The First and Last Martyrs of the Scottish Reformation

[00:00:00] Martyrs and Missionaries is a production of Revive Studios.

[00:00:04] You're listening to Martyrs and Missionaries. I'm Elise and in every episode I'll bring you

[00:00:10] a new Martyr and or missionary, the called and the brave. In this episode we're talking

[00:00:15] about the bookend Martyrs of the Scottish Reformation.

[00:00:30] Before we get into that, I want to share a couple of the most recent reviews we've had

[00:00:43] from Apple and Spotify. This one comes from Apple from Stacey May G, who says thank you

[00:00:48] for all these stories. I love stories and especially ones about Martyrs and Missionaries

[00:00:53] keep up the good work.

[00:00:55] And these next ones come from Spotify, from the latest episode that we did on Mary

[00:00:59] Read.

[00:01:00] And this first one I'm not sure how to pronounce this username but I believe it is Dioffs

[00:01:05] a two.

[00:01:07] Beautiful story and life well-lived for Christ.

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[00:01:15] this format.

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[00:01:21] great episode thanks for all you do.

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[00:01:30] I felt it was time that we went back and covered the life of an ancient Martyr but I didn't

[00:01:34] quite make it that far and instead I came across these two Martyrs in the days of the Scottish

[00:01:39] Reformation. Actually there's three of them so technically it's no longer bookends but

[00:01:43] I thought that it was a catchy title and then I think you'll also agree that this other

[00:01:47] man needed to be mentioned as well.

[00:01:50] But before we talk about them, we actually need to do a quick summary of what was happening

[00:01:54] in England, Scotland and France in the mid to late 1500s because the Scottish Reformation

[00:02:00] is not a cut and dry event where one day they're Catholic and then boom their Protestant.

[00:02:05] It was actually a lengthy and confusing process as most European history tends to be but I'll

[00:02:11] try to summarize it as succinctly as possible because this is not a deep dive into the

[00:02:16] Reformation itself but just focusing on the people.

[00:02:20] But in the early two mid 16th century the Protestant Reformation was in full swing and

[00:02:25] Scotland was decidedly Catholic but there were some reformed murmurings and then in 1534 England

[00:02:31] turned everything on its head and became a Protestant nation almost 30 years into Henry

[00:02:36] the 8th's reign.

[00:02:38] In James V who was a nephew of Henry the 8th because all of the European monarchies are

[00:02:42] somehow related he was the king of Scotland and was hard up for cash because the royal

[00:02:48] court was known for partying hearty and living it up and he began flirting with Protestant

[00:02:52] ism only so that the Pope would give him more tax breaks to remain Catholic.

[00:02:57] And he also used the church to fill vacancies with his illegitimate children and his personal

[00:03:01] favorites was this a real problem that we'll see in this story.

[00:03:06] And then in 1542 he dies and his only urge to the throne is his daughter Mary who is a

[00:03:11] six day old infant she will go on to become Mary Queen of Scots but she is not yet.

[00:03:17] Political turmoil ensues with both France and England and competition for who would control

[00:03:22] the Scottish throne through marriage to infant Mary and this period became known as the

[00:03:26] rough wooing and rough it was because England's way of wooing Scotland was to repeatedly

[00:03:31] attack her while the French supplies Scotland with troops and supplies and both sides spent

[00:03:37] an absolute fortune in this endeavor but unsurprisingly France won out and Mary was betrothed

[00:03:43] to James II and she left Scotland for France where she would be safe from England.

[00:03:49] Now as far as Protestant persecutions during the Reformation go, Scotland actually wasn't

[00:03:54] that bad there was no widespread persecution commanded by the king or anything like that.

[00:04:00] There actually weren't even that many martyrs but there are more than we cover in this episode

[00:04:04] obviously about the persecutions in Scotland came primarily from just two cardinals James

[00:04:10] beaten and later his nephew who's David beaten.

[00:04:14] Now before we get any further into this story, we actually have to go back about 20 years

[00:04:19] and talk about the very first martyr of the Scottish Reformation Patrick Hamilton.

