Statue of John Knox, leader of the Scottish Reformation

The Scottish Reformation was Scotland's formal break with the Papacy in 1560, and the events surrounding this. It was part of the wider European Protestant Reformation; and in Scotland's case culminated ecclesiastically in the re-establishment of the church along Reformed lines, and politically in the triumph of English influence over that of the Kingdom of France.

The Reformation Parliament of 1560, which repudiated the pope's authority, forbade the celebration of the Mass and approved a Confession of Faith, was made possible by a revolution against French hegemony. Prior to that, Scotland was under the regime of the regent Mary of Guise, who had governed in the name of her absent daughter Mary, Queen of Scots (then also Queen of France).

The Scottish Reformation decisively shaped the Church of Scotland^[1] and, through it, all other Presbyterian churches worldwide.

Pre-Reformation Scotland[link]

Protestant Reformation
Precursors
Waldensians (12th century) Avignon Papacy (1309–77) John Wycliffe (1320–84) Western Schism (1378–1417) Jan Hus (c.1369–1415) Hussite Wars (1420–c.1434) Northern Renaissance German mysticism
Start of the Reformation
The Ninety-Five Theses German Peasants' War Schmalkaldic League Magisterial Reformation Radical Reformation Counter-Reformation
Reformers
Martin Luther Philipp Melanchthon Thomas Müntzer Menno Simons Martin Bucer Olaus / Laurentius Petri Huldrych Zwingli John Calvin John Knox Primož Trubar
By location
Czech lands (Hussites) Denmark–Norway / Holstein England · Germany Italy (Waldensians) · Netherlands Poland-Lithuania (Polish Brethren) Scotland · Sweden France (Huguenots) Switzerland
v t e

Pressure to reform[link]

From the fifteenth century, Renaissance humanism had already encouraged critical theological reflection and calls for ecclesiastical renewal in Scotland. Martin Luther's doctrinal ideas were influential in Scotland. As early as 1525 the Scottish Parliament thought it necessary to forbid the importation of Lutheran books, and to suppress 'his heresies or opinions' throughout the realm.^[2] However, this attempt was largely unsuccessful.^[3]

The Martyrs' Monument at Saint Andrews, commemorates those executed before the Reformation, including Hamilton and Wishart.

In 1528, the nobleman Patrick Hamilton, influenced by Lutheran theology whilst at the universities of Wittenberg and Marburg, became the first Protestant martyr when he was burned at the stake for heresy, outside St Salvator's College at Saint Andrews.^[4] (Hamilton had been spreading his message with the use of Patrick's Places, a short catechism founded on the doctrine of justification by faith^[5]). However, the celebration, particularly in printed works, of Hamilton's stance, only served to increase interest in the new ideas. Indeed, the Archbishop of St Andrews was warned against any further such public executions as "the reek of Maister Patrik Hammyltoun has infected as many as it blew upon".^[6] Further prosecutions and executions followed in the 1530s and 40s.

In 1541 Parliament deemed it necessary to pass further legislation protecting the honour of the Mass, prayer to the Virgin Mary, images of the saints, and the authority of the pope. Private meetings of 'heretics where there errors are spread' were prohibited, informers rewarded, and Protestant sympathisers barred from royal office. All this was testimony to the growing attraction of Protestant ideas.

The cause of reform also enjoyed influential support. At this time, the clergy produced a list for the king of over a hundred landowners disaffected to the church. Such was the strength of sympathisers of reformation that, on the death of James V in 1542, they were able to form a government (under the vacillating Earl of Arran who, at that point, favoured an English alliance and reforming causes).

Reforming Councils[link]

The pre-Reformation Church did respond to some of the criticism^[7] being made against it. John Hamilton (the last pre-reformation Archbishop of St Andrews) instigated a series of provincial councils (1549–59) modelled on the contemporaneous Council of Trent. These blamed the advance of the Protestant heresies on "the corruption of morals and the profane lewdness of life in churchmen of all ranks, together with crass ignorance of literature and of the liberal arts". In 1548, attempts were made to eliminate concubinage, clerical pluralism, clerical trading, and non-residence, and to prohibit unqualified persons from holding church offices. Further, the clergy were enjoined to scriptural reflection and bishops and parsons instructed to preach at least four times a year. Monks were to be sent to university, and theologians appointed for each monastery, college and cathedral. However, in 1552, it was acknowledged that little had been accomplished. Attendance at Mass was still sparse and "the inferior clergy of this realm and the prelates have not, for the most part, attained such proficiency in the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures as to be able by their own efforts rightly to instruct the people in the catholic faith and other things necessary to salvation or to convert the erring".^[8] The internal reform seemed too little, too late.

Political background (1543–59)[link]

Cardinal Beaton, defender of the old faith, and leader of the pro-French faction.

