St John's College, St Andrews

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[edit] St Johns College, University of St. Andrews

Founded between 1418 and 1430, St Johns College or pedagogy, was the presursor to [[St. Mary's College, University of St. Andrews]]. In 1418[1], Robert of Montrose, rector of Cults, granted property and annual rents to found a college of theologians and artists, dedicated to St John the evangelist, under Lawrence or Laurence of Lindores as first Master, Rector, and Regent. The college was located on South Street, on the site of the Old University library and Parliament Hall.

In 1430, to suppress the private houses of regent masters in favour of a single Pedagogy, linked with the College of St. John, under the unifying influence of one master, Lawrence of Lindores and two colleagues. He was the first philosopher recorded at the University of St Andrews, and he became the leading figure in its early days, being Principal Regent of Pedagogy and Rector and Governor of the University. Under Lawrence, the University of St Andrews adopted the Paris system of division into four Nations.

[King James I] used the rivalry between Bishop-Chancellor Wardlaw and Lawrence, to petition the Pope, in 1426, to transfer the University from St Andrews to Perth, in line with the King's policy of bringing the Scottish Church under royal control. This move failed, but it made the academic community aware of its common interests. [2]

St Johns College was refounded by Cardinal David Beaton under the name the 'New College of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary' or St. Mary's College in 1538. St. Mary's preserves the link to St.John's in its motto 'In Principio Erat Verbum', from the gospel of St. John, 1.1, In the beginning was the word.

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