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 profits himself. About the same time he procured the appointment of his kinsman, James Boyd, to the archiepiscopal see of Glasgow. On Morton's resignation in February 1577-8, Boyd, according to Spottiswoode, 'did chide him bitterly,' pointing out that the king was a mere boy, and that by resigning Morton was in fact playing into the hands of his enemies, the Argyll-Athole faction. In consequence of Morton's eclipse, Boyd for a time lost his seat both at the council table and on the bench, but on the regent's return to power as prime minister in July 1578 he was again made a permanent member of the council, being at the same time appointed visitor of the university of Glasgow and commissioner for examining the book of the policy of the kirk and settling its jurisdiction. The same month (23rd) he was compelled to surrender the bailliary of the regality of Glasgow to the king as Earl of Lennox. On 15 Oct. his seat on the bench was restored to him. In the spring of the next year he was appointed one of the commission to pursue and arrest Lord John Hamilton and his brother, Lord Claud, who, however, made their escape to England. The commissioners received the thanks of the council for their services on 22 May. Boyd was a party to the conspiracy known as the Raid of Ruthven, by which the person of the king was seized as a pledge for the dismissal of the Duke of Lennox then in power, and in consequence was banished the realm in June 1583, James Stuart, earl of Arran, taking his place as extraordinary lord of session. He retired for a time to France, but in June 1586 we find him acting for the king in the negotiations which resulted in the treaty of alliance between the crowns of England and Scotland of that year, and while thus engaged induced the king to restore him to his former place on the bench, which, however, he resigned two years later (4 July 1588). In 1587-8 he was appointed commissioner to raise 100,000l. for the expenses connected with the king's marriage, and in 1589 was placed on a commission to enforce the statute against Jesuits (passed 14 Aug. 1587), and on the king's leaving for Norway (October) was constituted one of the wardens of the marches. He died on 3 Jan. 1589-90, in the seventy-second year of his age, being survived by his wife Margaret or Mariot, daughter of Sir John Colquhoun of Glins, and was succeeded by his second son Thomas.

 BOYD, ROBERT, of Trochrig (1578–1627), theological writer, was the eldest son of James Boyd, archbishop of Glasgow, great-grandson of (d. 1469) [q. v.], and owner of an estate in Ayrshire, which is variously spelled Trochrig, Trochridge, and Trochorege. He was connected by birth with the noble family of Cassilis, and enjoyed a good social position. He studied at the university of Edinburgh, taking his divinity course under Robert Rollok, first principal of the university, for whom he had an extraordinary reverence and affection. The profound religious impressions made on him under Rollok led him to associate himself with the earnest presbyterians of the day. In compliance with the custom of the times he went abroad to complete his studies, and in 1604 was chosen pastor of the church at Verteuil, and in 1606 professor in the university of Saumur, both in France. Along with the duties of the chair he discharged the office of a pastor in the town, and was afterwards called to the chair of divinity. While at Saumur he married a French young lady, though he had always the hope of returning to his native country. The university of Saumur had been founded some years before by the celebrated Philip de Mornay (Seigneur du Plessis-Mornay), with whom, as with many more of the eminent men whom the reformed church of France then possessed, he was on terms of intimacy.

The fame of Robert Boyd having reached the ears of King James, he offered him the principalship of the university of Glasgow.