Arthur Johnston
Who was Arthur Johnston?
Scottish poet
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on Arthur Johnston (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
Arthur Johnston (c.1579–1641) was born in Caskieben, later called Keithhall, near Inverurie in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. His father was Sir George Johnston, an Aberdeenshire landowner, and his mother, Christian Forbes, was the daughter of Lord Forbes. Coming from a well-connected family in northeastern Scotland, Johnston had access to good education and connections that influenced his career in medicine and writing.
Johnston likely started his studies at one of the colleges at the University of Aberdeen before heading to the Continent around 1608. He went to Italy and earned his medical degree from the University of Padua in 1610, a leading medical school in Europe at the time. After graduation, he didn't return to Scotland right away. Instead, he became a professor at the Academy of Sedan in the Principality of Sedan, living among the exiled Scottish reformer Andrew Melville. By 1619, Johnston had moved to Paris, where he practiced medicine, spending much of his adult life in Europe before returning to Scotland around 1625, following the death of King James VI.
Once back in Scotland, Johnston settled in Aberdeen around 1628 and devoted more time to writing poetry in Neo-Latin, the scholarly language of European intellectuals. A significant meeting with William Laud in Edinburgh during the Scottish coronation of King Charles I in 1633 influenced his path. That year, Johnston published "Cantici Salomonis paraphrasis poetica," a poetic version of the Song of Solomon dedicated to Charles I, which impressed Laud. As the Archbishop of Canterbury, Laud encouraged Johnston's Latin poetry, aiming to counterbalance the reputation of the earlier Scottish humanist George Buchanan as a Latin poet.
With Laud's support, Johnston created two major works in 1637. The first, "Psalmorum Davidis paraphrasis poetica et canticorum evangelicorum," a complete poetic version of the Psalms published in Aberdeen, was seen as a serious rival to Buchanan's famous version, though it wasn't considered superior. The second, "Deliciae poetarum Scotorum huius aevi illustrium," was an anthology of contemporary Latin poetry by Scottish poets, published in Amsterdam in two volumes with over a thousand pages, aimed at contributing to European Neo-Latin literature like other continental collections. Also in 1637, Johnston was named rector of King's College, Aberdeen. He passed away in Oxford in 1641, while on his way to London at Archbishop Laud's invitation.
Before Fame
Arthur Johnston was born around 1579 into a well-known family in Aberdeenshire; his father was a laird and his mother was linked to the notable Forbes family. Growing up in northeastern Scotland during the late 1500s meant he experienced significant religious and political changes after the Scottish Reformation. He was in an area where Latin learning thrived in the new colleges of Aberdeen. Johnston probably got his basic education there before going on to university.
His journey to success took him through Europe's great centers of learning. He left Scotland around 1608 and earned his medical doctorate at the University of Padua in 1610, which was then highly regarded for science and medicine. This education in Europe connected Johnston with many scholars and established him as a respected physician and humanist, even before his name was known for Neo-Latin poetry.
Key Achievements
- Earned a medical doctorate from the University of Padua in 1610, one of Europe's foremost medical schools
- Published Psalmorum Davidis paraphrasis poetica (Aberdeen, 1637), a full Neo-Latin verse paraphrase of the Psalms that rivaled the work of George Buchanan
- Edited and published Deliciae poetarum Scotorum huius aevi illustrium (Amsterdam, 1637), a major two-volume anthology of contemporary Scottish Neo-Latin poetry
- Appointed rector of King's College, Aberdeen, in June 1637
- Gained the patronage of Archbishop William Laud through his poetic paraphrase of the Song of Solomon, dedicated to King Charles I
Did You Know?
- 01.Johnston received his medical degree from the University of Padua in 1610, one of the same institutions where Galileo Galilei had taught mathematics just a few years earlier.
- 02.He lived in Sedan alongside the exiled Scottish reformer Andrew Melville, who had fled Scotland after conflicts with King James VI over ecclesiastical independence.
- 03.His anthology Deliciae poetarum Scotorum huius aevi illustrium ran to two thick volumes totaling 699 and 575 pages respectively, making it a substantial monument to Scottish Neo-Latin verse.
- 04.Johnston died at Oxford in 1641 while en route to London in response to an invitation from Archbishop William Laud, who was himself imprisoned in the Tower of London at that time awaiting trial.
- 05.Archbishop Laud reportedly promoted Johnston's Latin Psalms in part as a deliberate effort to challenge the literary legacy of George Buchanan, whose version of the Psalms had been dominant for decades.