Wishart, George

Wishart, George wĭsh´ərt [key], 1513?–1546, Scottish religious reformer, Protestant martyr. He was master of a grammar school in Montrose. In 1538 he fled Scotland to escape charges of heresy he was in England for a short time, then on the Continent. In 1544 he is thought to have returned to Scotland, where he traveled about at his peril, preaching Christianity as he conceived it. The most eventful result of his preaching was the conversion of John Knox . Cardinal Beaton instigated Wishart's arrest. He was tried for heresy (1546), convicted, and burned at St. Andrews. His followers murdered Beaton in retaliation. Wishart's translation of the Helvetic Confession was published posthumously (c.1548).

See biography by J. Knox in his History of the Reformation in Scotland, ed. by W. C. Dickinson (2 vol., 1950).

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