John Knox was chained to a bench in a French galley, rowing through the Seine while a whip cracked over his back, yet he remained so mentally sharp that he could comfort fellow prisoners with prophecies of his own return to Scotland. Born sometime between 1513 and 1515 in Haddington, East Lothian, to a merchant father named William and a mother whose maiden name was Sinclair, Knox began life in the shadow of a crumbling medieval church. He was educated at the Knox Academy grammar school before studying under the great scholar John Major, first at the University of Glasgow and later at the University of St Andrews. By Easter Eve of 1536, he had been ordained a Catholic priest in Edinburgh, serving as a notary-priest and tutor to the sons of Hugh Douglas and John Cockburn. These young men were the first to embrace the radical new ideas of the Reformation, and Knox found himself drawn into their circle. His life changed irrevocably when he met George Wishart, a reformer who had fled Scotland to escape execution for heresy. Wishart preached against the veneration of the Virgin Mary, and Knox became his bodyguard, carrying a two-handed sword to protect him. When Wishart was arrested and burned at the stake on the 1st of March 1546, Knox narrowly escaped arrest by following Wishart's advice to return to his pupils. The murder of Cardinal David Beaton on the 29th of May 1546 by a gang of five men, including Knox's friends, dragged him into the heart of a political storm. He took refuge in the Castle of St Andrews, where he was eventually captured by French forces on the 31st of July 1547. For 19 months, he was forced to row in the galleys, chained to a bench, his health failing, yet his spirit unbroken. He recalled an incident where a prisoner threw a picture of the Virgin Mary into the sea, declaring, Let our Lady now save herself: she is light enough: let her learn to swim. This act of defiance became a symbol of his growing conviction that the old order must be destroyed.
The Firebrand Chaplain of Edward VI
Released in February 1549 after 19 months of brutal confinement, Knox found himself in England, where the Reformation was less radical than on the Continent but still a breach with Rome. He was licensed to work in the Church of England on the 7th of April 1549, first in Berwick-upon-Tweed, then in Newcastle upon Tyne, and finally as one of six royal chaplains to King Edward VI. His sermons were so powerful that they drew large crowds, and he began to influence the text of the Book of Common Prayer. He argued that kneeling during communion was idolatry, a stance that led to the famous Black Rubric, which declared that no adoration was intended while kneeling. In 1551, he was offered the bishopric of Rochester by John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, but he refused, preferring to remain a preacher. When Queen Mary I ascended the throne in 1553 and re-established Catholicism, Knox was forced to flee. On the eve of his flight, he wrote that the troubles in England were double more dolorous unto his heart than ever were the troubles of Scotland. He left for the Continent, first to Dieppe, then to Geneva, where he met John Calvin. Calvin was in a difficult position, having recently overseen the prosecution of Michael Servetus, but Knox pressed him with four difficult political questions about the right to resist ungodly rulers. Calvin gave cautious replies, but Knox had already made up his mind. He published a pamphlet attacking Mary Tudor and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, calling the latter no less enemy to Christ than was Nero. In Geneva, he met his first wife, Margery Bowes, and they married, though the exact date is unknown. He also met John Calvin, from whom he gained experience and knowledge of Reformed theology and presbyterian polity. He created a new order of service, The Forme of Prayers, which was eventually adopted by the Reformed Church in Scotland and came to be known as the Book of Common Order. It was the first book printed in any Gaelic language. Knox left Geneva to head the English refugee church in Frankfurt but he was forced to leave over differences concerning the liturgy, thus ending his association with the Church of England.
