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| Patrick Hamilton |
| (1503-1528, Scotland's first Protestant
Martyr) |
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There is a saying in life (or
maybe it was Rutger Hauer in "Bladerunner") that "it
is better to have burned brightly and briefly, than never to have
shone at all."
We think that Patrick Hamilton
would certainly have agreed with the sentiment. Because, interesting
though his short life was, it is the manner of his death in February
1528 which really earns him his place within these pages.
Hamilton was sentenced as a
heretic to burning at the stake but, far from burning brightly and
briefly, the poor chap was made to suffer a slow and agonising death
because the people carrying out the sentence screwed up big time.
In a scene that might be laughable
were it not so horrific, his executioners underestimated the amount
of fuel required to do the job and at the first attempt, with Hamilton
still alive but nicely grilled, the fire exhausted itself and petered
out.
Amidst much scratching of heads,
as the blistered victim writhed and screamed for a merciful end
to his suffering, fresh supplies of wood and kindling were called
for and the process was resumed, eventually taking six hours to
consume the body.
In fairness, the executioners
can't really be blamed. After all, nobody had ever burned a heretic
before and this was something of a test case. In time, however,
the Scottish authorities soon got the hang of it and before very
long they were burning Protestant heretics all over the place with
well-practiced efficiency, so hurrah for that.
Hamilton was a great grandson
of King James II, but in those days Royal connections were no guarantee
of protection or immunity from the all-powerful Catholic Church
which really ran (and owned) the country.
He studied in Paris where he
first came across the work of the leading reformist Martin Luther,
whose own writings were burnt at the University (burning was obviously
a very popular pastime in the middle-ages) in 1521.
Hamilton returned to Scotland,
determined to spread the Lutheran word, and soon attracted the attention
of Cardinal Beaton, Scotland's religious patriarch, who was less
than delighted with the rising popularity of "dangerous"
views such as his.
In January 1528, Beaton invited
Hamilton to St.Andrews for a conference, after which he was allowed
to openly preach in the town for a month, a surprising concession
which should have aroused his suspicions, but didn't. In February,
after his month was up, Hamilton was seized, tried and convicted
of the crime of heresy, and sentenced to death.
The execution took place in
front of St.Salvator's College, and the rest, as they say, is blistery.
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