The Reformation
Adam Wallace, Reformation Martyr of Kyle
Following the death of George Wishart, the next recorded martyrdom in the Scottish Reformation was that of Adam Wallace of Kyle, who in 1547 perished in the flames on Edinburgh’s Castle Hill. Wallace was captured and brought before the council gathered at the Black...
George Wishart, the Gentle Martyr
Following the deaths of the Glasgow martyrs in 1539, the council of the cruel hunted for more victims, finding six more that they killed in Perth. George Wishart was the next martyr after them, being hanged and burned at St Andrews in 1546. John Knox loved this godly...
Two Reformation Martyrs from Glasgow
After the burning of the five Reformation martyrs on Castle Hill in Edinburgh, Cardinal Beaton was keen to find other victims to make a public example of any who would dare expose the corruption of the church hierarchy. Two young men were found in the diocese of...
The Killing Time: Archibald Campbell, the Marquis of Argyll
With all the niceties settled at the coronation, it was time for King Charles II to reveal his true nature. One of the few nobles to oppose the king’s decree and stand faithfully for the Covenants was Archibald Campbell, the first Marquis of Argyll. He travelled from...
Walter Mill: Last of the Reformation Martyrs
Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons ‘Among the martyrs of Scotland, the constancy of Walter Mille is not to be passed over with silence,’ wrote John Foxe in his Book of Martyrs. Mill was the last reformer to die for his faith in Scotland during this...
Two Reformation Martyrs in Glasgow
The Library of Congress, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons After the burning of the five Reformation martyrs on Castle Hill in Edinburgh, Cardinal Beaton was keen to find other victims to make a public example of any who would dare expose the corruption of the...
The First Tremors of Reformation in Scotland
John Wycliffe, William Frederick Yeames, 1835-1918, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Back in about AD 613 Columbanus, the Irish monk, had written to Pope Boniface IV of dissension, corruption, and decadence in the church. ‘Watch’, he warned, ‘for the sea is in...
Reformation Martyrs in Edinburgh
By CHE, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Image: Edinburgh Castle, where five reformers were burned in 1538 on Castle Hill. ‘One day, as the Lord of Lauriston [John Erskine]… was reading the New Testament to David Straton in a certain quiet place in the fields, as God had...
Reformation in the Scottish Monastic Orders
By CHE, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Image: A friar preaching during the Reformation The horrific death of Patrick Hamilton in 1528 shook those at the University of St Andrews, particularly at the College of St Leonard’s. Both the Rector Gavin Logie, and the Vice-Abbot,...
Patrick Hamilton: Aristocrat Martyr of the Reformation
John Scougal(Life time: 1730), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons The smell of burning flesh filled the air. It had taken four attempts to get the fire blazing outside St Salvator’s Chapel, even with gunpowder. The large crowd pressed in to see the victim suffer a...
John Knox: Trumpet Call for Scotland (Part 1)
By CHE, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Image: John Knox preaching from a pulpit, museum at St Andrews, Photo: Paul James-Griffiths When John Knox cried out to God in passionate prayer, ‘Give me Scotland, else I die’, he was revealing his heart to us. Here was a man whose...
John Knox in England (Part 2)
By CHE, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Image: John Knox stained-glass window in the Presbytery Hall, Edinburgh Theological Seminary, Photo: Paul James-Griffiths After John Knox had been freed from French slavery he ended up in London in 1549. The Reformation was already...