[00:04:26] Patrick is born in 1504 as a minor Scottish noble his grandfather on his mother's side was

[00:04:31] the second son of James II and when he was 13 he was appointed as an abbot to a town in

[00:04:37] the Highlands but it was just a formal title without any real responsibility or authority

[00:04:42] but the stipend he received from the position allowed him the study at the University of

[00:04:46] Paris and it's while he was there that he discovered the writings of Martin Luther

[00:04:51] and when he returned to Scotland in 1523 he was admitted into St Andrews which was the

[00:04:56] seat of the Catholic Church in Scotland and he attained a position as a facilitator

[00:05:01] of worship using his own music written to be used during Solon High Mass but even then

[00:05:07] he'd been reading up on the reforming doctrines and became more and more convinced of their

[00:05:11] truths.

[00:05:12] So he began to spread these ideas among his friends and colleagues which earned him the attention

[00:05:16] of Cardinal James beaten who was the archbishop of St Andrews.

[00:05:21] James was perhaps the most powerful man in the country and he was the main reason that

[00:05:25] the king sided with France against England and the English ambassador described him as

[00:05:30] the greatest man both of lands and experience within this realm and noted to be very crafty

[00:05:35] and dissimulating.

[00:05:37] And when he ordered that Patrick ought to be arrested and tried Patrick fled the Germany

[00:05:41] and enrolled himself in the new Protestant University of Marburg but then three years

[00:05:46] later in 1527 he returns to Scotland and begins preaching openly he was very popular and

[00:05:52] powerfully connected because of his uncle and then also some friends he had made during

[00:05:57] his time abroad.

[00:05:58] And he renounced clerical celibacy and married a noble woman whose name is not known

[00:06:03] and then he was invited to speak at a conference at St Andrews by David Beaton who was now

[00:06:09] sharing archbishop duties with his uncle.

[00:06:12] Now Patrick knows this is not a friendly invitation to a conference it would actually lead

[00:06:17] to his death but this time he didn't bulk and so he was allowed to preach and debate

[00:06:21] for about a month so as to give them more evidence against him.

[00:06:25] But instead this plan backfired and many more people became convinced of his message even

[00:06:31] published a soon to be popular book called Patrick's Places which taught the distinction

[00:06:35] between the law and the gospel and faith versus works as taught by Martin Luther.

[00:06:41] And then finally he was summoned before a council of bishops and clerics with David Beaton

[00:06:45] presiding and he was asked to give an account of his teachings and he held firm and he was

[00:06:50] sentenced to be burned at the stake in front of the chapel at St Andrews that very day in

[00:06:54] order to keep his uncle from intervening or giving his friends time to act.

[00:06:59] The execution drew a large crowd but the fire was lit at noon and then refused to stay

[00:07:05] lit and instead it smoked horribly so more gunpowder and more wood had to be added and

[00:07:11] this went on for six hours until Patrick had finally succumbed to the smoke in the flames

[00:07:17] and he was only 24 years old when he died.

[00:07:20] But after his death James Beaton said that if he had to burn any more heretics he would

[00:07:24] do so in the deep, deep sellers so that no one would know because the reek of Mr. Patrick

[00:07:29] Hamilton has infected as many as a blue upon.

[00:07:35] George Wishhart is the next martyr we'll talk about and he is the reason why this episode

[00:07:39] is not a bookend.

[00:07:40] He was born in 1513 he goes to the university in France and becomes a priest coming back

[00:07:45] to Scotland in 1538 as a schoolteacher and he begins teaching his students the New Testament

[00:07:52] and the original Greek which was forbidden.

[00:07:55] A bishop caught wind of what he was doing and George fled to England.

[00:07:58] Interestingly he comes under fire for a similar reason in England and is examined by Thomas

[00:08:03] Kranmer under whom he recanted but it's not really clear what he recanted of and then

[00:08:09] he spends the next few years in Switzerland and Germany before finally coming back to

[00:08:14] Scotland in 1543.

[00:08:16] A couple years after he returns a plague broke out in the city of Dundee and as soon as

[00:08:21] he heard of it he went there immediately and began preaching and caring for the sick,

[00:08:26] telling them of a disease worse than the plague which was sin and he shared the gossip

[00:08:30] with the afflicted and hearing of what he was doing David beaten sent a priest to kill

[00:08:35] him with a dagger and George disarmed the priest and then protected him from the angry

[00:08:40] crowd insisting that he was unheard.

