West Lothian, Scotland
Kincavil
The Hamilton family's lands near Linlithgow, and the home Patrick returned to in 1527. The production's Kincavil master site plan reconstructs the estate for the film.
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The history behind the film
Grounded in extensive historical research into the people, places, events, architecture, clothing and culture of the period.
History
Places
Ross-shire, Scotland
Fearn Abbey
The abbey whose income, granted to Patrick as titular abbot in 1517, paid for his education abroad.
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Edinburgh
The capital, where Patrick's father was killed in street fighting in 1520 and where Parliament forbade Lutheran books in 1525.
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Paris
The university where Patrick graduated Master of Arts in 1520 and first met the new learning of the humanists.
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Louvain
A centre of humanist scholarship where Patrick is thought to have continued his studies.
View on the map →Fife, Scotland
St Andrews
Scotland's ecclesiastical capital and oldest university. Patrick studied and taught here from 1523, and was tried here in 1528. Outside St Salvator's College, his initials are set into the street.
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Wittenberg
Martin Luther's university town and the heart of the Reformation, visited by Patrick in 1527.
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Marburg
Seat of the first Protestant university, founded in 1527. Here Patrick wrote and defended the theses later known as Patrick's Places.
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Kincavil master site plan, from the production's historical research.
History
Events
1520
Street fighting in Edinburgh
A violent clash between the Hamiltons and their rivals in the streets of Edinburgh. Sir Patrick Hamilton of Kincavil is among those killed.
1525
Lutheran books forbidden
Parliament bans the import of Lutheran writings, a sign of how quickly the new ideas were reaching Scotland's ports and universities.
1527
The theses at Marburg
At the newly founded university, Patrick sets down his convictions in a set of theses. Translated into English, they circulate as Patrick's Places.
1528
The trial at St Andrews
Summoned by Archbishop Beaton, Patrick is tried for heresy and condemned. He dies outside St Salvator's College on 29 February 1528.
1560
The Reformation Parliament
Scotland formally adopts the reformed faith, thirty-two years after the first flame.
History
Ideas
Patrick's Places
The theses Patrick wrote at Marburg, later translated into English. They set out, in short numbered statements, his understanding of law and gospel, faith and works. His words travelled farther than he did, and outlived the fire meant to silence them.
Justification by faith
The conviction at the centre of the Reformation: that salvation is a gift received through faith rather than earned. It was this teaching, above all, that Patrick preached on his return to Scotland.
Scripture in the common tongue
Reformers argued that ordinary people should be able to read the Bible for themselves. Printed New Testaments in English were already being carried into Scotland in the 1520s.
The new learning
Humanist scholars in Paris and Louvain returned to original texts in Greek and Hebrew. That habit of going back to the sources prepared a generation of students, Patrick among them, to question received teaching.
The reek of Master Patrick Hamilton has infected as many as it blew upon.