Walter Milne

For rugby league footballer of the 1910s for New Zealand, see Walter Milne (rugby). For Australian rules footballer, see Wally Milne.

Walter Milne (died April 1558), also recorded as Mill or Myln, was the last Protestant martyr to be burned in Scotland before the Scottish Reformation changed the country from Catholic to Presbyterian.

Walter Milne or Mill or Myln or Mylne
Woodcut of Milne's martyrdom
Personal details
Born	c. 1476
Died	28 April 1558 St. Andrews
Denomination	Christian

The Martyrs' Monument, St Andrews, which commemorates Milne and three other martyrs: Patrick Hamilton, Henry Forrest, and George Wishart.

Early life

In his early years he visited Germany, where he imbibed the doctrines of the Reformation. At one point he was Roman Catholic priest of the Parish of Lunan near Montrose.^[1] During the time of Cardinal Beaton information was laid against him as a heretic, whereupon he fled the country, and was condemned to be burnt wherever he might be found.

Arrest and trial

Long after the cardinal's death he was at the instance of John Hamilton, archbishop of St. Andrews, apprehended on 20 April 1558 in the town of Dysart, Fife. He 'was warmand him in ane poor wyfes hous, and was teaching her the commandments of God'.^[2] After being for some time confined in the castle of St. Andrews, he was brought for trial before an assemblage of bishops, abbots, and doctors in the cathedral church. He was then over eighty years of age, and so weak and infirm that he could scarce climb up to the pulpit where he had to answer before them. Yet, says Foxe, 'when he began to speak he made the church to ring and sound again with so great courage and stoutness that the Christians which were present were no less rejoiced than the adversaries were confounded and ashamed.'^[3] So far from pretending to deny the accusations against him, he made use of the opportunity boldly to denounce what he regarded as the special errors of the Romish church; his trial was soon over, and he was condemned to be burnt as a heretic on 28 April 1558. When he was sentenced to death, Milne replied "I will not recant the truth. I am corn, not chaff; I will not be blown away with the wind or burst by the flail. I will survive both."^[4]

Execution

He was burned at the stake for heresy outside Deans Court, St Andrews, in April 1558 at the age of 82. According to George Buchanan, the commonalty of St. Andrews were so offended at the sentence that they shut up their shops in order that they might sell no materials for his execution; and after his death they heaped up in his memory a great pile of stones on the place where he was burned.^[5]

Subsequent events

Mylne was married, and his widow was alive in 1573, when she received 6l. 13s. 4d. out of the thirds of the benefices. After John Knox preached in June 1559 in St. Andrews his famous sermon on "cleansing of the temple" that began the Scottish reformation, "by order of the magistrates the churches were stripped of the monuments of 'idolatry' which were ceremoniously burned on the spot where Myln had suffered."^[6] Milne is commemorated on the Martyrs' Monument at St Andrews and on a window in Edinburgh Castle.^[7]

Window in Edinburgh Castle's Great Hall. George Wishart (c.1513 – 1 Mar 1546), John Craig (1512-1600), James Guthrie (1612? – 1 Jun 1661)

See also

List of Protestant martyrs of the Scottish Reformation

References

Citations

1. "Clan Milne". Electric Scotland. Retrieved 23 March 2009.
2. Lindsay of Pitscottie 1899.
3. Foxe 1583.
4. Howie 1870.
5. Buchanan 1827.
6. Burleigh 1960.
7. Langer, Bridget (11 May 2020). "Why Is The St Andrews Martyrs' Monument So Important?". Travel Dudes. Retrieved 3 June 2021.

Sources

• Buchanan, George (1827). Aikman, James (ed.). The history of Scotland – translation of: Rerum Scoticarum historia. Vol. 2. Glasgow: Blackie, Fullarton & Co. p. 396.
• Burleigh, J. H.S. (1960). A Church History of Scotland. Oxford University Press. p. 144.
• Calderwood, David (1842). Thomson, Thomas Napier (ed.). The History of the Kirk of Scotland. Vol. 1. Edinburgh: Wodrow Society. pp. 337-343.
• Carslaw, William Henderson (1907). Six martyrs of the Scottish reformation (includes Patrick's Places). Paisley: A. Gardner, publisher by appointment to the late Queen Victoria. pp. 71–89.
• Foxe, John (1583). Foxe's Book of Martyrs. Vol. 8. p. 1298.
• Fleming, David Hay (1887). The Martyrs and Confessors of St. Andrews. Cupar: "Fife Herald" Office.
• Henderson, Thomas Finlayson (1894). "Mylne, Walter". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 40. London: Smith, Elder & Co. p. 9. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
• Hewison, James King (1913). The Covenanters. Vol. 1 (Revised and Corrected ed.). Glasgow: John Smith and son.
• Howie, John (1870). Carslaw, W. H. (ed.). The Scots Worthies. Edinburgh & London: Oliphant, Anderson & Ferrier. pp. 33-37.
• Knox, John (1895). Laing, David (ed.). The works of John Knox. Vol. 1. Edinburgh: James Thin. pp. 308, 360, 550–555.
• Knox, John (1895). Laing, David (ed.). The works of John Knox. Vol. 2. Edinburgh: James Thin.
• Knox, John (1895). Laing, David (ed.). The works of John Knox. Vol. 6. Edinburgh: James Thin.
• Lindsay of Pitscottie, Robert (1899). Mackay, Aeneas (ed.). The historie and cronicles of Scotland: from the slauchter of King James the First to the ane thousande fyve hundreith thrie scoir fyftein zeir. Vol. 2. Edinburgh: Scottish Text Society. p. 130.
• M'Crie, Thomas (1875). The story of the Scottish church : from the Reformation to the Disruption. London: Blackie & Son. p. 26-27.
• Petrie, Alexander (1662). A compendious history of the Catholick Church, from the year 600 untill [sic] the year 1600. Hague: Printed by A. Vlack. pp. 189-190.
• Scott, Hew (1925). Fasti ecclesiae scoticanae; the succession of ministers in the Church of Scotland from the reformation. Vol. 5. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd. p. 445. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
• Spottiswoode, John (1847). History of the Church of Scotland, beginning the year of Our Lord 203 and continuing to the end of the reign of King James VI. Vol. 1. Edinburgh: Bannatyne Club. pp. 188-192.