By 1535, the English king, Henry VIII, had broken with Rome and had been excommunicated. He had also permitted the reading of the Bible in the native tongue. These 'English heresies' were an additional influence on events in Scotland. Ecclesiastical ideas were linked to political manoeuvring. English policy from the 1530s aimed at enticing Scotland away from its traditional ties to France (the 'Auld alliance') and Rome. In the 1540s Henry sought a treaty for the marriage of his infant son Edward to the infant Mary (by then Queen of Scots): the regent, Arran, approved this match in August 1543 (by the Treaties of Greenwich). However, reaction against it in Scotland allowed a coup by Cardinal David Beaton that December. Beaton repudiated the reforming policies, and all consideration of an English marriage for the Queen. The result was Henry's 'Rough Wooing' of 1544–5, which devastated south-east Scotland, and was only halted by the defeat of the invaders at Ancrum Moor in February 1545.

In 1546, Beaton had arrested and executed George Wishart, a preacher who came under the influence of John Calvin in Geneva — and had indeed translated the First Helvetic Confession into Scots. Retribution quickly followed. A group of rebels seized Beaton's castle at Saint Andrews, and murdered him. These 'Castelians' (who, after the murder, were joined by a renegade priest, and student of Wishart's, named John Knox^[9]) held out in the castle until 1547, when they were forced to surrender to a French squadron and were imprisoned or taken as galley slaves. English forces arrived too late to save them, but nevertheless, having defeated the Scots at Pinkie, occupied south-east Scotland with forts at Lauder, Haddington and an outpost at Dundee. This occupation (1547–49) encouraged the reforming cause; English Bibles circulated freely, and several earls pledged themselves 'to cause the word of God to be taught and preached'.

To counter the English, the Scots secured French help, the price of which was the betrothal of the infant Queen to the French dauphin, the future Francis II; she departed to France in 1548. At this point, "the policy of Henry VIII had failed completely".^[10] French ascendancy was made absolute over the next decade. Arran, in 1554, was given the title Duke du Châtellerault and removed from the regency in favour of Mary of Guise (the Queen Mother). During her regency (1554–59), Frenchmen were put in charge of the treasury, the Great Seal, and the French ambassador sometimes attended the Privy Council.

Lords of the Congregation[link]

At first Mary of Guise cultivated the now growing number of Protestant preachers. She needed to win support for her pro-French policies, and they could expect no alternative support from England, which had recently come under the rule of the Catholic Mary Tudor. However, the marriage of Mary Queen of Scots to the dauphin in 1558 heightened fears that Scotland would become a French province.

By 1557, a group of Scottish lords (known as 'the Lords of the Congregation') drew up a covenant to 'maintain, set forth, and establish the most blessed Word of God and his Congregation.' This was followed by outbreaks of iconoclasm in 1558–9. At the same time, plans were being drawn up for a Reformed programme of parish worship and preaching, as local communities sought out Protestant ministers. In 1558, the Regent summoned the Protestant preachers to answer for their teaching, but backed down when lairds from the west country threatened to revolt.

Reformation crisis (1559–60)[link]

The accession, in England, of the Protestant Queen Elizabeth in 1558 gave fresh hope to the reformers. January 1559 saw the publication of the anonymous Beggars' Summons, which threatened friars with eviction on the grounds that their property belonged to the genuine poor. This was calculated to appeal to the passions of the populace of towns who appeared to have particular complaints against friars.^[11] Fearing disorder, the Regent summoned the reformed preachers to appear before her at Stirling on 10 May: insurrection followed. The men of Angus assembled in Dundee to accompany the preachers to Stirling, on 4 May they were joined by Knox recently arrived from France. Here, stirred by Knox's sermons in Perth and Dundee, the mob sacked religious houses (including the tomb of James I) at Perth. In response, the Regent marched on Perth, but was forced to withdraw and negotiate when another reformed contingent arrived from the west.^[12]

Among the Regent's ambassadors was the Earl of Argyll and Lord James Stewart, both professed Protestants. When the Regent stationed French mercenaries in Perth, both abandoned her and joined the Lords of the Congregation at St Andrews, where they were joined by John Knox. Even Edinburgh soon fell to them in July, as Mary retreated to Dunbar.^[13] A truce was made at Leith Links on 24 July 1559, and the Congregation agreed by the Articles of Leith to vacate Holyroodhouse and hand over the coining irons seized from the mint.^[14] On 26 July the Lords left Edinburgh for Linlithgow and Stirling.^[15] In September, Chatelherault, with the safe return of his son, the Earl of Arran, accepted the leadership of the Lords of the Congregation and established a provisional government. However, Mary of Guise was reinforced by professional French troops, and in November drove the rebels back to Stirling.^[16] Fighting continued in Fife. All seemed lost for the Protestant side until an English fleet arrived in the Firth of Forth, in January 1560, causing the French to retreat to Leith.

The 'blast' rendered Knox unacceptable to Elizabeth, although it had been aimed at her predecessor Mary

Negotiations then began (from which Knox was excluded, his earlier tract The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women rendering him unacceptable to Elizabeth I). The resulting Treaty of Berwick (February) was an agreement between Chatelherault and the English to act jointly to expel the French. However, in June 1560, Mary of Guise died, allowing the Treaty of Edinburgh: a negotiation between France and England, which secured the withdrawal of both French and English troops from Scotland. Although the French commissioners were unwilling to treat with the insurgent Lords of the Congregation, they offered the Scots certain concessions from King Francis and Queen Mary, including the right to summon a parliament according to use and custom. The effect of the treaty was to leave power in the hands of the Protestants.

