Almanac for May 29

Technically, but perhaps not elegantly, speaking, lots of things happened on May 29:

--G.K. Chesterton was born in 1874!

--Charles II was born in 1630

--Charles II was restored to the thrones of England and Scotland (HAPPY BIRTHDAY!) in 1660

--John Penry, a Welsh Puritan minister and the Martin Marprelate author was executed during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, with her Archbishop of Canterbury, Richard Whitgift, signing the death warrant. He was drawn and hung, but not quartered. There is a strange conspiracy theory about his connections to Christopher Marlowe.

Another event was the murder in 1546 of Cardinal Archbishop of St. Andrews, David Beaton, the last Catholic Cardinal named before the Scottish Reformation erupted. He was utterly opposed to the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots to Henry VIII's heir Edward, and steadfastly in favor of the "Auld Alliance" between Scotland and France. Beaton served King James V of Scotland as ambassador and attempted to serve the infant Queen as regent. Many at Court blamed him for James V's refusal to meet with Henry VIII--Henry was urging James to follow his lead: take over the Church in Scotland, suppress the monasteries and take their wealth as his own, and break away from the Catholic Church and the Pope's authority. After the Scots were defeated at the battle of Solway Moss, James V died. Beaton regained power in 1543 and cancelled the marriage agreement between Mary and Edward--and of course that led to the "Rough Wooing", English incursions into Scotland.

Beaton had a role in the burning of George Wishart, a Protestant, as a heretic on March 1, 1546 and that led to his murder by Norman Leslie, master of Rothes, and William Kirkcaldy of Grange in the castle of St. Andrews, his home. John Hamilton, who succeeded him as Archbishop, was executed on April 6, 1571, found guilty of conspiracy in the death of Lord Darnley and James Stewart, the Earl of Moray.