Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Jamieson, John Paul
JAMIESON, JOHN PAUL, D.D. (d. 1700), Roman catholic divine and antiquary, was born at Aberdeen, and brought up in the protestant faith, but afterwards turned Roman catholic, and in 1677 was admitted into the Scots College at Rome, which he left in 1685, being then a priest and D.D. He was nominated to the chair of divinity in the seminary of Cardinal Barbarigo, bishop of Padua, but he soon returned to Rome, where he resided until he was sent back to the mission in 1687, when all the Scottish priests abroad were required by special orders from James II to return to their native country. He was stationed first at Huntly, began a new mission at Elgin in 1688, and died at Edinburgh on 25 March 1700.
During his residence in Rome he transcribed, at the Vatican and elsewhere, original documents for use in a projected ‘History of Scotland,’ which he did not complete. Some of these documents he bequeathed to Robert Strachan, missionary at Aberdeen, and the remainder were deposited in the Scots College at Paris. According to Nicolson's ‘Scottish Historical Library,’ he brought from Rome copies of many bulls and briefs, made extracts of the consistorial proceedings of the church of Scotland from 1494 to the Reformation, wrote critical notes on Spotiswood's ‘History’ and on the printed ‘Chronicle of Melros,’ made remarks on ‘Reliquiæ Divi Andreæ’ by George Martin of Cameron, and compiled a ‘Chartulary of the Church of Aberdeen.’ He discovered in the queen of Sweden's library at Rome the original manuscript of the ‘History of Kinloss’ by John Ferrarius, and communicated his transcript of that work to many of his learned countrymen.
[Innes's Essay on the Ancient Inhabitants of the Northern Parts of Britain, ii. 578; Keith's Hist. of the Church of Scotland, Appendix; Michel's Les Écossais en France, ii. 322; Nicolson's Scottish Historical Library, 1736, pp. 29, 64, 74, 134; Stothert's Catholic Mission in Scotland, p. 567.]