page_title: Canon Alexander Galloway
section_title: A Man of his Times
hierarchical_section_title: Canon Alexander Galloway / A Man of his Times
caption_attribution_description: English: Plaque reads: "The initial on the pavement nearby mark the spot where Patrick Hamilton, member of the University, was burned at the stake on 29 February 1528, at the age of 24. On the continent he had been greatly influenced by Martin Luther, and on his return to St. Andrews he began to teach Lutheran doctorines. Having been tried and found guilty of heresy, he was condemned to death, thus becoming the first martyr of the Scottish Reformation."
context_page_description: Canon Alexander Galloway was a 16th-century cleric from Aberdeen in Scotland. He was not only a Canon of St Machar’s Cathedral, he was a Royal Notary and Diocesan Clerk for James IV and James V of Scotland; vicar of the Parishes of Fordyce, Bothelny, and Kinkell; five times Rector of King’s College – University of Aberdeen; Master of Works on the Bridge of Dee in Aberdeen and for Greyfriars Church in Aberdeen; and Chancellor of the Diocese of Aberdeen. According to Steven Holmes, he was one of the most notable liturgists of his time, designing many fine examples of Sacrament Houses across the North-East of Scotland. He was a friend of and adviser to Hector Boece, the first Principal of the University of Aberdeen, as well as Bishop Elphinstone, Chancellor of Scotland and Gavin Dunbar. He was an avid anti-Reformationist being a friend of Jacobus Latomus and Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus and clerics in the Old University of Leuven. Along with Gavin Dunbar, Galloway designed and had built the western towers of the cathedral and designed the heraldic ceiling, featuring 48 coats of arms in three rows of sixteen.
context_section_description: Not only was Galloway a skilled canonist, Master of Works and an influential liturgist, In two ways he was a “man of his times”. 
  First, his ability to hold a view of the world that depends on myth and magic. Some time, between 1505 and 1507 Galloway and Hector Boece undertook a series of expeditions on behalf of Bishop Elphinstone.  Elphinstone was making preparations for a new Scottish Breviary. To inform the group undertaking the work, Boece and Galloway, both members of the Aberdeen Liturgists, were asked to update stories of the Scottish Saints.   On one of their trips to Monasteries and Abbeys  in the west of Scotland, they reached an island named “Thule” by Boece.   There, according to Boece, Galloway gave his views on origins of Barnacle Geese. (See, Barnacle Geese Myth) 
  [..] Alexander Galloway, parson of Kinkell, who, besides being a man of outstanding probity, is possessed of an unmatched zeal for studying wonders … when he was pulling up some driftwood and saw that seashells were clinging to it from one end to the other, he was surprised by the unusual nature of the thing, and, out of a zeal to understand it, opened them up, whereupon he was more amazed than ever, for within them he discovered, not sea creatures, but rather birds, of a size similar to the shells that contained them ... small shells contained birds of a proportionately small size ... so, he quickly ran to me, whom he knew to be gripped with a great curiosity for investigating suchlike matters and revealed the entire thing to me ..[..]
  — DF Sutton, Hector Boethius - Scotorum Historia (1575 version)
    
  Boece has been accused of writing history that suited his sponsor, James V of Scotland.  In many parts of his history of Sotland, Boece draws on medieval explanations based on myth,  The lasting feature was that Boece allowed Galloway to express the view that Barnacle Geese did come from Barnacles. The explanation may involve the geese dropping from trees growing on the sea shore fully formed. Or, emerging from barnacles that clung to flotsam. In either case, Galloway was reflecting what was known about Barnacle Geese in the sixteenth century. His certainty about religion was under-scored by his certainty about the natural world. 
  Second, Galloway had been a frequent visitor to Europe. The Diocese of Aberdeen, under Elphinstone was strongly influenced by scholars from across Europe. Aberdeen had a strong trading link with the Low Countries. 
  On 28/29 February 1528, Patrick Hamilton, considered the first Scottish martyr of the Reformation, was cruelly burned at the stake in St. Andrews. Hamilton had made the fatal mistake of writing about ‘... the errors and absurdities of the papists ...’, so was seen as a heretic by the conservative liturgist Galloway, his Bishop and the arch-conservative Beaton. It appears that both the Bishop of Aberdeen and his loyal Canon were present at the trial and execution of Hamilton. This came about as follows.  Galloway had been a frequent visitor to Old University of Leuven Louvain in Belgium. There he became a friend and supporter of Jacobus Latomus who was an outspoken critic of Erasmus.  Latomus referred to ‘Alexander Galoai Scotus Abordonensis canonicus’ as one of the ‘friends’ who persuaded him to publish his reply to Patrick Hamilton's Places.   
  After the burning, Galloway wrote to his friends in Louvain reporting on the ‘success’ of the trial.  
  Lorimer says:
  [..] …When informed of the event by Alexander Galloway, canon of Aberdeen, the doctors of Louvain were filled with a cruel joy, and wrote to (James) Beaton to thank him for his services to the common faith, … [..]
  — Patrick Hamilton, the First Preacher and Martyr of the Scottish Reformation: an historical biography 
  These events and connections are circumstantial; however, the events provide a pointer to an important facet of Galloway’s character. He certainly was more than just the liturgist and Master of Works. Galloway’s liturgical zeal indicates a preference for certainty and deep conservatism. Further, he was prepared to write to others about what h
caption: Patrick Hamilton initials plaque, St Andrews, Fife, Scotland
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