Matthew Hamont
Matthew Hamont (died 20 May 1579) was a Norfolk ploughwright, accused of heresy, who was burnt at the stake in Norwich Castle by the Church of England. Hamont, who came from Hethersett, was a Unitarian. The Bishop of Norwich, Edmund Freke, accused Hamont of denying Christ to be a Saviour. On 19 May 1579 his ears were cut off and the following day, 20 May 1579, he was burned to death at Norwich Castle. Life In the Hethersett parish registers the surname is spelt Hamonte, Hammonte, and Hammante. According to Alexander Gordon, 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: 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