[00:08:43] And then later another attempt was made on his life where a message was supposedly sent

[00:08:47] from a friend that he should come quickly because the friend was very ill and the letter

[00:08:51] was false.

[00:08:52] It was sent at the behest of Cardinal beaten and instead 60 men were lying in white

[00:08:57] weights to kill him when he arrived and he traveled about halfway and he got this feeling

[00:09:02] that something was really wrong.

[00:09:04] So he told his friends who were with him that they should go ahead and he would stay behind

[00:09:08] and they could see whether the report was true or if it was a trap.

[00:09:11] And his friends confirmed that it was indeed a trap and they relayed this information to

[00:09:15] George who said, I know I shall end my life by that bloodthirsty man's hands but it will

[00:09:20] not be in this manner.

[00:09:23] It is possible that he was one of the men responsible for an assassination attempt on David

[00:09:28] beaten.

[00:09:29] But the evidence for that is rather flimsy but it does come up in his story so I figured

[00:09:33] I'd share it.

[00:09:34] But he traveled all over Scotland preaching against the papacy and the abuses in the church

[00:09:39] and by this time he was accompanied by his disciple John Knox who was acting as a bodyguard

[00:09:44] to George carrying around a literal braw sword which is the coolest image and I don't know

[00:09:50] why that isn't depicted more frequently because that is just that would be so cool.

[00:09:54] I actually want somebody to commission that painting or whatever we do now with AI or

[00:09:58] whatever, I want to see that image.

[00:10:01] And then in 1546 George has finally arrested near Edinburgh when he's taken to St Andrews

[00:10:06] where he was kept in the dungeon until his trial.

[00:10:09] I'll read now from the Fox's book of martyrs.

[00:10:12] The cardinal immediately proceeded to the trial of Wishheart against whom no less than 18

[00:10:16] articles were exhibited.

[00:10:18] Mr. Wishheart answered the respective articles with great composure of mind and in so learned

[00:10:22] it in clear a manner as greatly surprised most of those who were present.

[00:10:27] After the examination was finished the archbishop endeavored to prevail upon Mr. Wishheart to

[00:10:31] recant but he was too friendly fixed in his religious principles and too much enlightened

[00:10:35] with the truth of the gospel to be in the least moved.

[00:10:39] On the morning it was execution there came to him two friars from the cardinal, one

[00:10:43] of whom put on him a black linen coat and the other brought several bags of gunpowder

[00:10:47] which they tied about different parts of his body.

[00:10:50] As soon as he arrived at the stake, the executioner put a rope round his neck and a chain

[00:10:54] around his middle upon which he fell on his knees and thus exclaimed,

[00:10:58] O thou saviour of the world have mercy upon me, Father of heaven I commend my spirit into

[00:11:03] thy holy hands.

[00:11:06] After this he prayed for his accusers saying,

[00:11:08] I beseech thee, Father of heaven, forgive them that they have from ignorance or an evil

[00:11:12] mind forged lies of me.

[00:11:14] I forgive them with all of my heart, I beseech Christ to forgive them that have ignorantly

[00:11:19] condemned me.

[00:11:20] He was then fastened to the stake and the wood being lighted immediately set fire to

[00:11:25] the powder that was tied about him which blew into a flame and smoke.

[00:11:29] The governor of the castle who stood so near that he was sent with the flame exhorted

[00:11:33] the martyr in a few words to be of good cheer and to ask the pardon of God for his offenses

[00:11:38] to which he replied,

[00:11:40] This flame occasions troubled my body indeed, but it hath in no ways broken my spirit.

[00:11:46] But he who now proudly looks down upon me from yonder lofty place pointing to the cardinal

[00:11:50] shall air long be ignomously thrown down as now he proudly walls about at his ease.

[00:11:57] The hangman that was his tormentor sat down upon his knees and said,

[00:12:01] Sir I pray you to forgive me for I am not guilty of your death to whom he answered,

[00:12:06] come hither to me, and when he was come to him he kissed his cheek and said,

[00:12:09] Low here is a token that I forgive thee.

[00:12:12] And then he was put upon the jibbit and hanged and burned to powder, and when the people

[00:12:16] beheld the great tormenting they might not withhold from pitius mourning and complaining

[00:12:21] of this innocent lamb's slaughter.

