Henry Balnaves

Henry Balnaves (born c. 1512, Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scot.—died February 1579, Edinburgh) was a politician and diplomat who was one of the chief promoters of the Reformation in Scotland. Converted to Protestantism while on the European continent, Balnaves favoured an Anglo-Scottish alliance, ecclesiastical reform, and a vernacular Bible. After returning to Scotland, he held various offices, and in 1543, during the Protestant period of the Earl of Arran’s regency, he rose to secretary of state and...