Reformation Parliament[link]

The Scottish Parliament met in Edinburgh on 10 July 1560. Fourteen earls, six bishops, nineteen lords, twenty one abbots, twenty-two burgh commissioners, and over a hundred lairds claimed right to sit. Parliament then set up a 'committee of the articles' which, after three weeks, recommended a condemnation of transubstantiation, justification by works, indulgences, purgatory, and papal authority. Furthermore it recommended restoring the perceived discipline of the early Church and redistributing the wealth of the Church to the ministry, schools and the poor. On 17 August, Parliament approved a Reformed Confession of Faith (the Scots Confession), and on 24 August it passed three Acts that abolished the old faith in Scotland. Under these, all previous acts not in conformity with the Reformed Confession were annulled; the sacraments were reduced to two (Baptism and Communion) to be performed by reformed preachers alone; the celebration of the Mass was made punishable by a series of penalties (ultimately death) and Papal jurisdiction in Scotland was repudiated.

However, aside from approving the Confession, parliament showed little interest in plans for the reformation of the church. Significantly, although the traditional functions of the Catholic clergy had been terminated, the clerical estate remained legally intact and, more importantly, in possession of the revenues of the pre-Reformation Church. What shape the new church was to take was left open, and indeed was not finally settled until 1689.^[17] Moreover, and perhaps unsurprisingly, the Queen declined to endorse even the acts that Parliament had passed, which were not officially ratified until the first parliament of James VI in 1567. Nevertheless, from this point on, Scotland was, in effect, a Protestant state.

Post-Reformation church[link]

Confession[link]

Unlike the earlier reformers, who were Lutheran, Knox and most of those surrounding him were firm in their practice of Calvinism. (Knox had travelled to Calvin's Geneva during his exile from Scotland, and described it as "the most perfect school of Christ that ever was on earth since the days of the Apostles."^[18]) The Scots Confession reflects that Calvinist influence, although without the systematic and scholastic nature of the more strident Westminster Confession that would replace it in 1644. The Scots Confession expounds the themes of the Catholic creeds, but also includes a rejection of any meritorious virtue: all good works are brought forth by the spirit. It also rejects all religious works that have no Scriptural warrant, including the rites of the Roman church. As for the church, it derived its authority from the word of God and was to be defined by "true preaching of the word of God... secondly, the right administration of the sacraments of Christ Jesus... last, ecclesiastical discipline uprightly ministered".^[19]

Liturgy[link]

Parliamentary hostility meant there was no question of any Act of Uniformity as in England. Thus, the shape the Church initially took was dependent on local Protestant patrons. However, even before 1560, reformed congregations had already been organising themselves under the influence of Knox. In a 'Letter of Wholesome Councell' dated 1556, Knox described in detail what should be done at weekly worship. Protestant preachers fleeing Marian persecutions in England brought with them Edward VI's second Book of Common Prayer (of 1552), which was commended by the Lords of the Congregation. Knox too initially supported it (indeed reportedly, he had influenced aspects of it). However, before leaving Geneva, and with the encouragement of Calvin, he had written his own 'Book of Common Order' and it was this that was printed and approved by the General Assembly of 1562. Enlarged, it was reprinted with the Confession and the Psalms in metre in 1564, and it remained the standard until replaced with the Westminster Directory in 1643.^[20]

Church Polity[link]

How the Church was ideally to be organised was spelled out in the First Book of Discipline (1560), a document which set about organising both the Church and national life in accordance with the Reformed understanding of Scripture. It envisaged the establishment of reformed ministers throughout Scotland, a national system of education and poor-relief. Ministers were to be examined for their suitability and then elected by the local congregation.^[21] In the interim, whilst candidates were scarce, 'readers' were to be appointed. Also, there were to be 'superintendents', better paid than ministers, with regional responsibilities corresponding to the old dioceses. (It has often been suggested from this that Knox favoured episcopacy – however, it is to be remembered that Apostolic succession was explicitly denied.^[22]) Education was to be established at primary, secondary and university levels; it was to be examined and inspected.

In truth, the lofty aims often went unrealised, or at least only very slowly.^[23] An Act of 1562 denied the new Church much of the wealth of the old, with the church receiving a sixth of the income that it had received pre-Reformation with most of the balance going to the nobility.^[24] As late as 1567, there were only 257 ministers and 600 readers for 1,067 churches.^[25] The marks of what is now recognisable as Presbyterianism also started to emerge: Kirk Sessions existed from 1560, moderators emerged in 1563, but the presbytery not until 1580. The seeds were planted for the modern shape of the Church of Scotland.

