Calderwood states, that "Mr. George Wishart was a gentleman of the house
of Pittarrow."--(Hist. vol. i. p. 185.) And in the Wodrow Miscellany, in
an introductory notice, I have said, "He was born in the early part of
the 16th century, and is believed to have been a younger son of James
Wishart of Pittaro, who was admitted Justice Clerk, in December 1513,
and continued till between 1520 and 1521."--(vol. i. p. 5.) Further
inquiries have failed in ascertaining this point; and it must have been
through some collateral branch if any such relationship existed. A note
of various early charters relating to the Wisharts of Pittaro, was most
obligingly communicated by Patrick Chalmers of Auldbar, Esq.; and
several others are contained in the Register of the Great Seal; but the
want of space, and their not serving to throw any light upon the
Martyr's parentage, causes me to omit such notices. There is a fine old
portrait, not unworthy of Holbein, said to be of George Wishart, in the
possession of Archibald Wishart, Esq., W.S., Edinburgh, which bears the
date, M.D.XLIII. Ætat. 30. If this portrait can be identified, the date
would fix his birth to the year 1513. But his early history and
education are quite unknown. The facts discovered relating to his
history may briefly be stated.
* * * * *
1538. Wishart had been employed as master of a school in Montrose; but
being summoned by John Hepburn, Bishop of Brechin, on a charge of
heresy, for teaching his scholars the Greek New Testament, he fled to
England. See Petrie's History of the Catholick Church, part 2, p. 182.
Hague 1662, folio.
1539. He was at Bristol, preaching against the worship and mediation of
the Virgin Mary; but he was led to make a public recantation, and burnt
his faggot in the Church of St. Nicholas in that city, in token of his
abjuration. It was probably immediately after this humiliating act that
he went abroad.
1542. He appears to have remained in Germany and Switzerland till after
the death of James the Fifth. He mentions in his Examination, (see
supra, page 159,) a conversation he had with a Jew, while sailing on the
Rhine. About the same time he translated "The Confession of Faith of the
Churches of Switzerland," which was printed a year or two after his
death, and which has been reprinted in the Wodrow Miscellany, vol. i.
pp. 1-23.
1543. This year he was residing us a member of Corpus Christi College,
Cambridge, according to the interesting account of his habits and
acquirements by his pupil Emery Tylney, which is preserved in Foxe's
Martyrology.
1544, or in the following year, he returned to Scotland; and he
continued to preach in different parts of the country; at Montrose,
Dundee, and in Ayrshire, and subsequently at Leith, and in East-Lothian.
1546. On the 16th of January he was apprehended at Ormiston, carried
prisoner first to Edinburgh, and then to St. Andrews. His trial was on
the 28th of February, and his execution on the 1st of March: (see supra,
page 144.) Three months later Cardinal Beaton was assassinated.
* * * * *
In a work like the present, it is desirable to avoid all controversial
remarks; but I hope to be excused in offering a few words in regard to
what has been considered a serious charge against George Wishart.
The precise date of Wishart's return to Scotland is very doubtful. Knox,
(supra, page 125,) places it in 1544, but joins this with an explanation
which might carry it back to July 1543, and with the defeat of the
Governor, which belongs to a later period. Mr. Tytler, (Hist. vol. v. p.
343,) says, "From the time of his arrival in the summer of 1543, _for
more than two years_ Wishart appears to have remained in Scotland,
protected by the barons who were then in the interest of Henry, and who
favoured the doctrines of the Reformation." Yet nevertheless, according
to Mr. Tytler, and later authorities, he was employed as a messenger in
May 1544, conveying letters from Crichton of Brunstone to the Earl of
Hertford at Newcastle, and from thence, with other letters, to Henry the
Eighth, in relation to a projected scheme devised by the Laird of
Brunstone for the assassination of Cardinal Beaton; and after having had
an interview with the King at Greenwich, returning first to Newcastle,
and then to Scotland. This employment--which has been held up as a
notable discovery--proceeds upon the fact of "a Scotishman, _called
Wyshart_," being mentioned as the bearer of the letters referred to; and
the Laird of Brunstone having been Wishart's "great friend and
protector," in 1546, hence it is concluded that the person employed was
George Wishart the Martyr. Among the Wisharts of that time the name of
_George_ was not peculiar to him. _George Wischart_ was one of the
bailies of Dundee, 3d May 1560, and for several years previously; and in
the Protocol book of Thomas Ireland, notary public in Dundee, belonging
to that borough, I observed the copy of a deed, in which "_Georgius
Wischart_, frater-germanus Joannis Wischart de Pettarrow," was one of
the procurators in a matter concerning "_Georgius Wischart_, armiger
Crucis regis Galliæ," 14th June 1565.
Now, in reply to the above argument, I beg to remark, that there is no
certain evidence of George Wishart having returned to Scotland earlier
than 1544 or 1545; that if the name of _George Wishart_ had been
specified in the letters, there were other persons of that name who
might equally have been employed in such services; and that if it had
been ascertained beyond all doubt that he possessed a full knowledge of
the plots against Beaton devised by Crichton of Brunstone, even then,
according to the terms of the Earl of Hertford's letter, and confirmed
by the letter in reply from the English Council, the attempt was to be
confined to the _arrestment of the Cardinal_, while passing through
Fife--the proposal of _sleeing him_, having been suggested only as an
alternative, in case of necessity.
But to say nothing of the uncongenial nature of the employment, to a man
such as described by his devoted pupil Emery Tylney, who had been under
his tuition at Cambridge, for twelve months, in 1543, it may further be
urged,--
1. That Wishart had no occasion to entertain a personal animosity to the
Cardinal; and that being denounced, or put to the horn, and liable to
summary arrestment and execution, he could not have undertaken the task
at such a time, of carrying letters and messages between the
conspirators.
2. That the plots against Beaton being well known, even to the Cardinal
himself, if Wishart had in any way been concerned in them, it would
unquestionably have formed a leading accusation against him in his
trial,--but no allusion to such a charge was ever whispered.
And lastly,--That the actual enterprise, by which the Castle of St.
Andrews was taken, and the Cardinal murdered, on the 29th of May, was in
a great measure a scheme hastily arranged and executed, mainly in
revenge of the Martyr's own fate, and ALTOGETHER UNCONNECTED AND
UNINFLUENCED by any former plots devised by Crichton of Brunstone, but
which have been employed to implicate the irreproachable character of
GEORGE WISHART.
No. X.