Peregrinations

In 1593 when Strachan reached the age of twenty-one, he assumed financial responsibility for himself. It would appear that his family continued to provide some support, but there is sufficient evidence to suggest that obtaining an income became increasingly important to him. By that time he had spent five years abroad as a student and was showing a desire to continue his life as a serious scholar. For someone of his limited means, this presented a problem. While completing the Quadrivium, he could support himself in part by teaching younger students. As a gifted scholar, he could obtain a teaching post at a university or college, but such a career would never have been able to provide sufficient income for someone of his social status. His good friend, Thomas Dempster of Muiresk, similarly a younger son of Catholic gentry in the north of Scotland, was unable to support himself while simultaneously holding professorships at four different colleges at the University of Paris. He needed the sponsorship of a wealthy benefactor; until he obtained one he was unable to marry or support a family (Du Toit 2004).

Faced with similar problems while still in his early twenties, Strachan had given consideration to a life in the Church. The views of his family regarding the difficulties this would cause them must have given him some concern. Following his visit home in the late 1590s, he did not abandon all thoughts he had on the matter, but merely refrained from taking a decision. For over a decade the Jesuits continued to hope that he would join the Society. On his return to France in 1598–9, his primary interests still lay in academic study, but it is clear that he had financial problems. Whatever limited money Strachan had received from his family on his visit could not have lasted long. They were in no position to be generous.

Despite the relative bleakness of his prospects, he showed a certain confidence in his financial position since it was on his return to France that Strachan bought his album amicorum. The cost was roughly seventy merks. Parisian booksellers of the time charged two denarii per sheet of paper (Proot 2018: 199–200). The 250 folio sheets unbound would have cost the equivalent of £2 sterling. The leather binding with the gold leaf tooling would have doubled the cost.