See also[link]

• History of Scotland
• John Knox
• English Reformation

Notes[link]

References and further reading[link]

• Bain, Joseph, ed., Calendar of the State Papers relating to Scotland and Mary Queen of Scots 1547–1603, vol. 1, H.M. General Register House Edinburgh, vol. 1, (1898)
• Burleigh, J. H. D A Church History of Scotland Hope Trust, Edinburgh, 1988.
• Cross, F.L. and Livingstone, E.A. (eds), "Scotland" in The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, pp. 1471–73. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1997. ISBN 0-19-211655-X.
• Kirk, J,, Patterns of Reform T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1989 ISBN 0-567-09505-3.
• Kirk, J.,Reformation, Scottish in Cameron, Nigel M. de S. et al., Dictionary of Scottish Church History and Theology, pp. 693–98. T & T Clark, Edinburgh 1993. ISBN 0-567-09650-5.
• Lamont, Stewart The Swordbearer: John Knox and the European Reformation Hodder and Stoughton, London 1991
• Lynch, Michael, "Reformation" in The Oxford Companion to Scottish History, pp. 500–4. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2001. ISBN 0-19-211696-7.
• Mackie, J. D., A History of Scotland Penguin, London 1964.
• McGovern, Mary (ed), Chambers Biographical Dictionary Seventh Edition. Chambers, Edinburgh, 2002. ISBN 0-550-10051-2.
• Todd, Margo, The Culture of Protestantism in Early Modern Scotland. Yale University Press, 2002.

External links[link]

• BBC Scottish History

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John Knox
Born	c. 1513–1514 Near Haddington, East Lothian, Kingdom of Scotland
Died	24 November 1572 Edinburgh, Kingdom of Scotland
Occupation	Pastor, author, reformer
Tradition or movement	Reformed, Presbyterian

John Knox (c. 1514 – 24 November 1572) was a Scottish clergyman and a leader of the Protestant Reformation who brought reformation to the church in Scotland. He was educated at the University of St Andrews or possibly the University of Glasgow and was ordained to the Catholic priesthood in 1536. Influenced by early church reformers such as George Wishart, he joined the movement to reform the Scottish church. He was caught up in the ecclesiastical and political events that involved the murder of Cardinal Beaton in 1546 and the intervention of the regent of Scotland, 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, The Rev. John Knox was licensed to work in the Church of England, where he quickly rose in the ranks to serve King Edward VI of England as a royal chaplain. In this position, he exerted a reforming influence on the text of the Book of Common Prayer. In England he met and married his first wife, Marjorie. When Mary Tudor ascended the throne and re-established Roman Catholicism, Knox was forced to resign his position and leave the country.

Knox first 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 order 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 return to Scotland, he led the Protestant Reformation in Scotland, in partnership with the Scottish Protestant nobility. The movement may be seen as a revolution, since it led to the ousting of Mary of Guise, who governed the country in the name of her young daughter, Mary, Queen of Scots. Knox helped write the new confession of faith and the ecclesiastical order for the newly created reformed church, the Kirk. 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. Eventually, when she was imprisoned for her alleged role in the murder of her husband, Lord Darnley, and King James VI enthroned in her stead, he openly called for her execution. He continued to preach until his final days.

Early life, 1505–1546[link]

John Knox, a Lowland Scot, was born sometime between 1505 and 1515^[1] in or near Haddington, the county town of East Lothian.^[2] His father, William Knox, was a farmer. All that is known of his mother is that her maiden name was Sinclair and that she died when John Knox was a child.^[3]

Knox was probably educated at the grammar school in Haddington. In this time, the priesthood was the only path for those whose inclinations were academic rather than mercantile or agricultural.^[4] He proceeded to further studies at the University of St Andrews or possibly at the University of Glasgow. He studied under John Major, one of the greatest scholars of the time.^[5]

There is record of a John Knox being ordained a presbyter by the Bishop of Dunblane, William Chisholm, on 15 April 1536. However, Knox first appears in public records as a priest and a notary in 1540. He was still serving in these capacities as late as 1543 when he described himself as a "minister of the sacred altar in the diocese of St. Andrews, notary by apostolic authority" in a notarial deed dated 27 March.^[6] Rather than taking up parochial duties in a parish, he became tutor to two sons of Hugh Douglas of Longniddry. He also taught the son of John Cockburn of Ormiston. Both of these lairds had embraced the new religious ideas of the Reformation, which were sweeping Europe.^[7]

Embracing the Protestant Reformation, 1546–1547[link]

Knox did not record when or how he was converted to the Protestant faith,^[9] but perhaps the key formative influences on Knox were Patrick Hamilton and George Wishart.^[10] Wishart was a reformer who had fled Scotland in 1538 to escape punishment for heresy. He first moved to England, where in Bristol he preached against the veneration of the Virgin Mary. He was forced to make a public recantation and was burned in effigy at the Church of St Nicholas as a sign of his abjuration. He then took refuge in Germany and Switzerland. While on the Continent, he translated the First Helvetic Confession into English.^[11] He returned to Scotland in 1544, but the timing of his return was unfortunate. In December 1543, James Hamilton, Duke of Châtellerault, the appointed regent for the infant Mary, Queen of Scots, had decided with the Queen Mother, Mary of Guise, and Dr David Cardinal Beaton to persecute the Protestant sect that had taken root in Scotland.^[12] Wishart travelled throughout Scotland preaching in favour of the reformation and when he arrived in East Lothian, Knox became one of his closest associates. Knox acted as his bodyguard, bearing a two-handed sword in order to defend him.^[13] In December 1545, Wishart was seized on Cardinal Beaton's orders by the Earl of Bothwell and taken to the Castle of St Andrews.^[14] Knox was present on the night of Wishart's arrest and was prepared to follow him into captivity, but Wishart persuaded him against this course saying, "Nay, return to your bairns [children] and God bless you. One is sufficient for a sacrifice."^[15] Wishart was subsequently prosecuted by Beaton's Public Accuser of Heretics, Archdeacon John Lauder. On 1 March 1546, he was burnt at the stake in the presence of Cardinal Beaton.

