Patrick Hamilton (martyr) - Trial and Martyrdom

Trial and Martyrdom

At length, he was summoned before a council of bishops and clergy presided over by the archbishop. There were thirteen charges, seven based on the doctrines affirmed in the Loci Communes. On examination Hamilton maintained their truth, and the council condemned him as a heretic on all thirteen charges. Hamilton was seized, and, it is said, surrendered to the soldiery on an assurance that he would be restored to his friends without injury. However, the council convicted him, after a sham disputation with Friar Campbell, and handed him over to the secular power, to be burned at the stake as a heretic, outside the front entrance to St Salvator's Chapel in St Andrews. The sentence was carried out on the same day to preclude any attempted rescue by friends. He burned from noon to 6 PM. His last words were "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit". The spot is today marked with a monogram of his initials set into the cobblestones.

His courageous bearing attracted more attention than ever to the doctrines for which he suffered, and greatly helped to spread the Reformation in Scotland. It was said that the "reek of Master Patrick Hamilton infected as many as it blew upon". His fortitude during martyrdom won over Alexander Ales, who had undertaken to convert him, to the Lutheran cause. His martyrdom is unusual in that he was almost alone in Scotland during the Lutheran stage of the Reformation. His only book, Loci communes, known as "Patrick's Places", set forth the doctrine of justification by faith and the contrast between the gospel and the law in a series of clear-cut propositions. It is to be found in John Foxe's Acts and Monuments.

By a tradition of superstition, students at the University of St Andrews prefer not to step on the monogram of Hamilton's initials outside St Salvator's Chapel for fear of failing their degree.