Rev John Munro of Tain

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A Minister of Tain in the Scottish Highlands, the Rev. John Monro was one of the Presbyterian ministers who long resisted the efforts of James VI to unit the Presbyterian Church of Scotland with the Episcopalian Church of England. As a result he was persecuted for many years.

1 Family
2 Early years
3 Resistance to the union of Churches, 1605-07
4 Later Years
5 See also
6 References

[edit] Family

Third son of Hugh Munro, 1st of Assynt. Grandson of Robert Munro, 14th Baron of Fowlis. His mother was Christina, a daughter of Robert Munro of Carbisdale. Rev John Munro married Euphemia, a daughter of Andrew Munro, 5th of Milntown, a cousin of her husband. They had no children. A brother of John was the Rev. Robert Munro, minister of Creich 1609 - ca. 1640.

[edit] Early years

He was educated for the ministry at St Andrews University, graduating as MA in 1590. He was granted the Chaplainry of Newmore to help pay or his university studies in accordance with the plans of John Knox.

In 1591 he was a member of General Assembly. Subsequently he was presented to parish of Tain 1599 and the charge of St Duthus, the Church at Tain. Among the emoluments of this parish were the chaplainries of Newmore, Tarlogie, Cambuscurry, Morangie and Dunskaith. He was also appointed a Sub-Dean of the Diocese of Ross.

[edit] Resistance to the union of Churches, 1605-07

In 1605 James VI of Scotland (I of England) attempted to unite the Presbyterian Church of Scotland and the Episcopal Church of England. In order to prevent the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church blocking this he placed it under an interdict to prevent it from meeting.

The Parish of Tain was one of the Presbyteries which opposed the proposed union and in defiance of James VI's interdict, they sent Rev John Munro as representative to a Assembly at Aberdeen on 2 July 1605. On that occasion he was nominated as Moderator.

James VI had declared the Aberdeen Assembly seditious so it did little more than convene then disperse, though the fact it had met at all was in defiance of the King. The 19 ministers who had attended the Assembly were summoned before the Scottish Privy Council. Of whom 10 submitted to the King, while the other seven, Rev John Munro among them, maintained the Assembly had been a lawful one.

These seven dissenting ministers who appeared were banished throughout Scotland each as far as possible from their own parish. One of them, Rev. John Welsh of Ayr, the son-in-law of John Knox was banished to France^[1]. John Munro was to be sent to Kintyre but in the meantime was imprisoned in the mean time in Doune Castle, Perthshire with another of the ministers. With the aid of the Constable of the castle (who was subsequently imprisoned for his actions) John escaped.

In 1607 he and 13 others were again summoned before the Privy Council, appearing on the 20 May of that year. However, while waiting on the judgement of the Council they went into hiding in Edinburgh and quietly left the city before they could be arrested. As a result they were declared rebels.

In the meantime James VI had been successful in suppressing all but a small number of the dissenters from his plan to effect the union between the Presbyterian Church of Scotland and the Episcopal Church of England. Though this success was later undo when the Puritans under Cromwell came to power.

[edit] Later Years

Following his flight from Edinburgh in 1607 Rev. John made his way to Tain and resumed his ministry among the people there, though without the stipend previously paid by the Crown. He continued to live and minister to the people there for many years after.

On 24 May, 1610 the Scottish Privy Council sent a letter to the Provost and Bailies of Tain, admonishing them for permitting the Rev John Munro to remain lving among them and to continue preaching unmolested. What action was taken is not known, but Rev John Munro was still in Tain twenty years later in 1630, though he died shortly afterwards.