Knox had avoided being arrested by Lord Bothwell through Wishart's advice to return to tutoring. He took shelter with Douglas in Longniddry.^[16] Several months later he was still in charge of the pupils, the sons of Douglas and Cockburn, who wearied of moving from place to place while being pursued. He toyed with the idea of fleeing to Germany and taking his pupils with him. While Knox remained a fugitive, Cardinal Beaton was murdered on 29 May 1546, within his residence, the Castle of St Andrews, by a gang of five persons in revenge for Wishart's execution. The assassins seized the castle and eventually their families and friends took refuge with them, about a hundred and fifty men in all. Among their friends was Henry Balnaves, a former secretary of state in the government, who negotiated with England for the financial support of the rebels.^[17] Douglas and Cockburn suggested to Knox to take their sons to the relative safety of the castle to continue their instruction in reformed doctrine. Knox arrived at the castle on 10 April 1547.^[18]

Knox's powers as a preacher came to the attention of the chaplain of the garrison, John Rough. While Rough was preaching in the parish church on the Protestant principle of the popular election of a pastor, he proposed Knox to the congregation for that office. Knox did not relish the idea. According to his own account, he burst into tears and fled to his room. Within a week, however, he was giving his first sermon to a congregation that included his old teacher, John Major.^[19] He expounded on the seventh chapter of the Book of Daniel, comparing the Pope with the Antichrist. His sermon was marked by his consideration of the Bible as his sole authority and the doctrine of justification by faith alone, two elements that would remain in his thoughts throughout the rest of his life. A few days later, a debate was staged that allowed him to lay down additional theses including the rejection of the Mass, Purgatory, and prayers for the dead.^[20]

Confinement in the French galleys, 1547–1549[link]

Knox's chaplaincy of the castle garrison was not to last long. While Hamilton was willing to negotiate with England to stop their support of the rebels and bring the castle back under his control, Mary of Guise decided that it could only be taken by force and requested the king of France, Henry II to intervene.^[21] On 29 June 1547, 21 French galleys approached St Andrews under the command of Leone Strozzi, prior of Capua. The French besieged the castle and forced the surrender of the garrison on 31 July. The Protestant nobles and others, including Knox, were taken prisoner and forced to row in the French galleys.^[22] The galley slaves were chained to benches and rowed throughout the day without a change of posture while an officer watched over them with a whip in hand.^[23] They sailed to France and navigated up the Seine to Rouen. The nobles, some of whom would have an impact later in Knox's life such as William Kirkcaldy and Henry Balnaves, were sent to various castle-prisons in France.^[24] Knox and the other galley slaves continued to Nantes and stayed on the Loire throughout the winter. They were threatened with torture if they did not give proper signs of reverence when mass was performed on the ship. Knox recounted an incident in which one Scot was required to show devotion to a picture of the Virgin Mary. It is probable that Knox, himself, was the one involved. The prisoner was told to give it a kiss of veneration. He refused and when the picture was pushed up to his face, the prisoner seized the picture and threw it into the sea, saying, "Let our Lady now save herself: she is light enough: let her learn to swim."^[25] After that, according to Knox, the Scottish prisoners were no longer forced to perform such devotions.^[26]

In summer 1548, the galleys returned to Scotland to scout for English ships. Knox's health was now at its lowest point due to the severity of his confinement. He was ill with a fever and others on the ship were afraid for his life. Even in this state, Knox recalled, his mind remained sharp and he comforted his fellow prisoners with hopes of release. While the ships were lying offshore between St Andrews and Dundee, the spires of the parish church where he preached appeared in view. James Balfour, a fellow prisoner, asked Knox whether he recognised the landmark. He replied that he knew it well, recognising the steeple of the place where he first preached and he declared that he would not die until he had preached there again.^[27]

In February 1549, after spending a total of 19 months in the galley-prison, Knox was released. It is uncertain how he obtained his liberty.^[28] Later in the year, Henry II arranged with Edward VI of England the release of all remaining Castilian prisoners.^[29]

Exile in England, 1549–1554[link]

John Knox portrait bearing the date 1572

On his release, Knox took refuge in England. The Reformation in England was a less radical movement than its Continental counterparts, but there was a definite breach with Rome.^[30] The Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, and the regent of King Edward VI, the Duke of Somerset, were decidedly Protestant-minded. However, much work remained to bring reformed ideas to the clergy and to the people.^[31] On 7 April 1549, Knox was licensed to work in the Church of England. His first commission was in Berwick-upon-Tweed. He was obliged to use the recently released Book of Common Prayer, which was mainly a translation of the Latin mass into English and was largely left intact and unreformed. He therefore modified its use along Protestant lines. In the pulpit he preached Protestant doctrines with great effect as his congregation grew.^[32]

