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John Knox: Scottish Religious ReformerBritish Heritage | one comment | Print This Post | Email This Post
The following year, a another old rival arrived in Scotland–Mary, Queen of Scots. Though neither had any liking for the other, she and Knox met several times for ‘conversations.’ By the last one, the two shared an intense personal distaste for each other. Among the topics of their talks was Knox’s public disapproval of Mary’s impending marriage. ‘What have ye to do with my marriage?’ Mary challenged, ‘Or what are ye within this Commonwealth?’ Subscribe Today
‘A subject born within the same, Madam,’ Knox answered, ‘and albeit I neither be Earl, Lord nor Baron within it, yet has God made me (how abject that ever I be in your eyes) a profitable member within the same.’ At one point Mary charged him with treason, but the Privy Council acquitted him. The antagonism between the two festered until Queen Mary’s downfall. The loyal reformer James Stewart took the reigns of government, but in a time-honoured royal tradition, he was murdered, and the country, and therefore Knox, was once again plunged into turmoil. The thundering preacher was by this time no longer the tower of strength he had been. He suffered a stroke and retired to his hometown of St. Andrews. Knox recovered sufficiently to preach again at St. Giles, most notably following the massacre of 100,000 Protestants in France on St. Bartholomew’s Day. His health never fully returned, however, and he died in Edinburgh the following year. From a perspective of more than 400 years, Knox’s treatises and sermons sound decidedly shrill and impolitic. Certainly they were controversial enough in his own day, but while he was at the forefront of radical reform, he never deviated so far from the common attitudes of the day that he alienated the reform-minded masses. To reformers, he was a devoted servant of his God. To those who opposed him, he was a holy terror. This article was written by Bruce Heydt and originally published in British Heritage Magazine in August/September 2002.
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One Comment to “John Knox: Scottish Religious Reformer”
Your article on Knox is somewhat unfair and distorted. May I offer my own work “A Laymans Guide to the Scottish Reformation ” Heritage Books Inc, 2004. ISBN 0-7884-3188-9 which goes into detail of the very complex issues in Scotland which was ruled by a French (Catholic) Regent Mary of Guise ( one of the strongest Catholic families in Europe dedicated to extirpating Protestantism of any form) She was Mary Queen of Scots mother. Above all Knox was a fervent believer and catalyst for change who seized the moment to bring Presbyterianism to Scotland in a matter of weeks when Mary of Guise died in June 1560 and before Mary QoS returned to her throne in August.Could add much more, but you will get the gist.
By Brian J Orr on Mar 14, 2009 at 5:59 am