Hamilton studied at Glasgow University and obtained a MA in 1599. He stayed on, started teaching but also became minister in Paisley in 1610. He became a Doctor of Divinity (D.D.) in 1617.
While still in Scotland he married his first wife, who probably was Alison Hay, who had been a nurse to Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia.
He had four sons, and some of his descendants became established in the Swedish nobility.[4]
Career
He was nominated Bishop of Killala and Achonry on 8 March 1623[5] and consecrated 29 May that same year in St. Peter's Church, Drogheda.[6][7] He was advanced Archbishop of Cashel on 14 November 1629 and appointed by letters patent on 20 April 1630. On 20 April 1630 he was translated to the archbishopric of Cashel and Emly.[8]
Income
The temporalities of his see having been much diminished by Miler Magragh, Hamilton petitioned Thomas Wentworth for their recovery. It required a special letter of instruction from the king to undo the acts of Magragh. Archbishop William Laud cautioned Wentworth to keep a sharp eye on Hamilton, who then incurred Laud's displeasure. Summoned to Dublin to explain matters, Hamilton pleaded inability to travel. His friends, including the Queen of Bohemia, interceded with the king.[8]
Flight to Sweden and death
When the Irish Rebellion of 1641 broke out in Tipperary, Hamilton was absent from his diocese. However he was joined by his wife and family, who had been helped by Catholic neighbours and he left for Sweden. His loss of personal property in the rebellion was great.
He is usually said to have died at Stockholm, aged about 80, in 1659.[9] He died in office at Stockholm, Sweden in 1659.[10]
^Clavin, "Hamilton, Archibald", 1st paragraph: "... was second son of Sir Claud Hamilton of Cochnough, Dunbartonshire, Scotland, and his wife Margaret, daughter of Robert Betoun, of Creich."
^Clavin, "Hamilton, Archibald", last paragraph: "After the death of his first wife, he married Anne Balfour of Burleigh."
^Fasti ecclesiæ hibernicæ: the succession of the prelates in IrelandCotton, H., Dublin, Hodges & Smith, 1860
^Dunlop 1890, p. 138, left column: "Advanced by James I on 21 May 1623 to the conjoint sees of Killala and Achenry, he was consecrated in St Peter's church Drogheda on 29 June following."
^Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I. (1986). Handbook of British Chronology (3rd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 400–401. ISBN0-521-56350-X.
^Johan Peringskiöld, in his Monumenta Ullerakerensia cum Upsalia Nova Illustrata (Stockholm, 1719, p. 176), stated that he died at Upsala in 1658, and lies buried in the cathedral there, in the same grave as Laurentius Petri Nericius. Johan Henrik Schröder in his Upsala Domkyrka (2nd edit., Upsala, 1857), p. 27, repeated this statement, but the destruction by fire in 1702 of the Upsala church registers made confirmation impossible.
^A New History of Ireland, Moody, T. W.; Martin, F. X.; Byrne, F. J.; Cosgrove, A.: Oxford, OUP, 1976 ISBN0-19-821745-5
Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I., eds. (1986). Handbook of British Chronology. Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks, No. 2 (3rd ed.). London: Offices of the Royal Historical Society. ISBN0-86193-106-8. (for timeline)