In England, Knox met his wife, Marjorie Bowes. Her father, Richard, was the younger brother of Sir Robert Bowes, a descendant of an old Durham family and her mother, Elizabeth, was an heiress of a Yorkshire family, the Askes of Richmondshire. Elizabeth Bowes presumably met Knox when he was employed in Berwick. Several letters reveal a close friendship between them.^[33] It is not recorded when Knox married Marjorie Bowes.^[34] Knox attempted to obtain the consent of the Bowes family, but Robert and Richard were opposed to the marriage.^[35]

Towards the end of 1550, Knox was appointed a preacher of St Nicholas' Church in Newcastle upon Tyne. The following year he was appointed one of the six royal chaplains serving the King. On 16 October 1551, John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, overthrew the Duke of Somerset to become the new regent of the young King. Knox condemned the coup d'état in a sermon on All Saints Day. When Dudley visited Newcastle and listened to his preaching in June 1552, he had mixed feelings about the fire-brand preacher, but he saw Knox as a potential asset. Knox was asked to come to London to preach before the Court. In his first sermon, he advocated a change for the second edition of the Book of Common Prayer. The liturgy required worshippers to kneel during communion. Knox and the other chaplains considered this to be idolatry. It triggered a debate where Archbishop Cranmer was called upon to defend the practice. The end result was a compromise in which the famous Black Rubric, which declared that no adoration is intended while kneeling, was included in the second edition.^[36]

Soon afterwards, Dudley, who saw Knox as a useful political tool, offered him the bishopric of Rochester. Knox refused, and he returned to Newcastle.^[37] On 2 February 1553 Cranmer was ordered to appoint Knox as vicar of Allhallows Church in London placing him under the authority of the Bishop of London, Nicholas Ridley. Knox returned to London in order to deliver a sermon before the King and the Court during Lent and he again refused to take the assigned post. Knox was then told to preach in Buckinghamshire and he remained there until Edward's death on 6 July.^[38] Edward's successor, Mary Tudor, re-established Roman Catholicism in England and restored the Mass in all the churches. With the country no longer safe for Protestant preachers, Knox left for the Continent in January 1554 on the advice of friends.^[39] On the eve of his flight, he wrote:

Sometime I have thought that impossible it had been, so to have removed my affection from the realm of Scotland, that any realm or nation could have been equal dear to me. But God I take to record in my conscience, that the troubles present (and appearing to be) in the realm of England are double more dolorous unto my heart than ever were the troubles of Scotland.^[40]

From Geneva to Frankfurt and Scotland, 1554–1556[link]

Statue of John Knox at the Reformation Wall monument in Geneva

Knox disembarked in Dieppe, France, and continued to Geneva, where John Calvin had established his authority. When Knox arrived Calvin was in a difficult position. He had recently authorised the execution of the scholar Michael Servetus for heresy. Knox asked Calvin four difficult political questions: whether a minor could rule by divine right, whether a female could rule and transfer sovereignty to her husband, whether people should obey ungodly or idolatrous rulers, and what party godly persons should follow if they resisted an idolatrous ruler.^[41] Calvin gave cautious replies and referred him to the Swiss reformer Heinrich Bullinger in Zürich. Bullinger's responses were equally cautious; but Knox had already made up his mind. On 20 July 1554, he published a pamphlet attacking Mary Tudor and the bishops who had brought her to the throne.^[42] He also attacked the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, calling him "no less enemy to Christ than was Nero".^[43]

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 call with Calvin's blessing. But no sooner had he arrived than he found himself in a conflict. The first set of refugees to arrive in 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 order of service based on a compromise between the two sides. This delicate balance was disturbed when a new batch of refugees arrived that included 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 his final breach with the Church of England.^[44]

After his return to Geneva, Knox was chosen to be the minister at a new place of worship petitioned from Calvin. In the meantime, Elizabeth Bowes wrote to Knox, asking him to return to Marjorie in Scotland, which he did at the end of August.^[45] Despite initial doubts about 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.^[46]

Though the Queen Regent, Mary of Guise, made no move to act against Knox, his activities caused concern among the church authorities. The bishops of Scotland viewed him as a threat to their authority and summoned him to appear in Edinburgh on 15 May 1556. He was accompanied to the trial by so many influential persons that the bishops decided to call the hearing off. Knox was now free to preach openly in Edinburgh. William Keith, the Earl Marischal, was impressed and urged Knox to write to the Queen Regent. Knox's unusually respectful letter urged her to support the Reformation and overthrow the church hierarchy. Queen Mary took the letter as a joke and ignored it.^[47]

Return to Geneva, 1556–1559[link]

The Auditoire de Calvin where Knox preached while in Geneva, 1556–1558

Shortly after Knox sent the letter to the Queen Regent, he suddenly announced that he felt his duty was to return to Geneva. In the previous year on 1 November 1555, the congregation in Geneva had elected Knox as their minister and he decided to take up the post.^[48] He wrote a final letter of advice to his supporters and left Scotland with his wife and mother-in-law. He arrived in Geneva on 13 September 1556.^[49]

For the next two years, he lived a happy life in Geneva. He recommended Geneva to his friends in England as the best place of asylum for Protestants. In one letter he wrote:

I neither fear nor eschame to say, is the most perfect school of Christ that ever was in the earth since the days of the apostles. In other places I confess Christ to be truly preached; but manners and religion so sincerely reformed, I have not yet seen in any other place...^[50]

The title page of The First Blast from a 1766 edition with modernised spelling.

