The Tudor Society

#OTD in Tudor history – 29 February

On this day in Tudor history, 29th February, Pope Paul III was born, Protestant Patrick Hamilton was burnt at the stake in St Andrews, and John Whitgift, Archbishop of Canterbury and Elizabeth I's "White gift", died...

  • 1468 – Birth of Alessandro Farnese at Canino, Latium, which was in the Papal States. Farnese was elected as pope in 1534, becoming Pope Paul III, and was pope until his death in 1549.
  • 1528 - Burning of Patrick Hamilton, theologian and Scotland's first 'Protestant' martyr, took place on this day in 1528 outside St Salvator's College, St Andrews. It was an horrific death, with it taking around six hours for Hamilton to die. Alexander Alesius wrote of how Hamilton was roasted, rather than burned. Hamilton was condemned as a heretic after being found guilty of thirteen charges, seven of which were to do with doctrines from Philipp Melancthon's Loci communes rerum theologicarum seu hypotyposes theologicae.
  • 1604 – Death of John Whitgift, Archbishop of Canterbury, at Lambeth Palace. He was the last Archbishop of Canterbury in Elizabeth I's reign, and had been in office since 1583. Elizabeth called him her "White gift" and "her little black husband". See video below.

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#OTD in Tudor history – 29 February