In mid-1558, Knox published his best-known pamphlet, The first blast of the trumpet against the monstruous regiment of women. In calling the regimen or rule of women monstrous, he meant that it was unnatural. Knox states that his purpose was to demonstrate how abominable before God is the Empire or Rule of a wicked woman, yea, of a traiteresse and bastard. The women rulers that Knox had in mind were Queen Mary I of England and Mary of Guise, the Dowager Queen of Scotland and regent on behalf of her daughter, Mary, Queen of Scots. This biblical position was not unusual in Knox's day, however, even he was aware that the pamphlet was dangerously seditious. He therefore published it anonymously and did not tell Calvin, who denied knowledge of it until a year after its publication, that he had written it. In England, the pamphlet was officially condemned by royal proclamation. The impact of the document was complicated later that year when Elizabeth Tudor, a Protestant, became Queen of England. Although Knox had not targeted Elizabeth, he had deeply offended her, and she never forgave him. Knox left Geneva in January 1559, but he did not arrive in Scotland until the 2nd of May 1559, owing to Elizabeth's refusal to issue him a passport through England. He had spent two years in Geneva, living a happy life, preaching three sermons a week, each lasting well over two hours. The services used a liturgy that was derived by Knox and other ministers from Calvin's Formes des Prières Ecclésiastiques. His two sons, Nathaniel and Eleazar, were born in Geneva, with Whittingham and Myles Coverdale their respective godfathers. He had recommended Geneva to his friends in England as the best place of asylum for Protestants, writing that it was the most perfect school of Christ that ever was in the earth since the days of the apostles. But the call of Scotland was too strong to ignore, and he returned to a country that had changed significantly since he was carried off in the galley in 1547.
The Revolution That Burned Cathedrals
Two days after Knox arrived in Edinburgh, he proceeded to Dundee where a large number of Protestant sympathisers had gathered. He was declared an outlaw, and the Queen Regent summoned the Protestants to Stirling. Fearing the possibility of a summary trial and execution, the Protestants proceeded instead to Perth, a walled town that could be defended in case of a siege. At the church of St John the Baptist, Knox preached a fiery sermon and a small incident precipitated into a riot. A mob poured into the church and it was soon gutted. The mob then attacked two friaries Blackfriars and Greyfriars in the town, looting their gold and silver and smashing images. Mary of Guise gathered those nobles loyal to her and a small French army. She dispatched the Earl of Argyll and Lord Moray to offer terms and avert a war. She promised not to send any French troops into Perth if the Protestants evacuated the town. The Protestants agreed, but when the Queen Regent entered Perth, she garrisoned it with Scottish soldiers on the French payroll. This was seen as treacherous by Lord Argyll and Lord Moray, who both switched sides and joined Knox, who now based himself in St Andrews. Knox's return to St Andrews fulfilled the prophecy he made in the galleys that he would one day preach again in its church. When he did give a sermon, the effect was the same as in Perth. The people engaged in vandalism and looting. In June 1559, a Protestant mob incited by the preaching of John Knox ransacked the cathedral; the interior of the building was destroyed. The cathedral fell into decline following the attack and became a source of building material for the town. By 1561 it had been abandoned and left to fall into ruin. With Protestant reinforcements arriving from neighbouring counties, the Queen Regent retreated to Dunbar. By now, the mob fury had spilled over central Scotland. Her own troops were on the verge of mutiny. On the 30th of June, the Protestant Lords of the Congregation occupied Edinburgh, though they were able to hold it for only a month. But even before their arrival, the mob had already sacked the churches and the friaries. On the 1st of July, Knox preached from the pulpit of St Giles', the most influential in the capital. The Lords of the Congregation negotiated their withdrawal from Edinburgh by the Articles of Leith signed the 25th of July 1559, and Mary of Guise promised freedom of conscience. Knox knew that the Queen Regent would ask for help from France, so he negotiated by letter under the assumed name John Sinclair with William Cecil, Elizabeth's chief adviser, for English support. Knox sailed secretly to Lindisfarne, off the northeast coast of England at the end of July, to meet James Croft and Sir Henry Percy at Berwick upon Tweed. Knox was indiscreet and news of his mission soon reached Mary of Guise. He returned to Edinburgh telling Croft he had to return to his flock, and suggested that Henry Balnaves should go to Cecil. When additional French troops arrived in Leith, Edinburgh's seaport, the Protestants responded by retaking Edinburgh. This time, on the 24th of October 1559, the Scottish nobility formally deposed Mary of Guise from the regency. Her secretary, William Maitland of Lethington, defected to the Protestant side, bringing his administrative skills. From then on, Maitland took over the political tasks, freeing Knox for the role of religious leader. For the final stage of the revolution, Maitland appealed to Scottish patriotism to fight French domination. Following the Treaty of Berwick, support from England finally arrived and by the end of March, a significant English army joined the Scottish Protestant forces. The sudden death of Mary of Guise in Edinburgh Castle on the 10th of June 1560 paved the way for an end to hostilities, the signing of the Treaty of Edinburgh, and the withdrawal of French and English troops from Scotland. On the 19th of July, Knox held a National Thanksgiving Service at St Giles'.
