Balnaves, HENRY,

Balnaves, HENRY, of Halhill, Scottish Reformer, was born at Kirkealdy in Fife of poor parents, but was educated at St Andrews University and at Cologne. He acted for some time as a procurator at St Andrews; in 1538 James V. made him a Lord of Session; and in 1543 the regent Arran appointed him secretary of state. Shortly after, however, he suffered a six-months' imprisonment in Blackness Castle on account of his Protestantism; and in 1546, like Knox, he joined Beaton's murderers in the castle of St Andrews. When the castle was captured by the French (1547), Balnaves, with Knox and others, was sent to Rouen as a prisoner of war. While in prison here, he wrote a treatise on Justification, which, with notes and a preface by Knox, was published in 1584 as The Confession of Faith. In 1556 Balnaves' forfeiture was rescinded, and he returned to Scotland, and took an active part on the side of the Lords of the Congregation. In 1563 he was nominated a commissioner to revise The Book of Discipline. He died in 1579.