(c.1567-1644)

Sir William Alexander of Menstries

Although he is not very well known today, Sir William Alexander was a famous man in the 17th century. He held various posts in his lifetime, including those of teacher, poet and writer. But most of us do not realize the influence he had on our lives. Sir William Alexander of Menstries, Earl of Stirling, had a hand in settling Nova Scotia and he helped write the King James version of the Bible.

William Alexander was born c. 1567 in Castle Menstries to a branch of the MacAlister Clan that had changed their name to Alexander. During his early years, William spent his time in the Parish of Logie, but this changed after his father's death. He moved to Stirling and lived with his granduncle, who was a merchant in the town. The young William was schooled at the Universities of Glasgow and Leiden, and eventually became a tutor. Through one of his students, the Earl of Argyle, he gained some connections that would profoundly shape the rest of his life.

In approximately 1600, he began tutoring for Henry Frederick Stuart, heir to the King of Scotland, James VI. William and King James developed a bond of sorts, as they both had a liking for poetry, and he soon became a regular of the King's Court.

With the death of England's Queen Elizabeth in 1603, James VI of Scotland became James I of England, holding both crowns simultaneously. The King moved to Whitehall Palace in London, while his Court moved into an area of the grounds known as 'Scotland Yard'. William Alexander now became involved in the politics of England and was regularly at the King's side.

With a larger audience for his poetry, William Alexander now wrote some of his more famous works. He penned AC Darius in 1603, which was quickly followed in 1604 by Aurora and A Paraenesis to the Prince. In 1605 through 1607, he wrote The Alexandrian, The Monarchicke Tradgedies, and Julius Caesar. It was in 1608, however, when the King began to use William for a duty that would make him very unpopular in Scotland.

In partnership with his cousin, William became the agent for the King in the collection of debts owed to the Scottish Crown. His reward for this service, was his cut of 50% of all recovered funds. This was quite a large sum of money, and the following year (1609) William Alexander became a Knight of the Realm. His stock was now rising considerably, and William became one of the men working on the King's new project, the creation of a new Bible. William spent the majority of the next two years, with many other men, translating the Hebrew Old Testament and Greek/Aramaic New Testament into English. The result, The King James Bible of 1611, is still the most important version of the Bible used in English speaking countries today.

In 1612, Henry Frederick Stuart, the Prince of Wales, died. With Henry's death, William was relieved of his tutoring duties, and began to write poetry again. He wrote An Elegy on the Death of Prince Henry in 1612 and then started a work that would take most of the next two years. The result, called Dommes-day, was a poem over ten thousand lines long which he published in 1614.

During this time period, from 1611 to 1619, King James was busy raising money vis a vis the sale of Baronets. The King's selling of these Baronets, in England since 1611 and Ireland in 1619, had already raised 225,000 pounds for the crown. This probably gave William Alexander his next idea, which may have been an effort to clear his name in Scotland.

Every since William had collected debts owed the Crown in 1608, his name had been 'mud' in Scotland. He now proposed a plan that should have cleared his name and made himself and the Crown a great deal of money. He proposed the issuance of Baronets again, but this time for French claimed territory in Acadia - which is modern day Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick, Canada. England and France were fighting over territory in the New World and had been for years. The name of this new settlement was New Scotland, or Nova Scotia in Latin.

James I loved the idea and on September 10th, 1621, signed into law a grant covering all of the lands "between our Colonies of New England and Newfoundland, to be known as New Scotland ". William sent out exploratory parties in 1622 and 1623 to map out the land. This was followed on October 18, 1624 with another law, wherein the King announced his intention of creating a new order of Baronets to Scottish "knichts and gentlemen of cheife respect for ther birth, place, or fortounes ". William Alexander now had his colony, an area larger than France and England combined and he had a means of financing his plans.

Nova Scotia was divided into provinces, each sub-divided into dioceses. Each diocese was divided into three counties, then each county into ten Baronies of over 10,000 acres each. The King, James I, died on March 27th, 1625 but his son and heir, Charles I, quickly accepted the moneymaking plan. Any man with 3,000 Merks could now have a Baronet in Nova Scotia. One third of this fee went to William Alexander for exploration, while the remainder was to supply soldiers of the Crown in the new territory.

A section of Edinburgh Castle was declared Nova Scotia territory for the sale of the Baronets, but response was slow. By 1626, when Sir William became the Secretary of State for Scotland, only 28 Baronets were sold. His problems continued when the French discovered the plan in 1627 and began to actively dispute Nova Scotia's settlement. Sir William Alexander's son led a group to colonize and reinforce the area in 1629, but in the same year, Charles I ceded the territory to France. By 1631, Sir William was forced to abandon the territory at considerable financial loss.

Later, William was titled Earl of Stirling and Viscount of Canada, but he never really recovered from the Nova Scotia settlement disaster. He died a poor man in London, in 1644. Ironically, the Baronets continued to be sold until 1707 and even though they no longer conveyed any land, a total of 329 were dispersed over the years.

Sir William Alexander is probably best remembered as the founder of Nova Scotia, even though he actually did very little to settle the province. His legacy could have been considerably different, however, if he had received a more favourable initial response to his settlement plan. In the end, William's most important work, which continues to affect people to this day, is his translation and completion of the King James Version of the Bible.

BW, April 2000