F.F. Bruce's distillation of the historical core in Hegesippus: James killed because he refused to deny that Jesus was the Messiah, threatening the political stability of the Jewish leadership

F.F. Bruce (Rylands Professor of Biblical Criticism and Exegesis, University of Manchester) summarizes the historical core: the high priest and colleagues, alarmed at the growth of militant messianism threatening Roman-Jewish political stability, demanded James disown the Nazarene messianic claim. His refusal led to his death. Even stripping away legendary embellishments, this historical core remains — something gave rise to the legend, and dismissing everything as unhistorical is not warranted.