“ Major takes a more independent attitude in his History, which is a remarkable example of historical accuracy and insight. He claims that the historian’s chief duty is to write truthfully, and he is careful to show that a theologian may fulfil this condition. ”

“ After a short period spent at Cambridge (at God’s House, afterwards Christ’s College) he entered the university of Paris in 1493, studying successively at the colleges of St Barbe, Montaigu and Navarre, and graduating as master of arts in 1496. Promoted to the doctorate in 1505, he lectured on philosophy at Montaigu College and on theology at Navarre. He visited Scotland in 1515 and returned in 1518, when he was appointed principal regent in the university of Glasgow, John Knox being among the number of those who attended his lectures there. ”

“ In political philosophy he maintained the Scotist position, that civil authority was derived from the popular will, but in theology he was a scholastic conservative, though he never failed to show his approbation of Gallicanism and its plea for the reform of ecclesiastical abuses. ”