Alexander Colville (clergyman): Difference between revisions
mNo edit summary |
No edit summary Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit |
||
| Line 12: | Line 12: | ||
In fact, so far from being a Devil worshipper, Colville was a sincere [[Anglican]] and a convinced supporter of [[episcopacy]], in contrast to his wife, who was a [[Presbyterian]]. Since the [[Church of Ireland]], especially in Ulster, leaned increasingly towards Pesbyterianism, this led to bitter clashes with his clerical colleagues, who unsuccessfully sought his [[excommunication]]. |
In fact, so far from being a Devil worshipper, Colville was a sincere [[Anglican]] and a convinced supporter of [[episcopacy]], in contrast to his wife, who was a [[Presbyterian]]. Since the [[Church of Ireland]], especially in Ulster, leaned increasingly towards Pesbyterianism, this led to bitter clashes with his clerical colleagues, who unsuccessfully sought his [[excommunication]]. |
||
He probably died in 1679 (some sources say 1670), and was succeeded in his estates by his only son, Sir [[Robert Colville (Irish MP)|Robert Colville]]. Little is known of his wife, except that she differed from her husband on religious issues, and tried to persuade her son to her way of thinking on religion. |
He probably died in 1679 (some sources say 1670), and was succeeded in his estates by his only son, Sir [[Robert Colville (Irish MP)|Robert Colville]]. |
||
Little is known of his wife, except that she differed from her husband on religious issues, and tried to persuade her son to her way of thinking on religion. |
|||
==Sources== |
==Sources== |
||
Revision as of 10:14, 26 November 2021
Alexander Colville (c.1597-c.1679) was a Scottish-born clergyman in seventeenth-century Ulster. He became a wealthy landowner: gossip attributed his remarkable good fortune to his trafficking with the Devil.
He was probably a cousin of James Colville, 1st Lord Colville of Culross, and almost certainly a close relative of Robert Echlin, Bishop of Down and Connor, whose mother was Grizel Colville of Kinross, and who furthered Alexander's career. He was educated at the University of St Andrews, where he took his MA. He was ordained in 1622 and became a Doctor of Divinity in 1636.
He moved to Ireland, and under the patronage of his kinsman Bishop Echlin became rector of Skerry and Rathcavan in County Antrim. He also, by means which have never been explained, acquired great wealth, and in the 1640s he purchased Galgorm Castle in Antrim from Sir Faithful Fortescue. He made some improvements to the castle, which became the main family residence.
He was not a popular man, and his increasing wealth attracted much envious gossip. Unwilling to admit that he was simply a shrewd man of business, his enemies maintained that he was in league with the Devil, whom he later contrived to cheat. A former servant in Colville's house, who was charged with witchcraft, insisted that she had learned the dark arts from her employer.
In fact, so far from being a Devil worshipper, Colville was a sincere Anglican and a convinced supporter of episcopacy, in contrast to his wife, who was a Presbyterian. Since the Church of Ireland, especially in Ulster, leaned increasingly towards Pesbyterianism, this led to bitter clashes with his clerical colleagues, who unsuccessfully sought his excommunication.
He probably died in 1679 (some sources say 1670), and was succeeded in his estates by his only son, Sir Robert Colville.
Little is known of his wife, except that she differed from her husband on religious issues, and tried to persuade her son to her way of thinking on religion.
Sources
- Dickson, J.M. "The Colville Family in Ulster" (1898) Ulster Journal of Archaeology 2nd Series Vol. 5 pp.139-44
- Lunney, Linde "Colville, Alexander" Cambridge Dictionary of Irish Biography