Knox led a busy life in Geneva. He preached 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.^[51] The church in which he preached, the Église de Notre Dame la Neuve—now known as the Auditoire de Calvin—had been granted by the municipal authorities, at Calvin's request, for the use of the English and Italian congregations. Knox's two sons, Nathaniel and Eleazar, were born in Geneva, with Whittingham and Myles Coverdale their respective godfathers.^[52]

In the summer of 1558, Knox published his best known pamphlet, The first blast of the trumpet against the monstruous regiment of women. In calling the "regiment" or rule of women "monstruous", he meant that it was "unnatural". The pamphlet has been called a classic of misogyny. 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".^[53] 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. Knox's prejudices against women were not unusual in his day; however, even he was aware that the pamphlet was dangerously seditious.^[54] 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 became Queen of England. Although Knox had not targeted Elizabeth, he had deeply offended her, and she never forgave him.

With a Protestant on the throne, the English refugees in Geneva prepared to return home. Knox himself decided to return to Scotland. Before his departure, various honours were conferred on him, including the freedom of the city of Geneva. Knox left in January 1559, but he did not arrive in Scotland until 2 May 1559, owing to Elizabeth's refusal to issue him a passport through England.^[55]

Revolution and end of the regency, 1559–1560[link]

Two days after Knox arrived in Edinburgh, he proceeded to Dundee where a large number of Protestant sympathisers had gathered. Knox 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 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 pay roll. 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.^[56]

Perth's St John's Kirk in modern times

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 30 June, the Protestant Lords of the Congregation occupied Edinburgh, though they were only able to hold it for a month. But even before their arrival, the mob had already sacked the churches and the friaries. On 1 July, Knox preached from the pulpit of St Giles', the most influential in the capital.^[57] The Lords of the Congregation negotiated their withdrawal from Edinburgh by the Articles of Leith signed 25 July 1559, and Mary of Guise promised freedom of conscience.^[58]

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.^[59]

When additional French troops arrived in Leith, Edinburgh's seaport, the Protestants responded by retaking Edinburgh. This time, on 24 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 10 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 19 July, Knox held a National Thanksgiving Service at St Giles'.^[60]

Reformation in Scotland, 1560–1561[link]

John Knox statue in St. Giles High Kirk, Edinburgh

On 1 August, the Scottish Parliament met to settle religious issues. Knox and five other ministers 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, Knox's wife, Marjorie, died in December 1560, 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.^[61]

Parliament reconvened on 15 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 their own pastor; but once he was chosen, they could not fire him. 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.^[62] 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.^[63]

Knox and Queen Mary, 1561–1564[link]

On 19 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 to 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.^[64]

Stained glass window in Long Beach showing John Knox admonishing Mary, Queen of Scots.^[65]

On 13 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 friendly gesture, Knox replied that he would continue to voice his convictions in his sermons and would not wait upon her.^[66]

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.^[67]

The most dramatic interview between Mary and Knox took place on 24 June 1563.^[68] 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?"^[69] "A subject born within the same, Madam," Knox replied.^[69] 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."^[70] 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.^[71]

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 24 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.^[72]

Final years in Edinburgh, 1564–1572[link]

St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh, where Knox served as minister from 1560 to 1572^[73]

On 26 March 1564 Knox stirred controversy again, when he married Margaret Stewart, the daughter of an old friend, Andrew Stewart, 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.^[74] Very few details are known of their domestic life. They had three daughters, Martha, Margaret, and Elizabeth.^[75]

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.^[76]

On 29 July 1565 when Mary married Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, some of the Protestant nobles rose up in rebellion including James Stewart. Knox revealed his own objection while preaching in the presence of the new King Consort on 19 August 1565. He made passing allusions on ungodly rulers which caused Darnley to walk out. Knox was summoned and prohibited from preaching while the court was in Edinburgh.^[77]

Bas-relief of John Knox preaching at St Giles in Edinburgh before the court of Mary Stuart. From left to right: James Stewart (Moray), James Hamilton (Châtellerault), Lord Darnley, Matthew Stewart (Lennox), William Maitland (Lethington), William Kirkcaldy (Grange), James Douglas (Morton), John Knox, and George Buchanan

On 9 March 1566, Mary's secretary, David Rizzio, was murdered by Protestant rebels loyal to Darnley. Mary escaped from Edinburgh to Dunbar and by 18 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.^[78] When he returned to Edinburgh, he found the Protestant nobles divided over what to do with Mary. Her husband, Lord Darnley, had been murdered in apparent revenge for the assassination of Rizzio (who was a favourite of Mary's), upon which the Queen almost immediately married the chief suspect. The indictment of murder thus upon her, she had been forced to abdicate and was imprisoned in Loch Leven Castle. Lord Moray had become the regent of King James VI. Other old friends of Knox's, Lord Argyll and William Kirkcaldy, stood by Mary. On 29 July 1567, Knox preached James VI's coronation sermon at the church 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 2 May 1568.^[79]

