Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 36.djvu/122

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Mapletoft
116
Mar

MSS. xxxvi. 103). At the Restoration he received the degree of D.D. by royal mandate, 28 Jan. 1660, 'on account of his sufferings and his services to the church during the recent troubles' (Kennett, Register, p. 213), and on 23 Aug. he was presented by the crown to the subdeanery of Lincoln Cathedral and the prebendal stall of Clifton, and on 8 Dec. received the mastership of the Spital Hospital. While subdean he was involved in a tiresome dispute with the precentor of the cathedral, John Featley [q. v.], with regard to some capitular appointments, and was attacked by him in a virulent tract entitled 'Speculum Mapletoftianum,' which exists in manuscript among the chapter documents. As master of the Spital Hospital he exerted himself vigorously for the revival of that sorely abused and practically defunct charity, in conjunction with Dean Michael Honywood [q. v.] A bill in chancery was exhibited in 1662 against Sir John Wray for the restoration of the estates, and Mapletoft at his own expense rebuilt the demolished chapel and increased its revenues, making the office rather one of expense than emolument (Reports and Papers of the Associated Architectural Soc. for 1890, pp. 285-8, 298). He also received from the crown the living of Clay worth, Nottinghamshire, which in 1672 he exchanged for the college living of Soham, near Ely, resigning his fellowship. He was nominated master of his college (Pembroke), but he waived in favour of Mark Frank [q. v.], whom he succeeded as master in 1664. He held the office, together with the benefice of Soham, till his death. He served as vice-chancellor in 1671. He was made dean of Ely on 7 Aug. 1667, holding the subdeanery of Lincoln with the deanery till 1671. When in 1668 Anne Hyde, duchess of York [q. v.], began to waver in her allegiance to the church of England, Mapletoft was recommended as her chaplain by his old friend Sheldon, as 'a primitive and apostolical divine,' whose influence might prevent her secession. Feeling himself 'unfit for court life,' he was reluctant to undertake the office, and in 1670 the duchess openly joined the church of Rome. He died on 20 Aug. 1677 in the master's lodge at Pembroke, and, by his desire, was buried in the chapel, near the grave of his patron, Bishop Wren. It is recorded of him that 'wherever he resided he kept a good table, and had the general reputation of a pious and charitable man.' In person he was exceedingly thin, 'vir valde macilentus.' He was cousin to Nicholas Ferrar [q. v.], and was 'one that had a long and special intimate acquaintance with him.' He was a frequent visitor at Little Gidding, Huntingdonshire, and on Ferrar's death he preached the funeral sermon and officiated at the funeral. His brother, Joshua Mapletoft, married Susanna Collett, Ferrar's niece, and was father of John Mapletoft [q. v.] Mapletoft himself was unmarried. By his will he bequeathed his library, the 'small reserves from the late plundering times,' and 100l. to Ely Cathedral, and the same sum to poor widows of clergy in the diocese. He also founded a catechetical lecture at the colleges of Queens' and Pembroke, Cambridge, and 'petty schools' at his native parish of Thoresby and at Louth, to prepare boys for the grammar school at that town, now converted into scholarships at those places.

[Cole MSS. xix. 127 a; Baker MSS. xxxvi. 103,xxxviii. 191; Lansdowne MSS. 986, No. 98, f.214; Harl. MS. 7043, pp. 229, 243.]

E. V.

MAR, Earls of. [See Cochrane, Robert, Earl of Mar, d. 1482 ; Erskine, John, first or sixth Earl of the Erskine line, d. 1572 ; Erskine, John, second or seventh Earl, 1558-1634 ; Erskine, John, sixth or eleventh Earl, 1675-1732 ; Stewart, John, Earl of Mar, d. 1479.]

MAR, DONALD, tenth Earl of (d. 1297), was the son of William, ninth earl [q. v.], and Elizabeth Comyn, his first wife. He was knighted by Alexander III at Scone in 1270, and succeeded as earl before 25 July 1281, when he took oath at Roxburgh to observe the treaty for the marriage of Princess Margaret of Scotland and Eric, king of Norway. At Scone in 1284 he similarly undertook to acknowledge their daughter, the Maid of Norway, as queen of Scotland in the event of Alexander's death, and in 1289 he united with the community of Scotland in recommending to Edward I of England the marriage of the Prince of Wales and the Maid of Norway. This was agreed to, and the marriage arranged at Birgham, Berwickshire, in July 1290, in a treaty to which Mar was a party. After the death of the Maid of Norway, when different claimants appeared for the Scottish crown, Mar united in the Scots' appeal to Edward to be their arbiter. Personally he supported the claim of Robert Bruce, whose son, the future king, married his daughter Isabel, and whose daughter,Christian, married his son, Gratney. He swore allegiance to Edward at Upsettington, Berwickshire, on 13 June 1291, and was a witness to Edward's protest at Berwick as to his claim to be lord superior of Scotland. Under Edward's suzerainty he held the office of bailie of Aboyne. In 1294 Mar, with other Scottish nobles, was summoned to London to attend Edward on foreign service. Rather than obey they revolted. But after the battle of Dunbar, in