[00:12:25] It was not long after the martyrdom of this blessed man of God, Master George Wishhart,

[00:12:29] who was put to death by David Beaton, the bloody archbishop and cardinal of Scotland.

[00:12:33] But on the first day of March in 1546, the said David Beaton, who by the just revenge

[00:12:39] of God's mighty judgment was slain in his own castle of Saint Andrews by the hands

[00:12:43] of one Leslie and other gentleman, who by the lords stirred up, break in suddenly upon

[00:12:49] him and in his bed murdered him while he cried out, a last a last slamey not I am a priest.

[00:12:55] And so like a butcher he lived and like a butcher he died and lay seven months and more

[00:13:00] unburied.

[00:13:01] And at last like a carry on was buried in a dunghill.

[00:13:05] One last interesting note on the life of David Beaton is that he was known for punishing

[00:13:09] those who advocated against the celibacy of the clergy while he lived in a castle with

[00:13:14] his mistress, with whom he had eight children, his oldest surviving son would later become

[00:13:19] a Protestant and master of the house to James VI, the king of Scotland and later England

[00:13:24] and his queen and of Denmark.

[00:13:48] The successor of David Beaton as the Archbishop of Saint Andrews was John Hamilton, who followed

[00:13:53] the footsteps of his predecessors in an effort to stime the growth of Protestantism.

[00:13:58] And the last martyr to die in the Scottish Reformation was Walter Mill or Mill, but John

[00:14:03] Fox calls him Mill so that's what we'll use.

[00:14:07] Walter was born in 1476 and as a younger man he had traveled to Germany where he had heard

[00:14:12] the doctrines of the Reformation and believed them.

[00:14:15] And he later came back to Scotland as a priest in the city of Montrose which seemed to be quite

[00:14:19] a popular place for Reformation teaching in Scotland as it was a town most of the reformers

[00:14:24] frequented.

[00:14:26] During David Beaton's tenure as Archbishop, evidence was brought against Walter of Heresy

[00:14:31] and he was to be condemned and burned wherever he was found so he fled but we don't really

[00:14:35] know where he went to.

[00:14:36] But then later he returns to Scotland and at this point he's taken a wife which he was

[00:14:41] not supposed to do as a priest but apparently it's okay to have a long time mistress just

[00:14:46] not a wife.

[00:14:48] But Walter who was now an old man at 82 or 83 was still preaching and teaching the doctrines

[00:14:53] of grace and people's homes when he was arrested for teaching these doctrines and then for

[00:14:58] breaking the laws of celibacy and was imprisoned at St. Andrews.

[00:15:03] And he was treated so horribly in prison, especially given his age in order to pressure him

[00:15:09] to recant and he would even offer this cushy appointment as an abbot and then he naturally

[00:15:14] refused.

[00:15:15] But when he was officially brought to trial on April 20th, 1558 he was so infirm that

[00:15:21] he had trouble even walking up the steps and people were worried if he'd even have

[00:15:25] the strength to give a defense.

[00:15:27] And reading here from his testimony in front of the assembly of bishops, abbots and scholars

[00:15:32] he was cross-examined by Andrew Olyfons and accused of breaking the Romanist law of celibacy

[00:15:38] and challenging the dogma of the church such as the Mass.

[00:15:41] But the pilgrimages practiced in that period he spoke plainly, exposing the corruption saying

[00:15:46] that there is no greater horde on any place than at your pilgrimages except it be in common

[00:15:51] brothels.

[00:15:52] I couldn't find any information on Andrew Olyfons himself but I imagine that this rebuke

[00:15:58] must have stung quite hard for the Archbishop Hamilton who was the illegitimate son of an

[00:16:03] Earl with a mistress of his own and six children.

[00:16:06] Walter continues,

[00:16:07] I am accused of my life.

[00:16:09] I know I must die once and therefore as Christ said to Judas, what thou doest do quickly.

[00:16:15] Ye shall know that I will not recant the truth for I am corn.

[00:16:19] I am no chaff.

[00:16:20] I will not be blown away with the wind nor burst with the flail but I will abide both.