The Clash of Faith and Crown
On the 1st of August, the Scottish Parliament met to settle religious issues. Knox and five other ministers, all called John, were called upon to draw up a new confession of faith. Within four days, the Scots Confession was presented to Parliament, voted upon, and approved. A week later, the Parliament passed three acts in one day: the first abolished the jurisdiction of the Pope in Scotland, the second condemned all doctrine and practice contrary to the reformed faith, and the third forbade the celebration of Mass in Scotland. Before the dissolution of Parliament, Knox and the other ministers were given the task of organising the newly reformed church or the Kirk. They would work for several months on the Book of Discipline, the document describing the organisation of the new church. During this period, in December 1560, Knox's wife, Margery, died, leaving Knox to care for their two sons, aged three and a half and two years old. John Calvin, who had lost his own wife in 1549, wrote a letter of condolence. Parliament reconvened on the 15th of January 1561 to consider the Book of Discipline. The Kirk was to be run on democratic lines. Each congregation was free to choose or reject its own pastor, but once he was chosen he could not be fired. Each parish was to be self-supporting, as far as possible. The bishops were replaced by ten to twelve superintendents. The plan included a system of national education based on universality as a fundamental principle. Certain areas of law were placed under ecclesiastical authority. The Parliament did not approve the plan, however, mainly for reasons of finance. The Kirk was to be financed out of the patrimony of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland. Much of this was now in the hands of the nobles, who were reluctant to give up their possessions. A final decision on the plan was delayed because of the impending return of Mary, Queen of Scots. On the 19th of August 1561, cannons were fired in Leith to announce Queen Mary's arrival in Scotland. When she attended Mass being celebrated in the royal chapel at Holyrood Palace five days later, this prompted a protest in which one of her servants was jostled. The next day she issued a proclamation that there would be no alteration in the current state of religion and that her servants should not be molested or troubled. Many nobles accepted this, but not Knox. The following Sunday, he protested from the pulpit of St Giles'. As a result, just two weeks after her return, Mary summoned Knox. She accused him of inciting a rebellion against her mother and of writing a book against her own authority. Knox answered that as long as her subjects found her rule convenient, he was willing to accept her governance, noting that Paul the Apostle had been willing to live under Nero's rule. Mary noted, however, that he had written against the principle of female rule itself. He responded that she should not be troubled by what had never harmed her. When Mary asked him whether subjects had a right to resist their ruler, he replied that if monarchs exceeded their lawful limits, they might be resisted, even by force. On the 13th of December 1562, Mary sent for Knox again after he gave a sermon denouncing certain celebrations which Knox had interpreted as rejoicing at the expense of the Reformation. She charged that Knox spoke irreverently of the Queen in order to make her appear contemptible to her subjects. After Knox gave an explanation of the sermon, Mary stated that she did not blame Knox for the differences of opinion and asked that in the future he come to her directly if he heard anything about her that he disliked. Despite her gesture, Knox replied that he would continue to voice his convictions in his sermons and would not wait upon her. During Easter in 1563, some priests in Ayrshire celebrated Mass, thus defying the law. Some Protestants tried to enforce the law themselves by apprehending these priests. This prompted Mary to summon Knox for the third time. She asked Knox to use his influence to promote religious toleration. He defended their actions and noted she was bound to uphold the laws and if she did not, others would. Mary surprised Knox by agreeing that the priests would be brought to justice. The most dramatic interview between Mary and Knox took place on the 24th of June 1563. Mary summoned Knox to Holyrood after hearing that he had been preaching against her proposed marriage to Don Carlos, the son of Philip II of Spain. Mary began by scolding Knox, then she burst into tears. What have ye to do with my marriage? she asked, and What are ye within this commonwealth? A subject born within the same, Madam, Knox replied. He noted that though he was not of noble birth, he had the same duty as any subject to warn of dangers to the realm. When Mary started to cry again, he said, Madam, in