In 1525 the Scottish Parliament forbade books containing the teachings of Martin Luther, but they were freely available in all the ports of the east coast, Aberdeen, Dundee, Saint Andrews and Leith. Three years later Patrick Hamilton was burned as a teacher of Luther’s doctrines – the first martyr of the Reformation. As a boy he had become abbot of Fearne in Ross-shire, and had then studied in Paris and Louvain before enrolling at Saint Andrews University. He was precentor of the Cathedral Choir and a priest. In 1527 his Lutheran leanings were such that he went into exile and at Wittenburg met Luther and wrote a book Commonplaces, which sought to explain the doctrine of justification by faith. It was influential in the development of Scottish Protestant theology. In 1528 he returned to Scotland and was immediately seized and condemned as a heretic by Archbishop Beaton of Saint Andrews. It was the beginning of a persecution of those who held different ideas that, in the end, led to entrenchment rather than discussion and culminated in the Reformation.for more click here
