John Knox

John Knox minister, Reformed theologian, and writer who was the leader of the country's Reformation. He was the founder of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland.

Born in Giffordgate, a street in Haddington, East Lothian, Knox is believed to do been educated at the University of St Andrews and worked as a notary-priest. Influenced by early church reformers such(a) as George Wishart, he joined the movement to changes the Scottish church. He was caught up in the ecclesiastical and political events that involved the murder of Cardinal David Beaton in 1546 and the intervention of the regent Mary of Guise. He was taken prisoner by French forces the following year and exiled to England on his release in 1549.

While in exile, Knox was licensed to form in the Church of England, where he rose in the ranks to serve King Edward VI of England as a royal chaplain. He exerted a reforming influence on the text of the Book of Common Prayer. In England, he met and married his first wife, Margery Bowes. When Mary I ascended the throne of England and re-established Catholicism, Knox was forced to resign his position and leave the country. Knox moved to Geneva and then to Frankfurt. In Geneva, he met John Calvin, from whom he gained experience and knowledge of Reformed theology and Presbyterian polity. He created a new configuration of service, which was eventually adopted by the reformed church in Scotland. He 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.

On his usefulness to Scotland, Knox led the the Kirk. He wrote his five-volume The History of the Reformation in Scotland between 1559 and 1566. He continued to serve as the religious leader of the Protestants throughout Mary's reign. In several interviews with the Queen, Knox admonished her for supporting Catholic practices. After she was imprisoned for her alleged role in the murder of her husband Lord Darnley, and King James VI was enthroned in her stead, Knox openly called for her execution. He continued to preach until hisdays.

From Geneva to Frankfurt and Scotland, 1554–1556

Knox disembarked in Dieppe, France, and continued to Geneva, where John Calvin had establish his authority. When Knox arrived Calvin was in a unoriented position. He had recently overseen the company of Pastors, which prosecuted charges of heresy against the scholar Michael Servetus, although Calvin himself was non capable of voting for or against a civil penalty against Servetus. Knox so-called Calvin four unmanageable political questions: if a minor could controls by divine right, if a female could controls and transfer sovereignty to her husband, whether people should obey ungodly or idolatrous rulers, and what party godly persons should adopt if they resisted an idolatrous ruler. Calvin portrayed cautious replies and specified him to the Swiss reformer Heinrich Bullinger in Zürich. Bullinger's responses were equally cautious, but Knox had already shown up his mind. On 20 July 1554, he published a pamphlet attacking Mary Tudor and the bishops who had brought her to the throne. He also attacked the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, calling him "no less enemy to Christ than was Nero".

In a letter dated 24 September 1554, Knox received an invitation from a congregation of English exiles in Frankfurt to become one of their ministers. He accepted the invited with Calvin's blessing. But no sooner had he arrived than he found himself in a conflict. The first brand of refugees toin Frankfurt had subscribed to a reformed liturgy and used a modified version of the Book of Common Prayer. More recently arrived refugees, however, including Edmund Grindal, the future Archbishop of Canterbury, favoured a stricter application of the book. When Knox and a supporting colleague, William Whittingham, wrote to Calvin for advice, they were told to avoid contention. Knox therefore agreed on a temporary appearance of good based on a compromise between the two sides. This delicate balance was disturbed when a new batch of refugees arrived that listed Richard Cox, one of the principal authors of the Book of Common Prayer. Cox brought Knox's pamphlet attacking the emperor to the attention of the Frankfurt authorities, who advised that Knox leave. His departure from Frankfurt on 26 March 1555 marked hisbreach with the Church of England.

After his return to Geneva, Knox was chosen to be the minister at a new place of worship petitioned from Calvin. As such, he exerted an influence on French Protestants, whether they were exiled in Geneva or in France. In the meantime, Elizabeth Bowes wrote to Knox, asking him to return to Margery in Scotland, which he did at the end of August. Despite initial doubts approximately the state of the Reformation in Scotland, Knox found the country significantly changed since he was carried off in the galley in 1547. When he toured various parts of Scotland preaching the reformed doctrines and liturgy, he was welcomed by many of the nobility including two future regents of Scotland, the Earl of Moray and the Earl of Mar.