John Knox - Reformation in Scotland



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Reformation Scotland -- John Knox' House

[The Royal Mile - John Knox' House]
High Street ("The Royal Mile") - John Knox' House: John Knox' House juts out into the street (left of center of the photo.) Built in 1490, the house is reputed to have been the manse of John Knox when he was minister of St. Giles'. The timber gallery and hand-painted ceiling are unusual features. John Knox was born a farmer in Haddington about 1514 (and not 1505 as the date on a window in his house records).

Knox died about age 58 in 1572. His first wife's brother was an ancestor of the present Queen. He studied at St. Andrews and was ordained a priest at about 25 years of age. He did not graduate as a Master of Arts however, probably because of an oath against "Lollardism" which graduates had to take. He tutored the children of gentlemen in East Lothian. John Knox was converted to Protestantism by the influence of the preaching of Thomas William. Because of persecution he moved from place to place. Protestants urged him to preach publicly.

[Front Room of John Knox' House]
(Photo: the front room of John Knox' House.  The 1640 oil of Cain and Abel was originally part of the ceiling.)

John Knox committed himself a Protestant by accompanying George Wishart.  After Wishart's death he joined the Protestants in St. Andrews Castle.  After defeat by the French, Knox rowed in French galleys for 19 months eventually being released through the intervention of the English Government in 1552.

Knox served as a parish minister in Berwick from 1549-1551 where he earned a reputation as a Puritan insisting on a form o service solely from scriptural bases.  Knox declined the offer of the bishopric of Rochester, apparently not because of an objection to Episcopacy, but the pride generated in one holding that office.  At the accession of Queen Mary, he went to the Continent where he was minister to congregations of English refugees at Dieppe, Geneva, and Frankfurt.  In late 1555 and early 1556 he was in Scotland again and encouraged Scots to separate from the Roman Church.

[High Street from John Knox' House]
(Photo in John Knox' House looking out the window of his study onto High Street)

John Knox became minister of Edinburgh in July 1559. Knox' preaching is credited with a large influence behind Parliament's passing of an act abolishing Papal jurisdiction and approving the Confession of Faith as a basis for belief in Scotland. That same year, Knox participated in the preparation of two other documents besides the Confession of Faith. They were: a) The First Book of Discipline in which he covered the reform of the Church, advocated compulsory education through university level, and proposed how the church should help the poor. This work was never passed into law by Parliament. b) The Book of Common Order which became the worship book for the Church of Scotland., It was written in Frankfurt, read in Geneva, and implemented in Scotland.

Also, The Scots Confession was written by John Knox and five colleagues in 1560 at the conclusion of the Scottish Civil War at the behest of parliament.