c1513 - George Wishart was born, the son of James & Elizabeth Wishart in Pitarrow, Aberdeenshire.
1528 - Patrick Hamilton was martyred.
1531 - he graduated from the university of Leuven, Belgium.
While there he had been converted and had come under the influence of Luther and Zwingli
He taught the New Testament in Greek as schoolmaster in Montrose, Scotland.
1538 - George was investigated for the heresy of teaching the Greek New Testament by the Bishop of Brechin. He fled to Bristol, England.
1539 - a similar charge was brought against him in Bristol by Thomas Cromwell. Under examination by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, Wishart recanted some of his statements.
He visited Germany and Switzerland.
He became an admirer of the first Helvetic Confession of Faith and translated it into English.
This was a time of growth in his faith and his knowledge of the scripture.
By 1542 he was studying and teaching at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.
Became known for his charity and care for people, often giving away his own clothing, bedding and food.
1543 he returned to Scotland and again taught the Bible at Montrose.
He might have been involved in a 1544 plot to kill Cardinal David Beaton but this is uncertain.
1544 he became an itinerant preacher travelling Scotland, firstly in Montrose then Dundee.
He denounced the errors of the papacy and abuses in the churches of Montrose, putting his life in danger.
He popularised the teachings of Calvin and Zwingli in Scotland.
The Catholic Church sent Robert Mill to chase him out of Dundee. Wishart said that chasing away God's word will not end, but bring, trouble.
Nevertheless he went to the west of Scotland where he was very well received.
Preached in Ayrshire.
Bishop Dunbar of Glasgow and his men went into the church to prevent Wishart preaching but Wishart simple preached to a large crowd at the market cross.
in Mauchline, the church was filled with the men of Bishop Dunbar so that they could not enter. Wishart's men offer to take the church by force but Wishart said there would be no bloodshed and he preached to a large crowd in the outskirts of Mauchline.
He went to Dundee because a plague had broken out there. he went to care for the people.
He preached on the city walls to the healthy inside and the ill outside the city.
One day, coming down off the wall, John Whiteman, an assassin for the Catholic Church, rushed at him with a dagger but the crowd stopped him. Wishart grabbed his wrist and managed to stop him. The crowd wanted to kill John Whiteman but Wishart stopped them and spoke gently to Whiteman, asking him why he had wanted to kill him. Whiteman broke down. Wishart thus saved his life.
Preached in Montrose
Received a letter from a friends saying that he was sick and needed him.
He went to him but the letter was a forgery and an ambush was uncovered. Sixty men had been sent by Cardinal David Beaton, nephew of
Beaton lived an ungodly life and gave little attention to the people.
Wishart said that he knew that one day he would die at the hands of Beaton but not at this point.
Went to preach in Edinburgh.
He expected many of his friends from the south west of Scotland to join them but they are too afraid to come.
He felt alone and abandoned and sensed his time was short.
He continued to preach but he was not attracting large numbers.
John Knox was still with him.
Preaching in Haddington, he saw only a few people and he felt that the people were tired of hearing God's word. he said to John Knox that Knox could go no further with him. His time is up. Knox wanted to go with him but Wishart said no. One sacrifice is enough. They would not see each other again.
January 1546, in Ormiston House, East Lothian, Wishart was seized by Lord Bothwell on the orders of Cardinal Beaton. He was taken to Elphinstone Castle.
19 January 1546 - he was transferred to Edinburgh Castle.
He was then summoned to St Andrew's.
27 February 1546, he was handed over to Beaton who put on a show trial with John Lauder prosecuting. Wishart was found guilty. At his trial...
he refused to accept that confession was a sacrament.
denied free will
recognised the priesthood of all believing Christians
rejected the notion that God could be "comprehended in one place" between "the priest's hands".
proclaimed that the true church was where the word of God was faithfully preached and the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper were rightly administered.
1 March 1546 - he was hanged on a gibbet and his body burned, at St Andrew's.
The gibbet was within sight of Beaton's apartment.
He is said to have prophesied the death of Cardinal Beaton who was assassinated on 29 May 1546, partly in revenge for Wishart's death.
This flame occasions trouble to my body, indeed, but it hath in nowise broken my spirit. But he who so proudly looks down upon me from yonder place shall, erelong, be ignominiously thrown down, as he now proudly lolls at his ease.
Wishart's most obvious and profound legacy was through John Knox, the man he had mentored.
His martyrdom (as well as that of Patrick Hamilton (1528)) though galvanised the resolve of many to contend for the truth. New preachers took the places of those who had bene put to death and there were new converts to the reformed faith daily.
George Wishart, Martyr - (Wishart Society)
Download Life of George Wishart, Scottish Martyr... by Rev Charles Rogers, 1876
George Wishart - (Wishart Family Tree)