John Hamilton (archbishop of St Andrews)

{{Short description|Scottish prelate and politician (1512–1571)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2018}} {{Use British English|date=November 2018}} {{Infobox Christian leader | type = Archbishop | honorific_prefix = [[The Most Reverend]] | name = John Hamilton | honorific_suffix = | title = [[Archbishop of St Andrews]]<br>[[Primate (bishop)|Primate of Scotland]] | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | church = [[Roman Catholic]] | archdiocese = [[Archdiocese of St Andrews|St Andrews]] | province = | metropolis = | diocese = | see = | appointed = 28 November 1547 | term = 1547–1571 | quashed =  | predecessor = [[David Beaton]] | successor = [[Gavin Hamilton (archbishop of St Andrews)|Gavin Hamilton]] | opposed = | other_post =  | ordination = | ordained_by = | consecration = 22 August 1546 | consecrated_by = | cardinal = | created_cardinal_by = | rank =  | birth_name = | birth_date = 3 February 1512 | birth_place =  | death_date = 6 April 1571 (aged 59) | death_place = [[Stirling]], [[Scotland]] | buried =  | resting_place_coordinates = | nationality = [[Scottish people|Scottish]] | religion = | residence = | parents = [[James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Arran]] & Mrs Boyd{{Citation needed|date=May 2020}} | partner = Grizzel Sempill | children = 6 | occupation = | previous_post = [[Bishop of Dunkeld]] (1544–46) | education = | alma_mater = | motto = | signature = | signature_alt = | coat_of_arms = | coat_of_arms_alt =  | feast_day = | venerated = | saint_title = | beatified_date = | beatified_place = | beatified_by = | canonized_date = | canonized_place = | canonized_by = | attributes = | patronage = | shrine = | suppressed_date =  | module = | module2 = | other = }} '''John Hamilton''' (3 February 1512 – 6 April 1571), Scottish [[prelate]] and politician, was an illegitimate son of [[James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Arran|The 1st Earl of Arran]] (in the [[Peerage of Scotland]]).<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07123b.htm|title=John Hamilton|encyclopedia=[[Catholic Encyclopedia]] |access-date=18 February 2007}}</ref>

==Brother of the Regent== At a very early age Hamilton became a [[monk]] and [[Abbot of Paisley]]. After studying in Paris he returned to Scotland, where he soon rose to a position of power and influence under his half-brother, [[James Hamilton, Duke of Châtellerault|The 2nd Earl of Arran]], who was serving as [[Regent]]. He was made [[Keeper of the Privy Seal of Scotland]] in 1543 and [[bishop of Dunkeld]] two years later; in 1546 he followed [[David Cardinal Beaton|Cardinal Beaton]] as [[Archbishop of St Andrews]], and about the same time he became [[treasurer of the kingdom]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

In 1553 the Italian physician [[Gerolamo Cardano]] cured him of a disease that had left him speechless and was thought incurable. The diplomat [[Thomas Randolph (diplomat)|Thomas Randolph]] recorded the "merry tales" rumoured about his methods still current in Edinburgh nine years later.{{sfn|Bain|1898|p=[https://archive.org/details/calendarstatepa00baingoog/page/n640 592]|ps=: "There is a merry tale that Cardanus the Italian took upon him to cure the Bishop of St. Andrews of a disease judged by all incurable. He practised on him divers strange inventions hung him certains hours a day by the heels ... "}} Cardano himself wrote that the Archbishop had been short of breath for ten years, and after the cure was effected by his assistant, he was paid 1,400 gold crowns.<ref>Cardanus, Gerolamo, [https://books.google.com/books?id=blA9AAAAcAAJ ''De Propria Vita Liber: His Own Life'', Amsterdam, (1654)], pp.136–7, (Latin)</ref> While the Archbishop was unwell, his brother was persuaded to give up the Regency of Scotland to [[Mary of Guise]].<ref>Melville, James, ''Memoirs of his own life'', Brookman, (1833), 21, 73</ref>

He made vigorous efforts to stay the growth of [[Protestantism]], but with one or two exceptions persecution was not the policy of Archbishop Hamilton, and in the interests of the [[Roman Catholic]] faith, a [[catechism]] called ''Hamilton's Catechism'' (published with an introduction by TG Law in 1884) was drawn up and printed, possibly at his instigation.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

Having incurred the displeasure of the Protestants, now the dominant party in Scotland, the Archbishop was imprisoned in 1563. After his release he was an active [[partisan (political)|partisan]] of [[Mary, Queen of Scots]]; he baptised her son, the future [[King James VI]], and pronounced the divorce of the queen from [[James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell|Bothwell]]. He was present at the [[Battle of Langside]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

