Hamilton, John, Archbishop of St. Andrews (1521 -1571)

John Hamilton was the illegitmate son of James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Arran. At an early age he became a Benedictine monk at Kilwinning. He was made Abbot of Paisley in 1525 at the age of fourteen. In 1540 he went to Paris for three years to study. On his return, in April 1543, he reconciled his half brother the Regent Arran and Cardinal Beaton, and became a power in the land, being made Keeper of the Privy Seal in 1543, Bishop of Dunkeld in 1544, and Archbishop of St Andrews in May 1546, and Treasurer shortly afterwards. He opposed the reformation of religion in Scotland and attempted to restore the religion of Rome, holding a series of Synods, and publishing the Catechism and the `twa penny faith' that bear his name. Accused of complicity in the murder of the Regent Moray, he was captured at Dumbarton Castle and hanged at Stirling. Some of his books passed to St Mary's College, St Andrews, in the foundation of which he took an active part. It seems to be coincidental that all three books with stamp 2 are medical in nature. Twenty books from Hamilton's library have survived, mostly on theology and canon law, the remainder with inscriptions and some in the original bindings, but without armorial stamps.