John Hamilton

John Hamilton (3 February 1512 – 6 April 1571), Scottish prelate and politician, was an illegitimate son of The 1st Earl of Arran (in the Peerage of Scotland). Brother of the Regent At a very early age Hamilton became a monk and Abbot of Paisley. After studying in Paris he returned to Scotland, where he soon rose to a position of power and influence under his half-brother, The 2nd Earl of Arran, who was serving as Regent. He was made Keeper of the Privy Seal of Scotland in 1543 and bishop of Dunkeld two years later; in 1546 he followed Cardinal Beaton as Archbishop of St Andrews, and about the same time he became treasurer of the kingdom. In 1553 the Italian physician Gerolamo Cardano cured him of a disease that had left him speechless and was thought incurable. The diplomat Thomas Randolph recorded the "merry tales" rumoured about his methods still current in Edinburgh nine years later. Cardano himself wrote that the Archbishop had been short of breath for ten years, and after the cure was effected by his assistant, he was paid 1,400 gold crowns. While the Archbishop was unwell, his brother was persuaded to give up the Regency of Scotland to Mary of Guise. 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 Roman Catholic faith, a catechism called Hamilton's Catechism (published with an introduction by TG Law in 1884) was drawn up and printed, possibly at his instigation.