Background
Anderson was a native of Elgin or Moray, his mother being a sister of John Lesley.
Anderson was a native of Elgin or Moray, his mother being a sister of John Lesley.
In time Anderson acquired a reputation as linguist, mathematician, philosopher, and divine. Sent to Scotland as a missioner, he arrived via London where he was in November 1609. He had hairbreadth escapes from the authorities.
He left Scotland for Paris to meet his superior, James Gordon, late in 1611.
At that time there was only a single Catholic priest in Scotland. Returning to Scotland, Anderson was betrayed, and committed to the Old Tolbooth, Edinburgh.
Threatened with the torture of the boot, he was liberated by the intercession, it was thought, of the French ambassador Antoine Coiffier-Ruzé, marquis d"Effiat, who chose him for his confessor. He died in London 24 September 1624.