James Sharp

Who was James Sharp?

James Sharp was a Scottish minister, and later Archbishop of St Andrews.

Sharp was from Banffshire, a graduate of the University of Aberdeen and a regent of St. Andrews University.

In the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, following the execution of the King, Sharp, a skilled negotiator, became prominent as a leader of the moderate wing of the Scottish church called the Resolutioners. Many Scottish churchmen had become Covenanters, a group of Presbyterians who bound themselves by oath to protect and defend their reformed church from the introduction of bishops and other Episcopalian features. This group had split into two factions, the Resolutioners and Protesters, differing over how much power should be given to the King in the ordering of church affairs.

Sharp was captured by Oliver Cromwell's Parliamentarian forces and imprisoned until 1652. The author of A true representation of the rise, progresse and state of the present divisions of the Church of Scotland, was sent to London to represent the interests of the Resolutioners. In London, Sharp became involved with George Monck and his scheme for the restoration of the monarchy, which Sharp conditionally supported.