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HAMILTON, PATRICK (1504-1528)

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 887 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HAMILTON, See also:PATRICK (1504-1528) , Scottish divine, second son of See also:Sir Patrick Hamilton, well known in Scottish See also:chivalry, and of See also:Catherine See also:Stewart, daughter of See also:Alexander, See also:duke of See also:Albany, second son of See also:James II. of See also:Scotland, was See also:born in the See also:diocese of See also:Glasgow, probably at his See also:father's See also:estate of Stanehouse in See also:Lanarkshire. He was educated probably at See also:Linlithgow. In 1517 he was appointed titular See also:abbot of Ferne, See also:Ross-See also:shire; and it was probably about the same See also:year that he went to study at See also:Paris, for his name is found in an See also:ancient See also:list of those who graduated there in 1520. It was doubtless in Paris, where See also:Luther's writings were already exciting much discussion, that he received the germs of the doctrines he was afterwards to uphold. From Alexander See also:Ales we learn that Hamilton subse- quently went to See also:Louvain, attracted probably by the fame of See also:Erasmus, who in 1521 had his headquarters there. Returning to Scotland, the See also:young See also:scholar naturally selected St See also:Andrews, the See also:capital of the See also:church and of learning, as his See also:residence. On ' See S. R. See also:Gardiner in the Dict. of Nat. See also:Biography. the gth of See also:June 1523 he became a member of the university of St Andrews, and on the 3rd of See also:October 1524 he was admitted to its See also:faculty of arts. There Hamilton attained such See also:influence that he was permitted to conduct as See also:precentor a musical See also:mass of his own See also:composition in the See also:cathedral.

But the reformed doctrines had now obtained a See also:

firm hold on the young abbot, and he was eager to communicate them to his See also:fellow-countrymen. See also:Early in 1527 the See also:attention of James See also:Beaton, See also:archbishop of St Andrews, was directed to the heretical See also:preaching of the young See also:priest, whereupon he ordered that Hamilton should be formally summoned and accused. Hamilton fled to See also:Germany, first visiting Luther at See also:Wittenberg, and afterwards enrolling himself as a student, under See also:Franz See also:Lambert of See also:Avignon, in the new university of See also:Marburg, opened on the 3oth of May 1527 by See also:Philip, See also:landgrave of See also:Hesse. See also:Hermann von dem Busche, one of the contributors to the Epistolae obscurorum virorum, See also:John See also:Frith and See also:Tyndale were among those whom he met there. See also:Late in the autumn of 1527 Hamilton returned to Scotland, bold in the conviction of the truth of his principles. He went first to his See also:brother's See also:house at Kincavel, near Linlithgow, in which See also:town he preached frequently, and soon afterwards he married a young See also:lady of See also:noble See also:rank, whose name has not come down to us. Beaton, avoiding open violence through fear of Hamilton's high connexions, invited him to a See also:conference at St Andrews. The reformer, predicting that he was going to confirm the pious in the true See also:doctrine by his See also:death, resolutely accepted the invitation, and for nearly a See also:month was permitted to preach and dispute, perhaps in See also:order to provide material for See also:accusation. At length, however, he was summoned before a See also:council of bishops and See also:clergy presided over by the archbishop; there were thirteen charges, seven of which were based on the doctrines affirmed in the Loci communes. On examination Hamilton maintained that these were undoubtedly true. The council condemned him as a heretic on the whole thirteen charges. Hamilton was seized, and, it is said, surrendered to the soldiery on an assurance that he would be restored to his See also:friends without injury.

The council convicted him, after a sham disputation with See also:

Friar See also:Campbell, and handed him over to the See also:secular See also:power. The See also:sentence was carried out on the same See also:day (See also:February 29, 1528) lest he should be rescued by his friends, and he was burned at the stake as a heretic. His courageous bearing attracted more attention than ever to the doctrines for which he suffered, and greatly helped to spread the See also:Reformation in Scotland. The " reek of Patrick Hamilton infected all it blew on." His martyrdom is singular in this respect, that he represented in Scotland almost alone the Lutheran See also:stage of the Reformation. His only See also:book was entitled Loci communes, known as " Patrick's Places." It set forth the doctrine of See also:justification by faith and the contrast between the See also:gospel and the See also:law in a See also:series of clear-cut propositions. It is to be found in Foxs's Acts and Monuments.

End of Article: HAMILTON, PATRICK (1504-1528)

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