God's presence I speak: I never delighted in the weeping of any of God's creatures; yea I can scarcely well abide the tears of my own boys whom my own hand corrects, much less can I rejoice in your Majesty's weeping. He added that he would rather endure her tears, however, than remain silent and betray my Commonwealth. At this, Mary ordered him out of the room. Knox's final encounter with Mary was prompted by an incident at Holyrood. While Mary was absent from Edinburgh on her summer progress in 1563, a crowd forced its way into her private chapel as Mass was being celebrated. During the altercation, the priest's life was threatened. As a result, two of the ringleaders, burgesses of Edinburgh, were scheduled for trial on the 24th of October 1563. In order to defend these men, Knox sent out letters calling the nobles to convene. Mary obtained one of these letters and asked her advisors if this was not a treasonable act. Stewart and Maitland, wanting to keep good relations with both the Kirk and the Queen, asked Knox to admit he was wrong and to settle the matter quietly. Knox refused and he defended himself in front of Mary and the Privy Council. He argued that he had called a legal, not an illegal, assembly as part of his duties as a minister of the Kirk. After he left, the councillors voted not to charge him with treason.
The Widow and the Rebel
On the 26th of March 1564, Knox stirred controversy again when he married Margaret Stewart, the daughter of an old friend, Andrew Stewart, 2nd Lord Ochiltree, a member of the Stuart family and a distant relative of the Queen, Mary Stuart. The marriage was unusual because he was a widower of fifty, while the bride was only seventeen. Very few details are known of their domestic life. They had three daughters, Martha, Margaret, and Elizabeth. When the General Assembly convened in June 1564, an argument broke out between Knox and Maitland over the authority of the civil government. Maitland told Knox to refrain from stirring up emotions over Mary's insistence on having mass celebrated and he quoted from Martin Luther and John Calvin about obedience to earthly rulers. Knox retorted that the Bible notes that Israel was punished when it followed an unfaithful king and that the Continental reformers were refuting arguments made by the Anabaptists who rejected all forms of government. The debate revealed his waning influence on political events as the nobility continued to support Mary. After the wedding of Mary and Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, on the 29th of July 1565, some of the Protestant nobles, including James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, rose up in a rebellion known as the Chaseabout Raid. Knox revealed his own objection to the marriage while preaching in the presence of the new King Consort on the 19th of August 1565. He made passing allusions to ungodly rulers which caused Darnley to walk out. Knox was summoned and prohibited from preaching while the court was in Edinburgh. On the 9th of March 1566, Mary's secretary, David Rizzio, was murdered by conspirators loyal to Darnley. Mary escaped from Edinburgh to Dunbar and by the 18th of March returned with a formidable force. Knox fled to Kyle in Ayrshire, where he completed the major part of his magnum opus, History of the Reformation in Scotland. When he returned to Edinburgh, he found the Protestant nobles divided over what to do with Mary. Lord Darnley had been murdered and the Queen almost immediately married the chief suspect, the Earl of Bothwell. The indictment of murder thus upon her, she was forced to abdicate and was imprisoned in Lochleven Castle. Lord Moray had become the regent of King James VI. Other old friends of Knox, Lord Argyll and William Kirkcaldy, stood by Mary. On the 29th of July 1567, Knox preached James VI's coronation sermon at the church of the Holy Rude in Stirling. During this period Knox thundered against her in his sermons, even to the point of calling for her death. However, Mary's life was spared, and she escaped on the 2nd of May 1568. The fighting in Scotland continued as a civil war. Lord Moray was assassinated on the 23rd of January 1570. The regent who succeeded him, the Earl of Lennox, was also a victim of violence. On the 30th of April 1571, the controller of Edinburgh Castle, Kirkcaldy of Grange, ordered all enemies of the Queen to leave the city. But for Knox, his former friend and fellow galley slave, he made an exception. If Knox did not leave, he could stay in Edinburgh, but only if he remained captive in the castle. Knox chose to leave, and on the 5th of May he left for St Andrews. He continued to preach, spoke to students, and worked on his History. At the end of July 1572, after a truce was called, he returned to Edinburgh. Although by this time exceedingly feeble and his voice faint, he continued to preach at St Giles'.
