Robert Richardson (Lord Treasurer) facts for kids
Robert Richardson (died 1578) was an important Scottish church leader and government official. He was the Prior of St Mary's Isle, which means he was in charge of a religious house called St Mary's Isle Priory. He also worked for the Scottish kings as a royal administrator.
Life Story
Robert Richardson's father, also named Robert, was a burgess of Jedburgh. A burgess was a citizen who had special rights in a town. His family came to Scotland in 1424.
Robert Richardson went to St Salvator's College, St Andrews, in 1531 and finished his studies in 1532. We don't know much about his early life. In 1544, he was part of a group that fought against the Regent Arran at the Battle of Glasgow. A Regent was someone who ruled the country when the king or queen was too young. He later received forgiveness for this.
He took on several church roles. He became a vicar (a type of priest) in Dunsyre in 1549 and in Eckford by 1552. He was also an archdeacon (a senior church official) of Teviotdale until 1565. In 1558, he became the head of the priory of St Mary's Isle. He left this job in 1565 but kept the right to use and profit from the priory's lands.
Richardson started working for the government around 1549. He was a clerk for the comptroller, who managed the king's money. In 1552, he checked the treasurer's accounts. Later, he became the main person running the treasurer's office, even though someone else was officially the Lord Treasurer. After the official treasurer died in 1558, Richardson continued to act as treasurer.
The Scottish Reformation
As acting treasurer, Robert Richardson was in charge of the mint, where coins were made. In 1559, a group of Protestant nobles called the Lords of the Congregation took over Edinburgh. They seized the coining tools and a lot of money from the mint at Holyrood Palace. They said they did this to stop the coins from being made badly. The tools were later given back to him.
After a conflict called the siege of Leith, Richardson was part of the Reformation Parliament of 1560. He was listed as someone who had left the Catholic Church and become a Protestant. In 1561, he was officially made Lord Treasurer. He was also a member of the Privy Council, a group of advisors to the monarch, from 1561 to 1576.
The Reformation allowed him to buy more land, mostly in East Lothian and Midlothian. In 1563, he received many farms and properties from Dunfermline Abbey. He later sold much of this land to the people who lived on it. He kept lands and coal mines near Musselburgh, including Smeaton. A new house was built there around 1577. He also bought some small properties from Jedburgh Abbey.
A historian named George Crawfurd wrote about Richardson: "He appears to have been a very wise moderate man... he kept himself more in a neutrality, and was less a party-man than any other that held any great office about the court." This means Richardson tried to stay neutral and not pick sides too much, even during big political changes.
Working for the King
Richardson supported the removal of Mary, Queen of Scots, from power. He was at the crowning of the young King James VI in 1567. He also fought on the side of James's half-brother, James Stuart, 1st Earl of Moray, at the battle of Langside in 1568, where Mary was defeated. In 1569, he voted against Mary's divorce from Bothwell.
He showed his support for the new government by lending money to the Earl of Moray, who was now the Regent. In 1567, he lent Moray £5,000 Scots and held some of the queen's jewels as a guarantee. He also helped Moray raise more money by pawning other pieces of Mary, Queen of Scots' jewellery. His son later returned some of these jewels to Holyrood Palace in 1580.
In 1570, because he had spent too much money as treasurer, Regent Moray gave him extra income from certain church properties. In 1571, his control of the mint was renewed for three years. He kept control of the mint until 1573. He continued to receive money from the mint to get back the royal jewels that had been used as a pledge. Payments were still made to his sons after he died, which was likely between May and November 1578.
Family Life
Robert Richardson was not married, but he had four children: James, Robert, Stephen, and Janet. They were made legitimate (meaning they were legally recognized as his children) in 1552. His eldest son, James Richardson of Smeaton, received most of his father's lands. James married Elizabeth Douglas, and their second son, Sir Robert Richardson of Pencaitland, became a baronet in 1630.
