John Knox was born in Lothian,
Scotland, in 1513. After being educated
at the University
of St. Andrews he
became a Roman Catholic priest in Haddington.
He came under the influence of George Wishart, a supporter of the
Protestant Reformation.
David Beaton, the Archbishop
of St. Andrews, had George Wishart burnt at the stake as a heretic
in 1546. His followers, including John Knox, were blamed for Beaton's
assassination three months later. Know was arrested and imprisoned
by the French and was not released until Edward
VI intervened
in February, 1549.
Knox moved to England and
in 1551 John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland,
arranged for him to be appointed as one of the king's chaplains. When
Mary Tudor came to power Knox was forced
to flee to Frankfurt. In 1555 he moved to Geneva where he worked closely
with John Calvin.
In 1559 Knox published
First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous
Regiment of Women. The book, an attack on two female Catholic
rulers, Mary I and Mary of Guise, created
great controversy. It also upset Elizabeth
I who saw it as a criticism of women rulers.
In 1560 Knox
returned home and became minister of St. Giles in Edinburgh.
Over the next few years Knox helped to establish Presbyterianism
in Scotland.
Knox was a leading opponent
of Mary, Queen of Scots and after withdrawing
to Ayrshire wrote the History of the Reformation
in Scotland. John Knox died in 1572.
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