Knox, John

d. 1572

John Knox is widely thought of as a founding father of the Protestant Reformation in Scotland, and of the Church of Scotland. His date and place of birth are not certain with dates varying from 1505 to 1513 or 1514 and the likely place of birth being around Haddington in East Lothian. Knox died on 24 November 1572 in Edinburgh. His father, William Knox of Haddingtonshire, had fought at the Battle of Flodden; his mother's maiden name was Sinclair. John Knox was educated by the Scottish Church, which was regarded as liberal when compared with the pre-reformation Catholic standards of the day.

It is thought that Knox spent some time as a tutor before becoming a Catholic priest. The first record of him being a priest is in 1540 while the latest known is a document which he signed in 1543. Knox first publicly professed the Protestant faith in 1545 and it is believed that his actual conversion was probably the result of his friendship with George Wishart. Wishart, who had returned to Scotland in 1544 after a period of banishment, had preached in favour of the Reformation. Knox became one of Wishart's closest associates, even acting as his body-guard, defending Wishart against the supporters of Cardinal David Beaton, leader of the Scottish anti-Protestant movement. Wishart was tried for heresy and burnt at the stake in March 1546. Knox went on to become a Protestant minister in St Andrews, though there is no evidence to show that he was ever officially ordained as such. His book, History of the Reformation gives an account of the proceedings connected with his call to the ministry, together with a report of the first sermon he delivered in St Andrews.

Soon after Wishart's death, Knox spent some time as a refugee, reportedly as a French galley slave, and then in voluntary exile in England. He also travelled to Geneva, Switzerland, where he met with the reformer, John Calvin. In Geneva he became the minister of an English congregation and wrote The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women and a long treatise on predestination.

In 1560, the doctrine, worship, and government of the Roman Church were overthrown by the parliament of 1560 and protestantism was established as the national religion. Knox was appointed minister of St. Giles, Edinburgh and, assisted by five other ministers, formulated the confession of faith adopted at this time and drew up the constitution of the new Church - 'The First Book of Discipline'. This new church or the Kirk was organised on presbyterian lines. Priests were replaced by ministers (from the Latin for servants), with each parish governed by the Kirk Session, although at this time the proposed replacement of bishops with superintendents was only partly implemented.

John Knox's first wife, Marjorie Bowes died early in his Edinburgh ministry. They had two sons, one of whom, Nathanael, died at Cambridge in 1580; the other, Eleazer, became vicar of Clacton Magna in the archdeaconry of Colchester and died in 1591. In 1564 Knox married again, this time to Margaret Stewart, daughter of Andrew, Lord Stewart of Ochiltree. The marriage was greatly talked about because the bride was connected with the royal family (albeit remotely) and even more so because she was seventeen while Knox was three times as old. They had three daughters Martha, Margaret and Elizabeth - all of whom are mentioned in Knox's testament.

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