John Knox

John Knox was born around 1514, in or near Haddington, in East Lothian, Scotland. His father was a farmer or a merchant, and the family was of modest standing. He was educated at the grammar school in Haddington and then at the University of St Andrews, where he studied under John Major, a noted scholar. He was ordained as a priest around 1536 and served as a notary and a tutor. For some years, he lived the quiet life of a minor clergyman. He was drawn to the reformed teaching by reading the works of the church fathers and by hearing the preaching of Thomas Guilford and George Wishart.

He was deeply influenced by George Wishart, who preached the reformed faith in Scotland in 1545 and 1546. Knox acted as his bodyguard and carried a two-handed sword. When Wishart was arrested and burned at St Andrews in 1546, Knox was left without a protector. He took refuge in the castle of St Andrews, where a group of Protestant lords held out against the authorities. In 1547, he was called to be the preacher of the congregation in the castle. He preached his first sermon in St Andrews and made a deep impression. A French fleet captured the castle in July 1547, and he was taken prisoner. He was sent to the galleys as a slave and spent nineteen months chained to an oar.

He was released in 1549 through the intervention of the English government. He went to England and served as a preacher in Berwick, Newcastle and London under Edward VI. He was a chaplain to the king and had an influence on the revision of the Book of Common Prayer. He was offered a bishopric but refused. When Mary Tudor came to the throne in 1553, he fled to the Continent. He lived in Frankfurt, Geneva and Dieppe. In Geneva, he became a friend of John Calvin and served as a pastor of the English congregation. He called Geneva the most perfect school of Christ since the days of the apostles.

In 1558, he published a work that brought him a lot of trouble, The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women. It was directed against the rule of women, especially the Catholic queens, Mary Tudor and Mary of Guise. It argued that it was against nature and Scripture for a woman to rule a nation. It was written at a time when there were women rulers in England, Scotland and France. The timing was unfortunate. When Elizabeth came to the English throne in 1558, she was offended by the book, and Knox was never forgiven. He was barred from England.

He returned to Scotland in 1559 and took a leading role in the Reformation there. His sermons at St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh stirred the people. In 1560, the Scottish parliament abolished the authority of the pope and adopted a Protestant confession of faith, which he helped to draft. He took part in the compilation of the Book of Discipline and the Book of Common Order, which provided the shape of the Church of Scotland. He was a minister of St Giles for the rest of his life.

He came into conflict with Mary, Queen of Scots, who returned from France in 1561 as a Catholic ruler. The two had several famous interviews, in which he rebuked her for her religion and her conduct. He was an uncompromising man and spoke with a harshness that offended many. He was accused of treason in 1563 but was acquitted. He was a fearless man who did not bow to those in power. He is said to have feared the face of no man. He also was a tender husband to his wives, Margaret Bowes and Margaret Stewart.

He suffered a stroke in 1570 and was in poor health for the last two years of his life. He died on November 24, 1572, in Edinburgh. The regent, Morton, said at his funeral that here lay one who never feared the face of man. His life shows the power of a man who was tempered by suffering and who dared to confront the powerful, and he is also a reminder of the danger of a spirit that is hard and unbending.