Gilbert Burnet
| Gilbert Burnet | |
|---|---|
| Bishop of Salisbury | |
Portrait of Gilbert Burnet after John Riley, circa 1689–1691
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| Church | Church of England |
| Predecessor | Seth Ward |
| Successor | William Talbot |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 18 September 1643 Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Died | 17 March 1715 (aged 71) St John's Court, Clerkenwell, London, England |
Gilbert Burnet (18 September 1643 – 17 March 1715) was a Scottish philosopher and historian, and Bishop of Salisbury. He was fluent in Dutch, French, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. Burnet was highly respected as a cleric, a preacher, an academic, a writer and a historian. He was always closely associated with the Whig party, and was one of the few close friends in whom King William III confided.
Burnet was born at Edinburgh, Scotland in 1643, the son of Robert Burnet, Lord Crimond, a Royalist and Episcopalian lawyer, who became a judge, and of Rachel Johnston, the sister of Johnston of Warristoun, a leader of the Covenanters. His father was his first tutor until he began his studies at the University of Aberdeen, where he earned a Master of Arts in Philosophy at the age of thirteen. He studied law briefly before changing to theology. He did not enter into the ministry at that time, but travelled for several years. He visited Oxford, Cambridge, London, the United Provinces and France. He studied Hebrew under a Rabbi in Amsterdam. By 1665 he returned to Scotland and was ordained in the Church of Scotland (then episcopal) by the bishop of Edinburgh. In 1664 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.
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