Matthew Hamont
Encyclopedia
Matthew Hamont was a Norfolk plowright, accused of heresy, who was burnt at the stake in Norwich Castle
by the Church of England
.
The Bishop of Norwich
, Edmund Freke
, accused Hamont of denying Christ to be our Saviour.
, he was probably of Dutch origin.
Early in 1579 he was cited before Edmund Freke on a charge of denying Christ. The articles exhibited against him represented him as a coarse kind of deist, holding the Gospel to be a fable, Christ a sinner, and the Holy Ghost a nonentity. William Burton
stated of his beliefs:
Other authorities also describe Hamont as an Arian
. He was condemned in the consistory court on 13 April, and handed over to the custody of the sheriff of Norwich. His offences were aggravated by a further charge of ‘blasphemous words’ against the Queen and council, for which he was sentenced to lose his ears, and for his heresy to be burned alive. On 20 May 1579 his ears were cut off in the Norwich market-place, and he was burned in the castle moat.
Hamont left a widow, who died in 1625; he had a son Erasmus. John Lewes, mentioned above, was burned at Norwich on 18 September 1583; Peter Cole, a tanner of Ipswich
, met the same fate at Norwich in 1587.
More than a century later the case was taken up by Philip van Limborch who corresponded on the subject in 1699 with John Locke
.
Norwich Castle
Norwich Castle is a medieval royal fortification in the city of Norwich, in the English county of Norfolk. It was founded in the aftermath of the Norman Conquest of England when William the Conqueror ordered its construction because he wished to have a fortified place in the important city of...
by the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
.
The Bishop of Norwich
Bishop of Norwich
The Bishop of Norwich is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Norwich in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers most of the County of Norfolk and part of Suffolk. The see is in the City of Norwich where the seat is located at the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided...
, Edmund Freke
Edmund Freke
-Life:He was born in Essex, and educated at Cambridge, gaining his M.A. there c. 1550.He was Dean of Salisbury from 1571 to 1572 when he became Bishop of Rochester and was simultaneously Archdeacon of Canterbury in commendam. In 1575, he became Bishop of Norwich...
, accused Hamont of denying Christ to be our Saviour.
Life
In the Hethersett parish registers the name is spelt Hamonte, Hammonte, and Hammante. According to Alexander GordonAlexander Gordon (Unitarian)
Alexander Gordon was an English Unitarian minister and religious historian. A prolific contributor to the Dictionary of National Biography, he wrote for it well over seven hundred articles dealing mainly with nonconformists....
, he was probably of Dutch origin.
Early in 1579 he was cited before Edmund Freke on a charge of denying Christ. The articles exhibited against him represented him as a coarse kind of deist, holding the Gospel to be a fable, Christ a sinner, and the Holy Ghost a nonentity. William Burton
William Burton (clergyman)
William Burton was an English clergyman, known for his writings, an insider's view of the Puritan ascendancy at Norwich, and as an eye-witness to heresy executions.-Life:...
stated of his beliefs:
‘I haue knovven some Arrian heretiques, whose life hath beene most strict amongest men, whose tongues haue beene tyred with scripture upon scripture, their knees euen hardned in prayer, and their faces wedded to sadnesse, and their mouthes full of praises to God, while in the meane time they haue stowtly denied the diuinitie of the Sonne of God, and haue not sticked to teare out of the Bible all such places as made against them; such were Hamond, Lewes, and Cole, heretikes of wretched memorie, lately executed and cut off in Norwich.’
Other authorities also describe Hamont as an Arian
Arian
Arian may refer to:* Arius, a Christian presbyter in the 3rd and 4th century* a given name in different cultures: Aria, Aryan or Arian...
. He was condemned in the consistory court on 13 April, and handed over to the custody of the sheriff of Norwich. His offences were aggravated by a further charge of ‘blasphemous words’ against the Queen and council, for which he was sentenced to lose his ears, and for his heresy to be burned alive. On 20 May 1579 his ears were cut off in the Norwich market-place, and he was burned in the castle moat.
Hamont left a widow, who died in 1625; he had a son Erasmus. John Lewes, mentioned above, was burned at Norwich on 18 September 1583; Peter Cole, a tanner of Ipswich
Ipswich
Ipswich is a large town and a non-metropolitan district. It is the county town of Suffolk, England. Ipswich is located on the estuary of the River Orwell...
, met the same fate at Norwich in 1587.
More than a century later the case was taken up by Philip van Limborch who corresponded on the subject in 1699 with John Locke
John Locke
John Locke FRS , widely known as the Father of Liberalism, was an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. Considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Francis Bacon, he is equally important to social...
.