishops whether to support William of Orange or James II of England. William was prepared to retain Episcopacy in Scotland if the bishops would acknowledge him. Probably on 30 January
1689, Bishop Rose met with King William.
Bishop Rose was sympathetic to
King James, and though William's cause had already clearly triumphed, he was
not sure about committing the other Scottish bishops. When asked for his
support, Bishop Rose gave a highly ambiguous reply:
Sir, I will serve you as far
as law, reason, or conscience shall allow me.[1]
Rose returned to Scotland
without having committed either the bishops to King William, nor King William
to the bishops. Later in the year, Rose was almost certainly one of the seven
Scottish bishops who voted against renouncing their oaths to King James and
offering the Scottish crown to William. This was probably enough to convince
King William that the Scottish bishops were too sympathetic to Jacobitism, and there
were more than enough hard-line Presbyterians in Scotland who hated the
existence of bishops. It was thus that, on 20 July 1689, Episcopacy in Scotland was declared abolished and all bishops were deprived of their
sees within the Church of Scotland.
The nonjuring bishop and metropolitan
Rose continued to act as a nonjuring bishop, privately acknowledging the primacy of his uncle,
now Archbishop of St Andrews. Though deprived of any formal authority, Rose
gained informal influence over the embryonic Scottish Episcopal Church. After the death of Arthur Rose in 1704 and then John Paterson in 1708, Archbishop of Glasgow, Alexander Rose was
regarded as the senior nonjuring bishop in Scotland. In 1705, along with Bishop
Douglas of Dunblane, he performed the consecration ofJohn Fullarton and John Sage. He consecrated five more bishops between 1709 and
1718.
Routinely suspected of
Jacobitism, under severe pressure, and suffering declining number of
sympathising ministers, Rose quietly led as the metropolitan of Scottish Episcopalians. He also tried to obtain
the help of Church of England and Queen Anne. He was involved in the Jacobite rising of 1715, as a trustee of the "Old
Pretender", James Francis Edward Stuart.
Death and family
He died on 20 March 1720 of apoplexy, and was buried in the
grounds of Restalrig church. He married once, to a woman named Euphan, the daughter of the provost of Perth, Patrick Threipland of Fingask. His son John Rose fought in the Jacobite Rebellion of 1715, and was
captured at the battle of Sheriffmuir, though he obtained clemency partly due to his
father's influence.
Notes
References
- Clarke, Tristram, "Rose , Alexander (1645/6–1720)", in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 6 May 2007
- Keith, Robert, An Historical Catalogue of the Scottish Bishops: Down to the Year 1688, (London, 1924)
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Religious titles
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Preceded by
Colin Falconer |
Bishop of Moray
1687 |
Succeeded by
William Hay |
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Preceded by
John Paterson |
Bishop of Edinburgh
1687–1720 since 1689 nonjuring bishop |
Succeeded by
John Fullarton |
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