Scottish Jurist, b. 1546; d. at Angers, France, 3 July, 1608. He was of a good Aberdeenshire family, and studied first at Aberdeen University and later, having emigrated to France like so many of the Catholic youth of Scotland at that time, under eminent teachers at Paris and Bourges. In 1578, on the recommendation of his uncle, Edmund Hay, first rector of the newly founded University of Pont-à-Mousson, he was appointed to the chair of civil law there by the Duke of Lorraine, who made him also dean of the faculty of law and a counciller of state. Three years later he married Anne de Malleviller, a lady of an honourable Lorraine family. Barclay published in 1600 his largest work, "De Regno et Ragali potestate", in defence of the rights of kings, against Buchanan and other writers. The doctrines laid down in this book, which was dedicated to Henry IV, are discussed at length by Locke in his "Civil Government". After twenty-five years' tenure of his professorship, Barclay resigned his chair in 1603 and returned to England, where the new monarch, James I, was inclined to welcome with favour one who had so learnedly asserted the views on the Divine right of kings which he himself held. Barclay's fidelity, however, to the Catholic religion stood in the way of his advancement, and, rejecting the king's offer of a lucrative appointment on condition that he renounced his faith, he returned to France. An offer was immediately made to the renowned jurist to accept the professorship of law in the University of Angers, which had been vacant for some years. In 1605 he published at Paris an elaborate work on the Pandects, dedicated to King James. Barclay mentions in this work his intention to write a book about the king, but he never lived to publish it. He was buried at the Cordeliers Church at Angers. His most famous work, "De Potestate Papae", directed against the pope's authority over kings in temporal matters, appeared in 1609, with a preface written by his son. Cardinal Bellarmine published a rejoinder to it. (See JOHN BARCLAY .)

The Catholic Encyclopedia is the most comprehensive resource on Catholic teaching, history, and information ever gathered in all of human history. This easy-to-search online version was originally printed in fifteen hardcopy volumes.

Designed to present its readers with the full body of Catholic teaching, the Encyclopedia contains not only precise statements of what the Church has defined, but also an impartial record of different views of acknowledged authority on all disputed questions, national, political or factional. In the determination of the truth the most recent and acknowledged scientific methods are employed, and the results of the latest research in theology, philosophy, history, apologetics, archaeology, and other sciences are given careful consideration.

No one who is interested in human history, past and present, can ignore the Catholic Church, either as an institution which has been the central figure in the civilized world for nearly two thousand years, decisively affecting its destinies, religious, literary, scientific, social and political, or as an existing power whose influence and activity extend to every part of the globe. In the past century the Church has grown both extensively and intensively among English-speaking peoples. Their living interests demand that they should have the means of informing themselves about this vast institution, which, whether they are Catholics or not, affects their fortunes and their destiny.

Copyright © Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company New York, NY. Volume 1: 1907; Volume 2: 1907; Volume 3: 1908; Volume 4: 1908; Volume 5: 1909; Volume 6: 1909; Volume 7: 1910; Volume 8: 1910; Volume 9: 1910; Volume 10: 1911; Volume 11: - 1911; Volume 12: - 1911; Volume 13: - 1912; Volume 14: 1912; Volume 15: 1912

Catholic Online Catholic Encyclopedia Digital version Compiled and Copyright © Catholic Online