James Crichton, commonly called the “Admirable” Crichton, claims Scottish royal descent from his parents, Robert Crichton, a public official, and Elizabeth Stewart of the house of Beith.

After receiving an M.A. in 1575 from the University of St. Andrews in one year instead of the usual two, he had gone to Paris, where he seems to have distinguished himself at the Collège de Navarre.

His first known activity in Europe was his oration of July 1579 in the ducal palace at Genoa.

The next year, Crichton had presented himself to the Venetian printer Aldus Manutius, probably the author of a handbill that had attributed to the twenty-year-old Crichton excellence in every form of athletics, skill in arms and horsemanship, mastery of ten languages, encyclopedic familiarity with Scholastic and Christian philosophy, and a remarkable ability to debate on any subject proposed.

Manutius had introduced him to leading local Humanists, who are greatly impressed by his accomplishments.

At Padua in 1581, Crichton had enhanced his reputation in two debates, and Manutius pays tribute to his successes in his dedication for his own edition of Paradoxa by the Roman author Cicero.

Although many consider him to be a model of the cultured Scottish gentleman, others doubt the very existence of an individual of such achievements.

Crichton enters the service of the Duke of Mantua in 1582 but is slain here at the instigation, and probably at the hand, of the young prince Vincenzo Gonzaga, whose jealousy he has aroused.