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INTRODUCTION.

LIFE OF WINZET.

I. EARLY LIFE.

THE account of Winzet, compiled by Dr Mackenzie for 'The Lives and Characters of the most Eminent Writers of the Scots Nation,' has been the chief source of information out of which later biographers have drawn the substance of their meagre memoirs of this distinguished author.

Mr Gracie, in his Life of Winzet prefixed to the Maitland Club reprint of 'The Certane Tractatis,' and Dr Irving in 'The Lives of Scotish Writers,' were able to add a few important particulars to the results gleaned by Mackenzie; but it is noteworthy that neither of their sketches indicates indebtedness to the succinct and reliable account of Winzet given by Ziegelbauer in his 'Historia Rei Literariæ Ordinis S. Benedicti,' which the author compiled with the aid of historical documents once preserved in the Scottish monastery at Ratisbon.

Happily I have been privileged in obtaining access to primary sources of information hitherto unpublished, which throw additional light upon the checkered career of Winzet.

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But, withal, the materials for a satisfactory biography are

scanty and fragmentary.

"Niniane Winzet, ane Catholike Priest borne in Renfrew," according to the designation of the author on the title-page of the 'Certane Tractatis,' &c., and on that of 'The Last Blast,' &c., first saw the light in the year 1518. Ziegelbauer states that he was "born in Renfrew, a town of Scotland, in the year 1518."1 The epitaph on Winzet's existing monument authenticates this date; and although Winzet in his writings leaves no reference to the exact spot where he was born, Ziegelbauer's statement need not be challenged. Winzet, however, in the 'Velitatio,' wherein he answered Buchanan's 'Dialogus De Jure Regni,' pleasantly alludes to the proximity of the natal homes of his opponent and himself in these words: “Tu Lenoxius, Ego Renfrous." 2

Dempster styles him, "Ninianus Winzetus aut Winchetus, Glasguensis,”—a designation not necessarily misleading, as has been supposed, since Dempster probably intended to convey no more definite information than that Ninian was a priest in the diocese of Glasgow. Indeed his words are almost identical with those given in the Registers of the Sorbonne "Ninianus Winzetus, Scotus, Glasguensis dicecesis," and those contained in the Papal Bull recording

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1 Ziegelbauer, 'Historia Rei Literariæ Ordinis S. Benedicti,' pt. iii. pp. 360, 361. Edited by Oliverius Legipontius. Augustæ Vind. et Herbipoli, 1754, fol.

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2 Velitatio in Georgium Buchananum,' pp. 155, 156.

Ingolstadt, 1582.

"Tu Lenoxius, Ego Renfrous: quorum et paternæ ædes horarum itinere sunt dissitæ, quorum et utriusque populi vt sunt contermini et loco coniuncti, ita et uni maxime primario Duci sub regia maiestate vltrò obsequentes vixere multis seculis et animis coniunctissimi."

3 Dempster, 'Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Scotorum,' lib. xix., vol. ii. p. 5, Bann. Club, 1829; Brockie MSS. and Ratisbon MSS. in St Mary's College, Blairs, Aberdeen; Ziegelbauer, 'Hist.,' pt. iii. p. 360.

his appointment as Abbot of Ratisbon-" Niniano Winzeto Presbytero Glasguensis dioecesis." 1

Concerning his parentage and early education, research has brought nothing to light. Mackenzie, who, as far as Ninian is concerned, is in the main accurate, informs us, without stating his authority, that Ninian was come "of an honest parentage, and had his education at the University of Glasgow, where, after he had finished the course of his studies, he was made schoolmaster of Linlithgow." 2 Ziegelbauer has the same information.

There exist in contemporary records many references to persons of the name of Wyndgait, Windegait, Wingetus, Wingyet, Wynyet, Wynzet, Winietus, Winet, Vinyet, Winzet, Vinzot, &c. During the first half of the sixteenth century a considerable family of Wynzets held property in the city of Glasgow; and members of the family were "rentallers" of lands in Monkland, Dalbeth, Carmylie, which belonged to the Archbishop of Glasgow.3 Till 1507, Thome Wynyet possessed a tenement in Glasgow, for which he paid teind to the Collegiate Church of St Mary and St Anne there. An intimate relationship existed between the family of Thomas and the Church, he appearing as witness to deeds, and the Church rendering assistance to his family, and also receiving their rents and teinds. Another Thomas had land in "Raton Row" in 1512. In 1513 the lands of Crumland Hyll, Cheddlestoun (Shettle

1 Archives Nationales, Paris, Register H. 2589; Ratisbon MSS. in Blairs College, Aberdeen. Cf. Appendix A.

2 Mackenzie, 'Lives and Characters of the most Eminent Writers of the Scots Nation,' vol. iii. p. 148. Fol., Edin. 1708-1722.

3 Liber Protocollorum Glasguensis;' also, 'Rental Book of the Diocese of Glasgow,' Bain and Rogers, Grampian Club, 1875, many references in vols. i. and ii.

4 'Liber Collegii Nostre Domini de Glasgu,' p. 28. Mait. Club, 1846.

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