John Lesley

John Lesley (or Leslie) (29 September 1527 – 31 May 1596) was a Scottish Catholic bishop and historian. His father was Gavin Lesley, rector of Kingussie, Badenoch.

He was educated at the University of Aberdeen, where he took the degree of M.A. In 1538 he obtained a dispensation permitting him to hold a benefice, notwithstanding his being a natural son, and in June 1546 he was made an acolyte in the cathedral church of Aberdeen, of which he was afterwards appointed a canon and prebendary.

He also studied at Poitiers, at Toulouse and at Paris, where he was made doctor of laws in 1553. In 1558 he took orders and was appointed Official of Aberdeen, and inducted into the parsonage and prebend of Oyne. At the Reformation Lesley became a champion of Catholicism. He was present at the disputation held in Edinburgh in 1561, when Knox and Willox were his antagonists. He was one of the commissioners sent the same year to bring over the young Mary, Queen of Scots, to take the government of Scotland. He returned in her train, and was appointed a privy councilor and professor of canon law in King's College, Aberdeen, and in 1565 one of the senators of the college of justice. Shortly afterwards he was made abbot of Lindores, and in 1565 bishop of Ross, the election to the see being confirmed in the following year. He was present at Holyrood Palace during the murder of David Rizzio.

Lesley was one of the sixteen commissioners appointed to revise the laws of Scotland, and the volume of the Actis and Constitutiounis of the Realme of Scotland known as the Black Acts was, chiefly owing to his care, printed in 1566.

John Lesley was one of the most steadfast friends of Queen Mary. After the failure of the royal cause, and while Mary was a captive in England, Lesley (who had gone to her at Bolton) continued to exert himself on her behalf. He was one of the commissioners at the conference at York in 1568. He appeared as her ambassador at the court of Elizabeth I to complain of the injustice done to her, and when he found he was not listened to he laid plans for her escape. He also projected a marriage for her with Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, which ended in the execution of that nobleman.

Elizabeth I had Lesley arrested in the autumn of 1569, partly to satisfy Regent Moray. He was put under the charge of Edwin Sandys, bishop of London. Lesley was questioned at Hampton Court and then sent to visit Mary, Queen of Scots, at Chatsworth and Sheffield. Lesley was again arrested at the discovery of the Ridolfi plot in May 1571 and sent to house arrest with Richard Cox, bishop of Ely. Lesley was held at Ely Place in Holborn, and then visited the bishop's houses at Fenstanton, and Somersham. Lesley was allowed five servants in Huntingdonshire and accompanied by Ninian Winzet. He was able ride and practice archery. As investigations into the activities of the Duke of Norfolk continued, Richard Cox sent Lesley's papers to London on 22 September. Lesley was brought back to London on 29 October 1571 to the house of the mayor Sir William Allen, and then imprisoned in the Tower of London.

During his confinement, Lesley collected materials for his history of Scotland, by which his name is now chiefly known. In 1571 he presented the latter portion of this work, written in Scots, to Queen Mary to amuse her in her captivity. He also wrote for her use his Piae Consolationes, and the queen devoted some of the hours of her captivity to translating a portion of it into French verse.

In 1573 he was liberated from prison, but was banished from England. For two years he attempted unsuccessfully to obtain the assistance of Continental princes in favor of Queen Mary. While at Rome in 1578 he published his Latin history De Origine, Moribus, et Rebus Gestis Scotorum. In October 1578 he had an audience with Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, and their discussions included making a double portrait of Mary and James VI.