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 windows. He also built the Gare bridge at the mouth of the Eden, which was then considered one of the finest in Scotland. But his crowning distinction was the erection at St. Andrews of the first Scottish university on the model of that of Paris. Wardlaw's charter of foundation is dated 27 Feb. 1411, and a commencement was made in a wooden building on the site now occupied by St. Mary's College, with several clerical professors who gave their services gratuitously. In September 1413 Benedict XIII, who was then living at the castle of Peniscola in Aragon, sanctioned the new institution as a studium generale for teaching theology, canon and civil law, arts and medicine, and with power to confer degrees. When Henry Ogilvie arrived in St. Andrews in February 1414 with the papal bulls, the church bells were rung, thanksgivings were offered in the cathedral, there was a procession of four hundred clergy, and bonfires, songs, and dances bore witness to the delight of the populace. The council of Constance, having deposed the rival popes, in 1417 elected Martin V in their room. Scotland was the last to adhere to Peter de Luna, but the parliament in 1418 resolved to acknowledge Martin V, and in August of that year the university of St. Andrews gave in its submission to him also.

Bishop Wardlaw was much employed in the negotiations for the release of King James, and on 21 May 1424 he crowned him and his queen at Scone with great pomp. He continued to enjoy the friendship and confidence of his sovereign, and was employed by him in important affairs of state. He also received the royal authority to recover the property of his see, which had been alienated by his predecessors. In the parliament which met at Perth in 1430 Wardlaw made a famous speech, in the presence of the king, against the luxury and superfluity in eating and drinking which the Scots had learned from the English who had accompanied James at his homecoming. The chief blot on his episcopate was the burning of John Resby, an English priest, at Perth in 1407, and of Paul Crawar, a Bohemian, at St. Andrews in 1432, for teaching the tenets of Wycliffe. He does not appear to have been himself an active promoter of persecution. Resby was apprehended by Lawrence of Lindores, and the king conferred the abbey of Melrose on John Fogo for his zeal in convicting Crawar. It may also be pleaded in extenuation of Wardlaw's conduct that the spirit of persecution then raged throughout Christendom, and that the Scottish parliament in 1425 enacted that all bishops should make inquisition of lollards and other heretics in their dioceses.

He died on 6 April 1440, and was buried in his cathedral, between the choir and lady-chapel, ‘with greater parade than any of his predecessors.’ Wardlaw was eminently distinguished for devotion to learning, for loyalty and patriotism. His charters bear witness to his generosity to the university and city of St. Andrews, and his hospitality was proverbial. He was a strict disciplinarian, corrected many abuses in the lives of the clergy, and set an example of the virtues which he inculcated upon others.

[Wynton and Boece's Hist.; Petitions to Pope, 1342–1419; Stuart's Report of Records of Univ. of St. Andrews to Hist. Commission; Tytler's Hist. of Scotland; Martin's St. Andrews; Lyon's St. Andrews; Bellesheim's Hist. of Catholic Church in Scotland; Robertson's Stat. Eccl. Scot.; Millar's Fife; Keith's Scottish Bishops.] 

WARDLAW, RALPH (1779–1853), Scottish congregationalist divine, fourth son of William Wardlaw, merchant and bailie in Glasgow, by his second wife, Anne Fisher, was born at Dalkeith, Mid-Lothian, on 22 Dec. 1779. He was descended paternally from the Wardlaws of Pitreavie, Fifeshire, to which family Henry Wardlaw [q. v.], bishop of St. Andrews, belonged. On his mother's side he could claim direct descent from James V, through his natural son, Lord Robert Stewart, earl of Orkney [q. v.] Anne Fisher was the granddaughter of Ebenezer Erskine [q. v.], founder of the secession church, and the daughter of his associate, James Fisher [q. v.] When Ralph was six months old his father removed to Glasgow. He was educated at the grammar school of Glasgow, and matriculated in October 1791 at the university, where he had a distinguished career. Having decided to study for the ministry, he entered the theological school in connection with the associate secession (burgher) church, and began his studies under George Lawson (1749–1820) [q. v.] at Selkirk in 1795. During his residence there, however, he came under the evangelical influence of James and Robert Haldane [q. v.], and in 1800, on the completion of his studies, he severed his connection with the seceders and became a congregationalist, joining the independent church recently founded in Glasgow by Greville Ewing [q. v.] Wardlaw's power as a preacher was first displayed at the meetings held by the Haldanes in Edinburgh, Perth, and Dundee, and efforts were made to induce him to settle in Perth and form a congregation there. Meanwhile,