Gavin Hamilton of Raploch, Commendar of Kilwinning

GAVIN HAMILTON OF RAPLOCH

Clerk of the Diocese of Glasgow; Dean of Glasgow, 1549-50; Commendator of Kilwinning Abbey, 1550-71; Senator of the College of Justice, 1555-71; Coadjutor of the Archdiocese of St. Andrews, 1551-71; Archbishop of St. Andrews, 1571

Death

Gavin Hamilton of Raploch, here treated, is reported to have died on 28 June 1571, Stirnet: Hamilton 02 at Leith near Edinburgh, from wounds received during a skirmish near Restalrig, between the supporters of Mary Queen of Scots and the supporters of Regent Morton. Hamilton Memoirs: 114

Evidence from the National Records of Scotland

                   1

4 September 1551: Dispensation by Pope Julius III in favour of Gavin Hamiltoun, [Hamilton] clerk, of Glasgow diocese, to hold the monastery of Kilwynning [Kilwinning] in commendam, notwithstanding that the pope has constituted him co-adjutor to John, archbishop of St. Andrews, during his tenure of said church, and has provided said Gavin to same on its becoming vacant. Bulla appended. Endorsed: "G. R. H. May 1842. See Glasgow Chartulary. This belongs to The Antiquaries. A. Macdonald." National Records of Scotland, Haddington documents and miscellaneous papers, reference GD1/54/3

                   2

4 September 1551: Papal mandate addressed to the Augustinians of St. Andrews in favour of Gavin Hamiltoun as coadjutor to John, archbishop of St. Andrews, and archbishop elect. National Records of Scotland, Papers of the Ramsay Family, Earls of Dalhousie, reference GD45/27/12

                   3

27 September 1561: Charter by Margaret Hammiltoun elder daughter of deceased Archibald Hammiltoun of Roplocht, with consent of her curators and Margaret Hamiltoun, her mother, to Gavin Hammiltoun, natural son of Gavin, commendator of Kilwynning, of the 40s. lands of Cummer in the barony of Lesmahagow and sheriffdom of Lanark occupied by John Mathow, under reservation of liferent to said Margaret elder. National Records of Scotland, Papers of the Kerr Family, Marquises of Lothian (Lothian Muniments), Somerville Writs, reference GD40/4/140

Genealogy

1. Historical and genealogical memoirs of the House of Hamilton; with genealogical memoirs of the several branches of the family. By John Anderson, Surgeon. (John Anderson, Junior, Edinburgh, MDCCCXXV), 492 pp. plus index, corrections and and additions
2. An Historical Account of the Senators of the College of Justice: From Its Institution in MDXXXII. By George Brunton, David Haig (1832) pp. 101-03
3. Stirnet: Hamilton 02

Biographical Summary by John Anderson

Gawin Hamilton, Commendator of Kilwinning, who had a precept of dare constat, from James, Duke of Chatelherault, for infefting him in the lands of Raploch, of date 3rd March 1559. Having been bred to the church, he was made Dean of the metropolitan church of Glasgow, in 1550, which office he soon after exchanged with Henry Sinclair, Commendator of Kilwinning, for the commendam of that Abbacy. He was a man of much spirit and ability, had great talents for business, and was well versed in all the learning of the times. He was in high favour with Queen Mary, to whose interest he ever continued attached. He was at the battle of Langsyde, in 1568, was one of Mary's commissioners at York, in 1570, and included in the treaty of Perth, 1572. He was the intimate friend, and, along with the Archbishop of St Andrew's, the confidential adviser of the Duke of Chatelherault. He obtained a breviate from the Pope, with consent of his Sovereign, appointing him coadjutor and successor to Archbishop Hamilton in the archiepiscopal see of St Andrew's. On the establishment of the reformed religion in Scotland, he followed the example of many churchmen at that period, and took to wife Margaret, daughter of John Hamilton of Broomhill. Hamilton Memoirs: 364-65

Acknowledgment

Thanks to John Hunter for starting this profile.