Matthew Hamont

Matthew Hamont (died 20 May 1579) 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.^[1]

Life

In the Hethersett parish registers the name is spelt Hamonte, Hammonte, and Hammante. According to Alexander Gordon, he was probably of Dutch origin.^[2]

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:^[2]

‘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.’

^[2]

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.^[2]

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.^[2]

More than a century later the case was taken up by Philip van Limborch who corresponded on the subject in 1699 with John Locke.^[2]

References

1. ^ Mathew Carey Letters on religious persecution 1829 "Matthew Hamont, of Hetharset, three miles from Norwich, was " convicted before the Bishop of Norwich, for that he denied Christ to be our Saviour. on the 20th of May he was burned in the castle. "
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f}  Gordon, Alexander (1885–1900). "Hamont, Matthew". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 

Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Gordon, Alexander (1885–1900). "Hamont, Matthew". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 

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Name	Hamont, Matthew
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Date of death	20 May 1579
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