But if Knox fretted over the plots of Northumberland, his prospects for a future in England only worsened when Mary Tudor took the throne and repressed the Protestant movement with a vengeance. Fleeing England, he settled next in Switzerland. The bitterness of a second exile drove him to espouse a more radical reform philosophy, one which uncannily resembled the rationale of the American patriots of a later century in its justification of rebellion against an oppressive regime. Knox declared that Godly people have the right–and the duty–to resist by force any ruler who suppresses ‘true religion.’ This was much farther than most reformers were willing to go. Likewise, many Protestants in England thought it somewhat incongruous that one who had himself fled to the safety of the Continent should then urge them on to armed resistance.

Chief among the suppressors of true religion, in Knox’s eyes, were Mary, Queen of Scots, ‘Bloody’ Mary Tudor, and Mary of Guise. All–not coincidentally to Knox’s way of thinking–were women. To the Thundering Scot, their repressions bore out his rigid belief that women should never have authority over men, and that a government in the hands of a woman was an affront to God. In 1558, Knox distilled this controversial opinion in his most famous–if not infamous–treatise, The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women. ‘For who can deny it is repugnant to nature,…’ Knox asked, ‘that the foolish, mad, and frenetic shall govern the discreet, and give counsel to such as be sober of mind? And such be all women, compared unto man in bearing of authority.’

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Even the Protestant successor to Bloody Mary, Queen Elizabeth of England, was outraged and banned Knox from preaching within her realm. But at about the same time, events in Scotland took a turn that finally drew Knox back to his homeland.

Aristocratic Scottish Protestants, in line with Knox’s admonitions to resist the opponents of true religion, signed a covenant pledging themselves to defend the cause of the reformed church. They styled themselves ‘The Lords of the Congregation.’ Intimidated by the threat of force, the Queen Regent, Mary of Guise, appeased the reformers and granted them greater liberties. But the political situation in Europe soon allowed her to play a stronger hand. A rapprochement between France and Spain ended a conflict between those two Continental powers and allowed France to take a more active role in intrigues farther from home. To the Queen Regent, the time was right to rein the Protestants back in, permanently.

The Lords of the Congregation saw it coming and acted first. They called Knox back from Geneva to join them, then marched on Perth, where Knox delivered a fiery sermon. The reformers took control of Edinburgh, where Knox also preached in St. Giles Cathedral, but by then the Lords’ momentum had pretty much run its course. Royal forces recaptured Edinburgh, and for a time the spark of reform was kept alive solely by the power of Knox’s vehement exhortations to persevere.

Salvation came in the form of the English. Fearing that a firmly Catholic Scotland would be a natural ally of France against England, Elizabeth’s ministers persuaded her to intervene on the Scottish Protestants’ behalf. The English army, coupled with the sudden death of the Queen Regent, persuaded the French to withdraw their support, and a potentially explosive situation fizzled out. Both the English and the French agreed to leave the Scottish reformers to govern the country’s own church affairs.

Deprived of outside interference, the reformers fell to arguing among themselves. Under Knox’s direction, the Scottish Parliament abolished papal authority and banned the Mass. Knox himself drew up a new Scots Confession, a reformed liturgy, and a Book of Discipline. The last of these outlined his ambitious scheme for social programs, which included free compulsory education and aid for the poor. The programs would have been funded out of the profits raised by renting Church lands. The nobles who had been receiving those benefices balked at sharing the wealth, however, and instead proposed that two-thirds of the profits should continue to accrue to themselves, and that the remaining third be split between the Church and State. Knox sarcastically replied, ‘I see. Two parts freely given to the Devil; and the third must be divided between God and the Devil.’ Unrepentant, Parliament rejected the Book of Discipline.

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