Craig, JOHN

Craig, JOHN, Scottish Reformer, was born in 1512, next year lost his father at Flodden, and was educated at St Andrews. He joined the Dominicans there, but fell under suspicion of heresy, and after a brief imprisonment (1536) went to Rome. Through Cardinal Pole he gained admission to the Dominican convent of Bologna, where he became the master of novices; next a copy of Calvin's Institutes fell in his way, and converted him to Protestantism. On 18th August 1559 he was lying in the dungeon of the Inquisition, condemned to suffer next morning at the stake, when Pope Paul IV. died, and the mob broke open the prisons, and set the prisoners at liberty. A bandit befriended him; a dog brought him a purse of gold as he was wandering helpless through a forest; he escaped to Vienna, and there preached in his friar's habit, one of his hearers being the Archduke Maximilian. Presently the new pope, learning his whereabouts, demanded his surrender; but Maximilian gave him a safe-conduct, and in 1560 he returned to Scotland. In 1563 he was appointed coadjutor to Knox, and with him was accused by the Earl of Bedford of having been privy to Rizzio's murder; in 1567 he incurred some censure for proclaiming, under strong protest, the bans between Queen Mary and Bothwell; and in 1572 he was sent to 'illuminate the dark places' in Angus and Aberdeenshire. He came back to Edinburgh in 1579 as a chaplain to James VI., took a leading part in the church's affairs, and had a share with Melville in the Second Book of Discipline. He was the author of the 'Confession of Faith' or first National Covenant, 'subscribed by the king's majesty and his household and sundry others' at Edinburgh, 28th January 1580. He withstood the restoration of prelacy; but his comparative moderation was not seldom displeasing to the 'popes of Edinburgh.' He died 12th December 1600. His Short Summe of the whole Catechisme (1581) has been reprinted in fac-simile, with a valuable introductory Memoir by T. G. Law (Edin. 1883).