Gilbert Burnet

Portrait of Gilbert Burnet after John Riley, circa 1689-1691
Denomination	Church of England
Senior posting
Title	Bishop of Salisbury
Predecessor	Seth Ward
Successor	William Talbot
Personal
Date of birth	18 September 1643
Place of birth	Edinburgh, Scotland
Date of death	17 March 1715
Place of death	St John's Court, Clerkenwell, London

Gilbert Burnet (18 September 1643 – 17 March 1715) was a Scottish theologian and historian, and Bishop of Salisbury. He was fluent in Dutch, French, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. Burnet was respected as a cleric, a preacher, and an academic, as well as a writer and historian.

[edit] Life

He was born at Edinburgh, Scotland in 1643, the son of Robert Burnet, Lord Crimond, a Royalist and Episcopalian lawyer, who became a judge, and of Rachel Johnston, the sister of Johnston of Warristoun, a leader of the Covenanters. His father was his first tutor until he began his studies at the University of Aberdeen, where he earned a Master of Arts in Philosophy at the age of thirteen. He studied law briefly before changing to theology, and earned his Doctor of Divinity by the age of eighteen. He did not enter into the ministry at that time, but traveled for several years. He visited Oxford, Cambridge, London, the United Provinces and France. He studied Hebrew under a Rabbi in Amsterdam. By 1665 he returned to Scotland and was ordained by the Bishop of Edinburgh.

He began his ministry in the rural church at East Saltoun, East Lothian, and served this community devoutly for four years. In 1669, without his asking or even consent, he was named to the vacant chair of Divinity at the University of Glasgow. At first he declined, since his congregation unanimously asked him to remain. But, when Bishop of Edinburgh Leighton urged him, he accepted the post.

With the unsettled political times, he left the University in 1674 and moved to London. In London, his political and religious sentiments prompted him to support the Whigs. His energetic and bustling character led him to take an active part in the controversies of the time, and he endeavoured to bring about a reconciliation between Episcopacy and Presbytery. Going to London he was in some favour with Charles II, from whom he received various preferments.

Engraved Titlepage of the first volume of The History of the Reformation of the Church of England

His literary reputation was greatly enhanced by the publication in 1679 of the first volume of his History of the Reformation of the Church of England, for which he received the thanks of the Parliament of England, and which was completed by other two volumes, in 1682 and 1714. For over a century this was the standard reference work in the field, although Catholics disputed some of its content.

On account of a letter of reproof which he ventured to write to the King, he lost favour at Court, and the policy pursued by James II being very repugnant to him, he betook himself in 1687 to the United Provinces, where he became one of the advisers of the Prince of Orange. Returning to the Kingdom of England at the Glorious Revolution, he was made Bishop of Salisbury, which office he adorned by liberal views and a zealous discharge of duty.

The work by which his fame is chiefly sustained, his History of my Own Times, was, by his direction, not to be published until 6 years after his death. It appeared in 1723. It gives a sketch of the history of the English Civil War and the Commonwealth of England, and a detailed account of the immediately succeeding period down to 1713. While not free from egotism and some party feeling, it is written with a sincere desire for accuracy and fairness, and it has largely the authority of an eye-witness. The style, if somewhat lacking in dignity, is lively and picturesque. The strength of this work was such that it has had modern (although abridged) reprints as The History of His Own Times. Among his other writings are a History of the Dukes of Hamilton, and an Exposition of the 39 Articles.

[edit] Family

He married several times, once to Lady Margaret Kennedy, daughter of John Kennedy, 6th Earl of Cassilis.^[1] His sons included William Burnet and Gilbert Burnet.^[2]

[edit] External links

• Relation of the Bloody and Barbarous Massacre of about One Hundred Thousand Protestants, Begun at Paris and Carried on All Over France by the Papists in the Year 1572 by Gilbert Burnet (1678)
• Dr. Burnet's Travels: or Letters Containing an Account of What Seemed Most Remarkable in Switzerland, Italy, Germany, and France, &c. by Gilbert Burnet (1687)
• A Discourse of the Pastoral Care by Gilbert Burnet (1713)
• Historical and Critical Remarks Upon Bishop Burnet's History of His Own Time by B. Higgons (1727)
• Some Account of the Life and Death of John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester by Gilbert Burnet (Munroe and Francis, 1812)
• The Life of Sir Matthew Hale, Knt., Sometime Lord Chief Justice of His Majesty's Court of King's-Bench by Gilbert Burnet (C. & J. Rivington, 1823)
• The History of the Reformation of the Church of England by Gilbert Burnet (Oxford University Press, 1829): Volume I,Volume I, Part II, Volume II, Volume II, Part II, Volume III Volume III, Part II
• Bishop Burnet's History of His Own Time, ed. M. J. Routh (1823):Volume I, Volume II, Volume III, Volume IV, Volume V, Volume VI
• Lives, Characters, and an Address to Posterity by Gilbert Burnet, ed. John Jebb (1833)
• An Exposition of the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England by Gilbert Burnet (G. S. Appleton, 1850)
• The Court Sermon: 1674 by Gilbert Burnet (R. Clarke, 1868)
• A Supplement to Burnet's History of My Own Time (Clarendon Press, 1902)
• A Life of Gilbert Burnet, Bishop of Salisbury by T. E. S. Clarke (1907)
• Gilbert Burnet as Educationist, Being His Thoughts on Education, With Notes and Life of the Author by John Clarke (1914)

[edit] References

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Burnet, Gilbert.

• This article incorporates public domain text from : Cousin, John William (1910). A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London, J. M. Dent & Sons; New York, E. P. Dutton.

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Burnet, Gilbert Bishop Burnet's History of His Own Time, ed. M. J. Routh (1823):Volume I,
2. ^ Gilbert Burnet

[edit] See also

• Andrew Fletcher

[edit] External links

• Archival material relating to Gilbert Burnet listed at the UK National Register of Archives