The last person executed for blasphemy in Britain
Thomas Aikenhead was a 20-year-old student at the University of Edinburgh when he was arrested for blasphemy in 1696. His crime was expressing doubt about the literal truth of the Bible and the doctrine of the Trinity — opinions he had shared in private conversations with fellow students. One of those friends informed on him.
Aikenhead was tried under Scotland's blasphemy laws, which carried the death penalty for anyone who "rail against or curse God." He was found guilty, and despite petitions for mercy — including from some of the very churchmen who had pushed for prosecution — he was hanged on 8 January 1697 on the road between Edinburgh and Leith. He was the last person to be executed for blasphemy anywhere in Britain.
The case appalled many in Edinburgh's intellectual circles. Just a decade later, the Scottish Enlightenment would begin to flourish in the very city that had executed a young man for thinking freely. David Hume, Adam Smith, and the great sceptical thinkers of the 18th century would push the boundaries of religious and philosophical thought far beyond anything Aikenhead had dared to say. His execution marked the dying gasp of an old Scotland; the Enlightenment was the birth cry of a new one.
Today, Aikenhead is remembered as a martyr to free thought. His case is studied in the history of human rights and religious tolerance. A plaque near the site of his execution on Leith Walk marks where Scotland's relationship with intellectual freedom changed forever.