Martyrs of the Scottish Reformation
Martyrs of the Scottish Reformation.
There were relatively few martyrs in Scotland in the early days of the Reformation – as it happened far more were burnt for witchcraft. Those that were burnt at the stake for religion were sometimes prominent persons eg Hamilton and Wishart, but all died as an example to others – to demonstrate the power of Rome and Popery. What appears surprising is that the prelates persisted in making the events so prominent “in terroram”, because it only excited public opinion to ask why these men had been burned. The people were familiar with the ways of the clergy and of buying absolution and like dissolute practices, but executing by fire men who were eminently virtuous raised doubts in their minds. There was very little public preaching as such, yet the interest created an ever increasing demand for the Bible to learn more of the arguments and declarations that had been made at trial and on the scaffold. Thus the evangelical opinions gathered strength by the day to the consternation of the Prelates.
Apart from Cardinal David Beaton whose claim to martyrdom ( for faith) is questionable, there is evidence of three Roman Catholic priests / monks who died for their faith. The proto martyr was a Father Frank a monk, who was stabbed to death in the sacking of the Trinity Friars monastery in Aberdeen , on 4 December 1559. Next was another monk, a Father Robson about whom there is very little known, who was hanged for saying mass in Glasgow. The third was John Ogilvie , a Jesuit missionary who was badly treated, assaulted and eventually entrapped in an arguement about the Pope having power to depose kings. He was convicted of treason and hanged in Glasgow on 28 February 1615. He, too, had been guilty of saying mass. No laymen or women are known to have been executed for the Catholic faith during the Scottish Reformation.
| Patrick Hamilton | St Andrews | 28 February 1528 | Burnt |
| James Hamilton | Confiscation of lands | ||
| Katherine Hamilton | Persecution and insult | ||
| Henry Forrest | St Andrews | 1532 | Burnt |
| David Straiton | Edinburgh | 27 August 1534 | Hanged, Burnt |
| Norman Gourlay | Edinburgh | 27 August 1534 | Hanged, Burnt |
| Friar Keilor | Edinburgh | 1 March 1538-9.* | Burnt |
| Duncan Simson | Edinburgh | 1 March 1538-9.* | Striuelyng Burnt |
| John Beveridge | Edinburgh | 1 March 1538-9.* | Striuelyng Burnt |
| Robert Forrester | Edinburgh | 1 March 1538-9.* | Striuelyng Burnt |
| Thomas Forrest | Edinburgh | 1 March 1538-9.* | Striuelyng Burnt |
| 3 or 4 others | no details | Also of Stirling. Burnt | |
| Ninian Kennedy | Glasgow | 1539 | Aged 18 Burnt |
| Jerome Russell | Glasgow | 1539 | Burnt |
| Robert Lamb (Lambe) | Perth | 1544 | Executed |
| William Anderson | Perth | 1544 | Executed |
| James Ronaldson (Raueleson) | Perth | 1544 | Executed |
| Helen Stark (Stirke) | Perth | 1544 | Executed, wife of Ronaldson ? |
| James Hunter | Perth | 1544 | Executed |
| James Finlayson ( Founleson) |
Perth | 1544 | Executed |
| George Wishart | At Andrews | 28 March 1546 | Burnt |
| Adam Wallace | Edinburgh | 12 October 1550 | Burnt |
| Walter Mill or Mylne | St Andrews | 28 April 1558 | Burnt |
| Earl of Moray, Regent | Linlithgow | 23 January 1570 | Assassinated. |
| * 28 February 1538 according to Howie`s Scots Worthies.
18/07/2011 |