Talk:Edward Wightman

Untitled
I have deleted the following:

"Edward Wightman, the last person burned at the stake for heresy in England, in April 1612, has usually been dismissed, his anti-Trinitarian speculations seen as the product of a deranged mind. Close study of his surviving trial records, however, reveals that Wightman was a leading member of the godly clique in his home town of Burton-upon-Trent, and that he had very similar ideas to Bartholomew Legate, another anti-Trinitarian who was burned at the stake just a few weeks before him. Both men emerge as the victims of a complex series of events: the king's desire to be seen as orthodox in the light of the Vorstius affair; the in-fighting for control of the ecclesiastical establishment on the elevation of George Abbot to the archbishopric of Canterbury; and the campaign of the emerging anti-Calvinist group around Bishop Richard Neile against puritans. Wightman's career from puritan to heretic suggests that recent historiography stressing puritanism as a force for social and political order has underestimated the degree that the godly community contained within itself all the components necessary to generate profoundly radical people and ideas".

NOT because of its inaccuracy but because of plagiarism.

Please paraphrase the section above and credit the relevant historian. Yozzer66 (talk) 18:30, 23 May 2008 (UTC)

Prophecies
When someone is accused of "10.	That he, Edward Wightman, is literally the prophet Elijah" there is obviously proof of his ability/inability which includes writings that show his prognostications, foresight etc. There's nothing in the article proving that he did anything relational this. Without that proof any accusations are hearsay and false. In other words he was falsely accused.

142.165.193.234 (talk) 06:58, 29 December 2014 (UTC)

Family
I doubt one of the descendants of Edward Wightman was the poet Walt Whitman. According to the information I obtained from the Ancestry.com database, Whitman's family descended from Zachariah Whitman (1572-1626) who came to Massachusetts from England around 1620. Zachariah's father was Edward Whitman (born 1520) while Edward Wightman's father was John Wightman (1515-1535). Edward Wightman's son, John Wightman (1598-1663), arrived in Massachusetts from England around 1635 and shortly thereafter settled in Rhode Island. The Wightmans stayed in Rhode Island whereas the Whitmans made their way to New York within a generation. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lawman592 (talk • contribs) 05:00, 14 September 2011 (UTC)
 * This needs to be verified and reflected in the article. For the rest of the article an objective source (i.e. not those who burnt the chap) with a modern assessment of what Wightman really believed and exposure to European influences is also needed. In ictu oculi (talk) 02:46, 7 February 2012 (UTC)
 * I am a direct descendent of the Wightman family with Edward being a Great grandfather. I am curious where you got your information about his father and Son. Could you double check your dates? You have his father, John Wightman listed 1515-1535 with Edward being born in 1520. That does not work out. I assume a typo! Very interested in hearing more.
 * BTW - I have Edward Wightman as 1566-1612 (the year he was executed). Once I verify your information, I will update Wikipedia with more family tree details. Wightmanphilip (talk) 12:33, 5 November 2023 (UTC)

Needs drastic revision
Much of the factual content of this article represents Wikipedia at its worst, full of questionable statements cobbled together from a variety of unreliable sources, many of which have been left unchallenged, despite fairly frequent edits, for years. Large parts seem to have been cut-and-pasted (they're full of 'smart' quotes, always a giveaway). Or look at the ridiculous penultimate footnote (currently note 35) which comprises a long impenetrable list of 'Works cited', NONE OF WHICH are cited elsewhere in the article. Did whoever added that understand the meaning of the word 'cite'? And what about all the references to manuscript sources: at best that's OR, and at worst incomprehending plagiarism (see WP:SAYWHEREYOUGOTIT). The whole thing needs a thorough overhaul from top to bottom. For the moment, I've just removed the inadequately sourced (but very precise) claim that Wightman was born on 20 December 1566 at Wykin Hall, Burbage, preferring to trust the ODNB's surmise that he may have been a child baptised in 1580. GrindtXX (talk) 19:51, 21 December 2012 (UTC)

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Implausible personal data
Born in 1580, went to grammar school and married at the advanced age of 13. Sorry but that makes no sense. JRB-Europe (talk) 12:50, 8 January 2018 (UTC)

Narrow claim
When I read that "He was the last person to be burned at the stake in England for heresy" I asked myself so who was the last person to be executed by any means in England for heresy? The article on heresy states that the last execution in England for heresy was in 1612, the year Wightman was executed, so it seems likely that he was the last person to be executed in England for heresy. If this is correct, I suggest a change to "He was the last person to be executed (by being burned at the stake) in England for heresy". Brian Hardy 54 (talk) 19:20, 8 January 2018 (UTC)

Likely False Information
The information under the introduction of the "Life" section about Wightman's baptism seems obviously wrong and includes an unnecessary and informal parenthetical. There are no sources for any note of his baptism taking place in 1588, nor would he be a "child" in 1588 (given he is confirmed to have been born in 1566; he would have been 22 by 1588).

I would consider for its deletion. Honestly, this entire article could use a cleanup. Maxmmyron (talk) 16:12, 8 January 2020 (UTC)