==Assassination of Regent Moray== [[File:Grave of John Hamilton, Archbishop of Saint Andrews.jpg|thumb|Grave of Archbishop John Hamilton]] John Hamilton, with his brother James, acquired a house on the south side of [[Linlithgow]] High Street in 1550.<ref>''Protocol book of James Foulis'', SRS (1926), nos. 85, 145.</ref> In 1570 from this house, his nephew or close kinsman, [[James Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh]], assassinated [[James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray]], the Regent of Scotland. During the aftermath, John Hamilton later took refuge in [[Dumbarton Castle]].

The castle fell to a surprise night attack, led by [[Captain Thomas Crawford|Thomas Crawford]] of Jordanhill, and Archbishop Hamilton was captured. Concerned lest the English should seek to have the Archbishop spared, the leaders of the King's party had Hamilton speedily tried and convicted of [[art and part]] in the murder of the Regent Moray and [[Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley]]. At 6 pm on 6 April 1571, three days after his capture, he was hanged beside the [[Mercat Cross]] of [[Stirling]].<ref>Dawson, Janes E. A., ''Scotland Reformed'', pp. 275–276.</ref>

==Children== Archbishop Hamilton had six children by his mistress, Grizzel Sempill, the daughter of [[Robert Sempill, 3rd Lord Sempill]]. Two of his children were legitimated on 22 January 1547 and 24 September 1548 respectively.

==Notes and references== {{Reflist}} * {{citation|editor-last=Bain |editor-first=Joseph |date=1898 |title=Calendar of the State Papers Relating to Scotland and Mary, Queen of Scots 1547–1603 |volume=1 |publisher=H M General Register House |publication-place=Edinburgh |url=https://archive.org/details/calendarstatepa00baingoog}} * Rainer Haas, Allerlei Protestanten – Christus-Zeugen aus der Tudor-Zeit, darin: 5. John Hamilton – war der spätere Erzbischof von St.Andrews 1527 als Student in Marburg an der Lahn?, Nordhausen, 2010 *{{EB1911|wstitle = Hamilton, John|volume=12|page=887}} *{{cite CE1913|wstitle = John Hamilton|volume=7}} *{{cite DNB|wstitle = Hamilton, John (1511?-1571)|volume=24}}

==External links== * [https://archive.today/20121223054212/http://images.wellcome.ac.uk/indexplus/image/L0011715.html Horoscope of John Hamilton, by Gerolamo Cardano, ''In Cl. Ptolemaei de Astrorum Indiciis '', Basel (1554)]

{{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{succession box | title=[[Keeper of the Privy Seal of Scotland]] | before=[[David Beaton]] | after=[[William Ruthven, 2nd Lord Ruthven|Lord Ruthven]] | years=1542–1547}} {{s-rel}} {{succession box | title=[[Abbot of Paisley|Commendator-Abbot of Paisley]] | before=[[Robert Shaw (bishop)|Robert Shaw]]| after=[[Claud Hamilton, 1st Lord Paisley|Claud Hamilton]]| years=1525–1553}} {{succession box | title=[[Bishop of Dunkeld]] | before=[[George Crichton (bishop)|George Crichton]]| after=[[Robert Crichton (bishop)|Robert Crichton]]| years=1544/1546–1547}} {{succession box | title=[[Bishop of St. Andrews|Archbishop of St. Andrews]] | before=[[David Beaton]]| after=[[Gavin Hamilton (archbishop)|Gavin Hamilton]]| years=1547/1549–1571}} {{s-aca}} {{succession box|title=[[Chancellor of the University of St Andrews]]|years=1547–1571|before=[[David Beaton]]| after=[[John Douglas (archbishop)|John Douglas]]}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, John}} [[Category:Archbishops of St Andrews]] [[Category:16th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Scotland]] [[Category:University of Paris alumni]] [[Category:Executed politicians]] [[Category:Executed Roman Catholic priests]] [[Category:Members of the pre-1707 Parliament of Scotland]] [[Category:Executed Scottish people]] [[Category:Chancellors of the University of St Andrews]] [[Category:1512 births]] [[Category:1571 deaths]] [[Category:16th-century executions by Scotland]] [[Category:Treasurers of Scotland]] [[Category:People executed by the Kingdom of Scotland by hanging]] [[Category:House of Hamilton|John]] [[Category:Bishops of Dunkeld (pre-Reformation)]] [[Category:Scottish bishops 1560–1638]]