Online Encyclopedia

JOHN HAMILTON (c. 1511–1571)

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 887 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JOHN HAMILTON (c. 1511–1571)  , Scottish prelate and politician, was a natural son of James Hamilton, 1st
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earl of Arran . At a very early age he became a monk and abbot of Paisley, and after studying in Paris he returned to Scotland, where he soon rose to a position of power and influence under his
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half-
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brother, the regent Arran . He was made keeper of the privy seal in 1543 and bishop of
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Dunkeld two years later; in 1546 he followed David Beaton as archbishop of St Andrews, and about the same time he became treasurer of the
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kingdom . 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
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Roman Catholic religion a catechism called Hamilton's Catechism (published with an introduction by T . G . Law in 1884) was
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drawn up and printed, possibly at his instigation . 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 of Mary queen of Scots; he baptized the infant James, afterwards King James VI., and pronounced the
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divorce of the queen from Bothwell . He was
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present at the
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battle of Langside, and some time later took
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refuge in
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Dumbarton Castle . Here he was seized, and on the charge of being concerned in the murders of Lord Darnley and the regent Murray he was tried, and hanged on the 6th of
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April 1571 . The archbishop had three children by his
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mistress, Grizzel Sempill .

End of Article: JOHN HAMILTON (c. 1511–1571)
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