Born in Edinburgh, Archibald Pitcairne was the son of Alexander Pitcairne. He was educated in Dalkeith and Edinburgh University, graduating with an MA in 1671. He studied botany, pharmacy and materia medica and after further study in Paris graduated with an MD at Rheims in 1680. In 1685 he was appointed, along with Sir Robert Sibbald and Sir James Halket, joint Professors of Medicine at Edinburgh University. Seven years later, Archibald Pitcairne accepted the chair of Medicine at Leyden but for family reasons he had to resign and return to Edinburgh. A man of wide culture, Pitcairne possessed one of the finest libraries in Scotland and had a considerable reputation as a writer of Latin verse and as a playwright. Pitcairne was a supporter of the Stuart cause and his criticism of the government brought about his arrest and imprisonment in the Tolbooth.