The fighting in Scotland continued. Lord Moray was assassinated on 23 January 1570. The regent who succeeded him, the Earl of Lennox, was also a victim of violence. On 30 April 1571, the controller of Edinburgh Castle, Kirkcaldy, 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 5 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'.^[80]

After inducting his successor, Lawson of Aberdeen, as minister of St Giles' on 9 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, 24 November 1572, his young wife read from Paul's first letter to the Corinthians.^[81] A testimony to Knox was pronounced at his grave in the churchyard of St Giles' by the Earl of Morton and newly-elected regent of Scotland: "Here lies one who never feared any flesh".^[82]

A golden badge marking the final resting place of John Knox on parking space "#23" south of the St. Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh

Knox claimed in his will, "None have I corrupted, none have I defrauded; merchandise have I not made."^[83] 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.^[83]

Knox was survived by his five children and his second wife. Nathaniel and Eleazar, his two sons by his first wife, attended Cambridge University, and died at a young age without issue. His second wife, Margaret, remarried to Andrew Ker, 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.^[84] John Knox is currently buried under parking space "#23" in a parking lot that is situated right next to the St. Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh.

Legacy[link]

Lady Antonia Fraser says of Knox, "He saw himself as a heaven-sent preacher, whereas in fact he was a bold earthly revolutionary, who openly preached violence, and notoriously considered the death of an unjust ruler absolutely justified."^[85] Despite his strictness and dogmatism, he has also been described as contributing to the struggle for genuine human freedom, by teaching a duty to oppose unjust government in order to bring about moral and spiritual change.^[86]

Knox was notable for the overthrow of Roman Catholicism in Scotland, and for assuring the replacement of the papal religion with Presbyterianism rather than Anglicanism. It was thanks to Knox that the Presbyterian polity was established.^[87] In that regard, Knox is considered the founder of the Presbyterian denomination whose members number millions worldwide.^[88]

Selected works[link]

Calvinism
John Calvin
Background Christianity St. Augustine The Reformation John Calvin Five Solas Synod of Dort
Theology Five Points (TULIP) Covenant Theology Regulative principle
Documents Calvin's Institutes Confessions of faith Geneva Bible
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• An Epistle to the Congregation of the Castle of St Andrews; with a Brief Summary of Balnaves on Justification by Faith (1548)
• A Vindication of the Doctrine that the Sacrifice of the Mass is Idolatry (1550)
• A Godly Letter of Warning or Admonition to the Faithful in London, Newcastle, and Berwick (1554)
• Certain Questions Concerning Obedience to Lawful Magistrates with Answers by Henry Bullinger (1554)
• A Faithful Admonition to the Professors of God's Truth in England (1554)
• A Narrative of the Proceedings and Troubles of the English Congregation at Frankfurt on the Maine (1554–1555)
• A Letter to the Queen Dowager, Regent of Scotland (1556)
• A Letter of Wholesome Counsel Addressed to his Brethren in Scotland (1556)
• The Form of Prayers and Ministration of the Sacraments Used in the English Congregation at Geneva (1556)
• The first blast of the trumpet against the monstruous regiment of women (1558)
• A Letter to the Queen Dowager, Regent of Scotland: Augmented and Explained by the Author (1558)
• The Appellation from the Sentence Pronounced by the Bishops and Clergy: Addressed to the Nobility and Estates of Scotland (1558)
• A Letter Addressed to the Commonalty of Scotland (1558)
• On Predestination in Answer to the Cavillations by an Anabaptist (1560)
• The History of the Reformation in Scotland (1586–1587)

Notes[link]

References[link]

Primary sources[link]

• Laing, David, ed. (1895), The Works of John Knox, Edinburgh: James Thin, 55 South Bridge , OCLC 5437053.
• Melville, James (1829), Diary of James Melville, Edinburgh: Bannatyne Club , OCLC 1697717.

Secondary sources[link]

• Guy, John (2004), My Heart is my Own: The Life of Mary Queen of Scots, London: Fourth Estate, ISBN 978-1-84115-752-8 .
• Kingdon, Robert M. (1995), "Calvinism and resistance theory, 1550–1580", in Burns, J.H., The Cambridge History of Political Thought 1450–1700, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-47772-7 .
• MacGregor, Geddes (1957), The Thundering Scot, Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, OCLC 740182 .
• Marshall, Rosalind (2000), John Knox, Edinburgh: Birlinn, ISBN 978-1-84158-091-3 .
• Reid, W. Stanford (1974), Trumpeter of God, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, ISBN 0-684-13782-8 .
• Ridley, Jasper (1968), John Knox, Oxford: Clarendon Press, OCLC 251907110 .
• Warnicke, Retha. M. (2006), Mary Queen of Scots, New York: Routledge, ISBN 0-415-29183-6 .