Editing Robert Abercromby (Jesuit)

{{More citations needed|date=November 2013}}
{{short description|Scottish Jesuit missionary}}
'''Robert Abercromby''' (1536 – 27 April 1613), whose surname was also spelled as '''Abrecromby''' and '''Abercrombie''', and was known by such pseudonyms as '''Robert Sandiesoun''' and '''Sanders Robertson''', was a [[Scotland|Scottish]] [[Society of Jesus|Jesuit]] [[missionary]].

==Early life==
He was born and educated in [[Scotland]], and studied in the [[Collegium Romanum]] in [[Rome]], where on 19 August 1563 he became a Jesuit. From 1564 he lived in Braunsberg (then in [[Royal Prussia]]; present-day [[Braniewo]]) where he was professor of grammar in the biggest Polish Jesuit ''[[collegium]]'' (where teaching was in [[Latin language|Latin]]) and a [[novice master]].

In 1565 he was ordained a [[Catholic priest|priest]]. In Braniewo he was in constant contact with [[Stanislaus Hosius]]. Learning [[Polish language|Polish]] was difficult for him, and he had some problems with the finances of the school. Due to these problems he was permitted to leave Poland in 1580, when he met the Scottish king for the first time. In September 1580 he went back to Poland - from 1580 to 1587 he performed similar tasks in [[Kraków]], [[Poznań]] and [[Wilno]].

In 1587 he left Poland and returned to Scotland. During the journey to Scotland in 1580 and during his second stay there he was organizing transports of Scottish [[Catholicism|Catholic]] novices to be trained in Polish schools and [[Catholic seminary|seminaries]].<ref>Biegańska, Anna. ''The learned Scots in Poland from the mid-sixteenth to the close of the eighteenth century'', "Canadian Slavonic Papers", March 2001, [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3763/is_200103/ai_n8948825/pg_3 online version]{{dead link|date=May 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>Grzebień, Father Ludwik (SJ), ''Encyklopedia wiedzy o jezuitach na ziemiach Polski i Litwy, 1564-1995'', Kraków 1996, [http://jezuici.krakow.pl/cgi-bin/rjbo?b=enc&q=ABERCROMBIE&f=1 online version with additional bibliography]</ref>

==Contact with Anne of Denmark==
Abercromby claimed that he had reconciled [[Anne of Denmark]], queen of [[James VI of Scotland]], to the [[Catholic Church]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Dictionary of Christian Biography|year=2001|editor=Michael Walsh|publisher=Continuum|isbn=0826452639|page=[https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofchri0000unse/page/3 3]|url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofchri0000unse/page/3}}</ref> James apparently allowed Abercromby to meet her at [[Holyroodhouse]] circa 1599. She made no outward sign of a change of religion.<ref name=ODNB/>

==Later life==
Abercromby remained in Scotland for some time, but a price of 10,000 [[crown (British coin)|crown]]s was put upon his head.<ref>{{Catholic|wstitle=Robert Abercromby|inline=1}}</ref> He spent the period 1601–06 under the protection of [[George Gordon, 1st Marquess of Huntly]].<ref name=ODNB>{{ODNBweb|id=46|title=Abercromby, Robert|first=G. Martin|last=Murphy}}</ref>

Abercromby went back to Braunsberg in 1606. His name was connected to the [[allegiance oath controversy]] when a pamphlet "[[pasquil]]", ''Exetasis epistolæ nomine regis'', written under the pseudonym Bartholus Pacenius against James I was traced to Braunsberg;<ref name=ODNB/> but the investigation by [[Patrick Gordon (diplomat)|Patrick Gordon]] was inconclusive.<ref>[https://lirias.kuleuven.be/bitstream/1979/796/1/DefDoctmetindex.pdf ''William Trumbull: A Jacobean diplomat at the court of the Archdukes in Brussels, 1605/9-1625'' (PDF), p. 193] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120422172112/https://lirias.kuleuven.be/bitstream/1979/796/1/DefDoctmetindex.pdf |date=2012-04-22 }}.</ref> He died there on 27 April 1613.

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abercromby, Robert}}
[[Category:1536 births]]
[[Category:1613 deaths]]
[[Category:Scottish Roman Catholic missionaries]]
[[Category:16th-century Scottish Jesuits]]
[[Category:17th-century Scottish Jesuits]]
[[Category:Date of birth unknown]]