Chapter XVIII: Abbot John Hamilton, 1525-1547
The connection between the Abbot and the family of Sempill was not merely that indicated in the deed of protection. Hamilton, in common with many of the ecclesiastics of the time, had, it is to be feared, given way to profligate habits, and there is little doubt that he kept openly as his concubine the daughter of this Master of Sempill, widow of James Hamilton of Stanehouse, Provost of Edinburgh, who was killed in an affray, by whom he had three sons, who were afterwards legitimised. [21] The immoral lives of men in his position gave great scandal to many who wished, if possible, to preserve the Church, and furnished too much ground for the satires which were launched by Lindsay and others against the clergy, and for the mocking ballads which were circulated among the common people.
There were other causes besides the evil lives of the priesthood bringing on a great national crisis. On 29th May, 1546, Cardinal Beaton was murdered at St. Andrews, and most important results followed. The struggle between the Church and the Reformers became pronounced, and it became evident that the issue must be the entire subversion of one or the other. In this struggle two men took the lead,—one on either side,—John Knox and John Hamilton, Abbot of Paisley. They become henceforth the great figures in the religious warfare. The one the bold champion of the Reformed opinions, the other bravely, but unsuccessfully, endeavouring to support a failing cause. On the death of his friend the Cardinal, the Abbot at once came to the front. Stewart of Cardonald, [22] living near Paisley and a friend of the Reformation, seems to have been deputed by the English Government to keep watch on the movements of the Abbot, his neighbour, and his letters are to be seen in the State Paper Office, shewing how well the spy performed the work assigned to him. “The Abbot,” he writes on one occasion from Cardonald, “is to go secretlie to France to get the King's consent to the Governor's desire to have the Princess, and to get the red hat to himself to be Cardinal, and the Bishopric of Mirypois in God. He goes immediately and passes at Dunbartane in ane James Howmes' ship, which is lately come in with two English prizes.” [23] The Bishopric of Mirypois in France, to which the laird of Cardonald alludes as the object of the Abbot's ambition, was one of the preferments held by the late Cardinal Beaton. Whether the Abbot made the voyage to France we do not know, but higher dignity was in store for him than the mitre of the French See, and on the 28th November of the year in which his neighbour at Cardonald took so keen an interest in his movements, the Pope, through the influence of the governor, had him appointed Archbishop of St. Andrews, and Primate of Scotland. [24] He still retained the Abbey along with his See, but henceforth he is known by the title of Archbishop, and he probably never came to Paisley until, in the adversities of his later years, he sought refuge there among the friends of his youth.
[25]
[21] See Appendix. Gordon's Monasticon, Vol. II., p. 289.
[22] Cardonald is about two miles from the Abbey.
[23] State Papers, Scotland, Edward VI.—Vol. I., No. 13.
[24] The following is the consistorial decree of his appointment to St. Andrews, with Paisley in commendam;—“John Hamilton, Die 28, Nov. 1547, S.D.N, absolvit R.P.D. Johannem Hamiltonum, Episcopum Dunkelden, a vinculo quo ecclesiae Dunkelden, cui tunc prae erat, tenebatur, et ad ecclesiam St. Andreae tunc per obitum bonae memoriae Davidis Beton, St. Stephani in Coclio Monte, dum viveret, presbyteri Card. St. Andreae nuncupati extra R.C. de-functi, vacantem transtulit, ipsumque eidem ecclesiae St. Andreae in archiepiscopum praefecit et Pastorem, curam de committendo, cum retentione monasterii de Pasleto Cluniacen. ordinis. Glasguen. dio. cui ex dispensatione apostolica praesse dinoscitur, et cum dispensationibus etiam super defectu natalium, quern de soluto nobili et illustri genere procreate genitus et soluta, aut alias patitur ; necnon derogationibus et clausilis opportunis at consuetis. Absolvens, &c. Fructus 3,000 Marcharum. Taxa 600 flor. Barberini.”—Brady's Epis. Success. Rome, 1876.
[25] In 1550 he let the Abbey lands. See Rental, where he is called both Archbishop of St. Andrews, and Abbot of Paisley.