| For the first thirty or more years
of his life very little is known about John Knox other than
he was born in Haddington and educated at St Andrews University
before becoming a priest. He was heavily influenced by George
Wishart and started following him in 1546, although Wishart
was burned for heresy in the same year. Wishart's persecutor,
Cardinal Beaton, was also murdered
in that year and Knox joined the murderer's in St Andrews Castle
but was captured by the French and forced into service aboard
their galleys. After he was released, in 1549, he travelled
to Protestant England. He was always on the left wing of the
Protestant party and he made a reputation for himself as a preacher
at Newcastle, Berwick as well as London. Although he was offered
the bishopric of Rochester he declined as he already knew that
Edward VI's reign would be short lived and that a Catholic backlash
was almost inevitable. He was to be proved correct and he escaped
when Mary Tudor came to the throne, several bishops were not
so lucky however. |
John Knox |
After going to Dieppe and Frankfurt, where he fell out with the
more moderate English reformers, he moved to Geneva. It was while
he was in Geneva that he came to admire the discipline and theology
of John Calvin. During a short visit to Scotland in 1555-6 he was
involved in moulding the new movement that would culminate in rebellion
against France and Rome. As soon as Elizabeth succeeded Mary Tudor
in England he asked for permission to return, unsurprisingly this
was refused as he had definitively come out against all female rulers
in his First Blast of the Trumpet against the Monstrous Regiment
of Women! By 1559 Knox was back in Scotland and after giving
a sermon which resulted in the looting of religious houses he attributed
it to the 'rascal multitude' rather than the 'brethren'. During
1559 he gave enthusiastic support to the 'Lords of the Congregation'
as they rebelled against the Queen-Regent's regime. From July of
1559 until his death he remained the minister of the High Kirk of
Edinburgh (St Giles) and in 1560 he was instrumental in the Reformation
Parliament's introduction of the Protestant order. The manifestos
of this year had more input by Knox than any other individual and
the Confession was very important to the new kirk in its
statement of faith. Worship was changed forever by 'Knox's Liturgy'
or the Book of Common Order which gave services in the vernacular
as well as putting the Word at the centre of everything. A template
for a Protestant commonwealth was given in the Book of Discipline,
this included education for all, provision for the poor, old and
sick and more cooperation between the Church and State.
Holyrood, Edinburgh where Knox and Mary met |
In 1561 Queen Mary returned to Scotland
and through a number of interviews Knox had with her (and
which were only recorded by him) we get an impression of their
stormy relationship. He agreed with Riccio's murder but when
the murderers did not succeed in an attempt to take power
he left Edinburgh for Ayrshire and then England for a few
months. After Mary's overthrow he returned as he was popular
with the Regents of the young James
VI, however, he was forced to retire to St Andrews for
a time by Mary's supporters.
It is Knox's History of the Reformation that gives
us such a flavour for this period both historically and as
a biography of himself. He was less the dour Scot he is sometimes
portrayed and more an anglophile, his first wife was English
and his two sons were sent to England to be educated. He does
exaggerate his own importance in the events of the Reformation
as contemporary accounts do not have much to say concerning
him but nevertheless the History has been hugely important
in the centuries since the Reformation and taken with the
books mentioned above are some of the most important publications
we have from Scottish church history. |
|