[00:16:26] And then he was condemned a burned at the stake but the people shut up their shops and

[00:16:30] refused to sell the wood, the rope, the tender necessary because they were so disgusted

[00:16:34] at Walter's treatment.

[00:16:37] Eventually they were able to find the materials that were needed and they commenced with the

[00:16:41] execution.

[00:16:42] And while he was being fastened to the stake, he cried out to the people, the cause why

[00:16:46] I suffer this day is not for any crime, though I acknowledge myself a miserable sinner but

[00:16:51] only for the defense of the truth as it is in Christ Jesus.

[00:16:54] I pray God who have called me by His mercy to seal the truth with my life which as I

[00:17:00] received it from Him, so I willingly and joyfully offer it up to His glory.

[00:17:05] Therefore as you would escape eternal death, be no longer seduced by the lies of the seed

[00:17:09] of Antichrist but depends solely on Jesus Christ and His mercy that He may be delivered

[00:17:15] from condemnation.

[00:17:17] The death of Walter Mill is considered to be the turning point of the Scottish Reformation.

[00:17:22] Later that year Elizabeth I becomes Queen of England securing England's future as a

[00:17:26] forever Protestant nation.

[00:17:28] Mary of Guys who was the Catholic Queen Regent after the death of James V died in 1560 and

[00:17:34] she was listed among John Knox's famous monstrous regime of women.

[00:17:38] John Knox had returned to Scotland and helped lead the fledgling Protestant movement.

[00:17:42] He preached a sermon against idols and icons that led to a massive sweeping of removal

[00:17:46] of iconography from the churches.

[00:17:48] The Scottish Parliament renounced the Pope's authority and mass was declared illegal.

[00:17:53] Three years later in 1561 Queen Mary returned to Scotland after her husband died in France

[00:17:58] and she was pushed out of the court by Catherine de Medici.

[00:18:02] She was a Catholic but she had little interest in imposing it as a national religion, I think

[00:18:06] mostly because most of her nobles were Protestant.

[00:18:09] But the rest of her story is like frankly fascinating and I cannot figure her out as

[00:18:14] a person so definitely look her up if you like diving deep into stuff like this.

[00:18:19] Was she an overall decent person or was she a husband murdering egomaniac?

[00:18:23] It's hard to say.

[00:18:25] But her son James VI who would later become King of Scotland and then later in that England

[00:18:31] he is the one who commissioned the King James Bible and he is also an interesting character.

[00:18:37] Today a martyr's monument stands at St Andrews to commemorate four martyrs of the Scottish

[00:18:41] Reformation.

[00:18:42] Patrick Hamilton Henry Forrest who was burned on the hill for all the sea because he possessed

[00:18:47] a new testament and then he also affirmed that Patrick Hamilton was a martyr and then

[00:18:52] George Wishhart and Walter Mill.

[00:18:55] Large monograms bearing their initials also exist for Patrick Hamilton and George Wishhart

[00:19:00] on the places where they were burnt.

[00:19:04] This is one of my first time really reading through some of the accounts in the Fox's book

[00:19:07] of martyrs and he has a quote on the subject of martyrdom that I liked and I wanted to

[00:19:12] share it.

[00:19:13] Since it is the will of the Almighty that we should suffer for his name and be persecuted

[00:19:17] for the sake of his gospel, we patiently submit and are joyful upon the occasion.

[00:19:22] Though the flesh may rebel against the spirit and harken to the counsel of the old serpent,

[00:19:27] yet the truth of the gospel shall prevent such advice from being taken and Christ shall

[00:19:31] bruise the serpent's head.

[00:19:33] We are not comfortless to confine it for we have faith.

[00:19:36] We fear not affliction for we have hope and we forgive our enemies for we have charity.

[00:19:42] Be not under apprehensions for us.

[00:19:44] For we are happy and confinement for the promises of God, glory in our bonds and exalt him being

[00:19:49] thought worthy to suffer for the sake of Christ.

[00:19:52] We desire not to be released but to be blessed with fortitude.

[00:19:55] We ask not for liberty but for the power of perseverance and wish for no change in our

[00:20:00] condition but that which places a crown of martyrdom upon our heads.

[00:20:06] As always, thank you for listening to my other submissionaries.

[00:20:08] I'm Elise.

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