Patrick Hamilton (martyr)

Patrick Hamilton
Patrick Hamilton by John Scougal, c. 1645-1730. This is the only known portrait of the martyr.
Born	c. 1504
Died	29 February 1528
Nationality	Scottish
Occupation(s)	Churchman and Reformer
Height	2.1 m (6 ft 11 in)
Parents	Sir Patrick Hamilton of Kincavil (father) Catherine Stewart (mother)
Relatives	Sister, Katherine Hamilton Maternal Grandfather, Alexander, Duke of Albany

Patrick Hamilton (1504 – 29 February 1528) was a Scottish Roman Catholic priest and an early Protestant Reformer in Scotland. He travelled to Europe, where he met several of the leading reformed thinkers, before returning to Scotland to preach the doctrines of Lutheranism. Hamilton began preaching in Scotland in 1527 and was invited as a friend by Archbishop James Beaton to a conference in St. Andrews. Instead, he was tried for heresy by an Ecclesiastical tribunal led by Archbishop Beaton. He was found guilty, handed over to the secular executioner, and burnt at the stake in St Andrews.

Hamilton's judges considered themselves to be defending the Catholic Church in Scotland and enforcing the traditional principle of Canon law that "error has no rights"; Hamilton's calm demeanor in the face of death won the admiration of those present and his death was widely publicized using the new technologies of the Gutenberg Revolution. Hamilton's trial and execution accordingly backfired dramatically, as still often happens during religious persecution of any kind. After Hamilton's death, others who had Lutheran New Testaments or who professed Protestant doctrines were also burned or sentenced to severe punishments, while others fled the country^{[citation needed]}. Since the Scottish Reformation Parliament of 1560, the site of Hamilton's execution has been treated with enormous respect, even by the students and faculty of the University of St Andrews.