I.

Introduction

John Knox (1513?-1572), Scottish religious reformer, who was the founder of Presbyterianism in Scotland.

Born in Haddington, Knox was educated at the University of Glasgow. Originally a Roman Catholic priest, about 1543 he became attracted to the preachings of the Scottish Protestant reformer George Wishart. Knox was called to the Protestant ministry and, after Wishart was executed for heresy in Saint Andrews, Scotland, in 1546, preached in the castle and parish church there. Knox was taken prisoner in 1547 when a French fleet captured Saint Andrews; he spent a year and a half in French galleys and was released only at the intercession of Edward VI, king of England. On his return to England he joined the ministry of the Church of England and in 1551 was appointed a royal chaplain.

II.

Opposition to Mary Tudor

When Mary Tudor, a Roman Catholic, became (1553) Mary I, queen of England, Knox fled to Geneva, where he became acquainted with the French Protestant reformer John Calvin. Knox remained in Geneva until 1559, except for a period in 1555, when he visited Scotland. After his return to Geneva from this visit, he carried on a correspondence with the Protestant nobles of Scotland, the Lords of the Congregation, and also wrote his treatise The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women (1558), a polemic against government by women. This work was directed chiefly against the Roman Catholic regent of Scotland, Mary of Guise, ruling for her daughter Mary, Queen of Scots.

When he returned to Scotland in 1559, Knox aided a Protestant revolt against the regency. His preaching at Perth and Saint Andrews won those towns to his cause, and his labors in Edinburgh stimulated the development of a strong antigovernment party. The Protestant reformers, however, could not hope to succeed alone against the regent, who was supported by French troops. Knox therefore induced Elizabeth I of England to intervene. With English aid, and furthered by the death of Mary of Guise and the withdrawal of French troops, the Protestant party came into control of the Scottish government. On August 17, 1560, the Protestant reformers' Confession of Faith, written chiefly by Knox, was adopted by the Estates, the Scottish parliament; it remained the authorized Scottish creed for two centuries.

The return to Scotland of the Roman Catholic Mary, queen of Scots, in the following year revived all the old dissensions as well as created new ones. As minister of Saint Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh, Knox publicly condemned Mary's governmental policies and personal conduct. A sermon in St. Giles led to the first of a series of personal interviews between Mary and Knox, the record of which forms a remarkable portion of Knox's History of the Reformation in Scotland (pub. posthumously, 1586 and 1664). Knox's violent opposition to Mary alienated one of his chief supporters, James Stuart, earl of Moray, half brother to Mary and one of her principal advisers; the marriage (1565) of Mary and Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley, a Roman Catholic, reunited them, however, for both regarded it as a menace to the new Protestantism.

III.

Final Years

The events of the next two years, including the murder of Darnley, Mary's marriage to James Hepburn, 4th earl of Bothwell, and her flight into England, gave the control back to the Protestant party. Moray became regent, and the acts of 1560 in favor of the reformed religion were ratified by the Scottish parliament. Knox's influence remained a formidable force, and his sermons at the 1567 coronation of James VI of Scotland, later James I, king of England, and at the opening of the Scottish parliament had the importance of public manifestos.

In 1572 Knox retired to Saint Andrews after a paralytic stroke. There he completed his last book, An Answer to a Scottish Jesuit (1572). He died November 24, 1572.