The Man Who Feared No Flesh
After inducting his successor, James Lawson of Aberdeen, as minister of St Giles' on the 9th of November, Knox returned to his home for the last time. With his friends and some of the greatest Scottish nobles around him, he asked for the Bible to be read aloud. On his last day, the 24th of November 1572, his young wife read from Paul's first letter to the Corinthians. A testimony to Knox was pronounced at his grave in the churchyard of St Giles' by James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton, and newly elected regent of Scotland: Here lies one who never feared any flesh. After the churchyard's destruction in 1633 the precise site of Knox's grave cannot be established. In his will, Knox claimed: None have I corrupted, none have I defrauded; merchandise have I not made. The paltry sum of money Knox bequeathed to his family, which would have left them in dire poverty, showed that he had not profited from his work in the Kirk. The regent, Lord Morton, asked the General Assembly to continue paying his stipend to his widow for one year after his death, and the regent ensured that Knox's dependents were decently supported. Knox was survived by his five children and his second wife. Nathaniel and Eleazar, his two sons by his first wife, attended St John's College, Cambridge. Nathaniel became a Fellow of St John's but died early in 1580. Eleazar was ordained into the Church of England and served in the parish of Great Clacton. He also died young and was buried in the chapel of St John's College in 1591. Knox's second wife, Margaret Knox, married a second time, to Andrew Ker, who was one of those involved in the murder of David Rizzio. Knox's three daughters also married: Martha to Alexander Fairlie; Margaret to Zachary Pont, son of Robert Pont and brother of Timothy Pont; and Elizabeth to John Welsh, a minister of the Kirk. Knox's death was barely noticed at the time. Although his funeral was attended by the nobles of Scotland, no major politician or diplomat mentioned his death in their surviving letters. Mary, Queen of Scots, made only two brief references to him in her letters. However, what the rulers feared were Knox's ideas more than Knox himself. He was a successful reformer and it was this philosophy of reformation that had a great impact on the English Puritans. He has also been described as having contributed to the struggle for genuine human freedom, by teaching a duty to oppose unjust government in order to bring about moral and spiritual change. His epitaph reads: Here lies one who feared God so much that he never feared the face of any man. This is a reference to Matthew 10:28. Knox was notable not so much for the overthrow of Roman Catholicism in Scotland, but for assuring the replacement of the established Christian religion with Presbyterianism rather than Anglicanism. Knox was instrumental in the establishment of the Presbyterian polity, though it took 120 years following his death for this to be achieved in 1689. Meanwhile, he accepted the status quo and was happy to see his friends appointed bishops and archbishops, even preaching at the inauguration of the Protestant Archbishop of St Andrews John Douglas in 1571. In that regard, Knox is considered the notional founder of the Presbyterian denomination, whose members number millions worldwide. A bust of Knox, by David Watson Stevenson, is in the Hall of Heroes of the National Wallace Monument in Stirling. Knox is commemorated in multiple notable Church of Scotland and presbyterian locations, such as the Glasgow Necropolis, St Giles cathedral and New College, Edinburgh. He is also commemorated in his hometown of Haddington, where the local grammar school, in which John Know was educated, was renamed from Haddington Grammar to the John Knox Memorial Institute in 1879 and gradually became known as just Knox Academy after the construction of the new campus between 1930-1960. A large sculpture of Knox adorns the front of the former John Knox Memorial Institute building now Meadowpark Knox Academy.