John Knox was one of the most important figures in the Scottish Reformation. Knox spent his life in pursuit of reforming the Church in an attempt to correct the wrongs that he perceived the Catholic had around the 1500's. In this video we will go over the life of John Knox and how it was that he became known as a figurehead in the Scottish Reformation.

0:38 Intro to John Knox
1:17 Introduction to George Wishart
2:31 Beaton and Wishart
2:59 People respond to Wishart's death
3:22 Knox takes the place as preacher of St Andrews
4:40 Knox as a galley slave
5:56 Knox meets up with John Calvin
8:33 Queen Elizabeth takes the reign
10:06 Mary returns from France and begins a long battle with Knox
11:51 Knox backs away from the limelight
12:40 Final Legacy


John Knox was born 1515 near Haddington in East Lothian. He was schooled at St Andrews and got an equivalent of a Master's degree. His first job came shortly afterwards as a tutor in 1540. In 1543 he was introduced to George Wishart a well known proreformation individual. It was at this time that Knox was formally introduced to the ideals of the reformation. It's not clear when exactly Knox fully devoted himself to God, but it is likely that it was in this time with Wishart. Knox traveled as Wishart's body guard until Archbishop Beaton came into the picture.

Beaton was the archbishop of St. Andrews and although somewhat of a questionable lifestyle, nonetheless he still sought to keep the Catholic Church from the attacks of the Reformation. Because of this Beaton captured Wishart and under the cover of darkness and executed him on the notice of heresy. This was one line too far for some and they broke into St. Andrews and murdered Beaton. This led to the murderers blocking off St. Andrews Knox became the preacher. In this time he preached antiCatholic views going so far as to call the Pope the antiChrist.

This gathering would not last very long, after a few months Mary called upon France to help her deal with this issue. France sent some ships and not too long afterwards the people inside were forced to surrender. Knox and the others taken were made into galley slaves and forced to work aboard all kinds of ships. He spent 19 months in those ships, until finally the English government rescued him from his hardship. The English government was quickly turning toward the Reformation movement, and they wanted Knox to become the court preacher. This dramatic change saved Knox from certain death, but the marks would remain on his body for the rest of the life.

Knox helped move the English government toward the Reformation side of things, that was until Mary became the new Queen of England. Knox had to run away to Geneva for safety. He met with John Calvin and they hit it off. Calvin took Knox to a much deeper understanding of the Reformation movement. Knox was mesmerized by Geneva and he was dedicated to attempting to transplant the template of Geneva into a grander scale in the form of Scotland. He spent roughly three years in Geneva and he finally went back to Scotland with his new vision for the future.

As he returned he immediately started bumping heads with Mary of Guise who was a prominent pro Catholic. This battle got pretty heated but soon she passed away and Knox thought that he had finally won. He with a council of proReformers took over and passed many new laws that would outlaw many Catholic ideals. For some time this worked out, until Mary would return from France and, like her mother, she was a strong Catholic. This infuriated Knox so much so that he outlined a pamphlet that read "The First Blast of the Trumpet against the Monstrous Regime of Women." This writing would be terrible timing as Queen Elizabeth just became queen and would help him fight the battle against Mary and the Catholic movement. But this is where things would turn, Mary had no ill will against Knox, and although Knox fought hard against her reign there were few real issues. Finally Elizabeth captured Mary and allowed Knox and friends to put a proReformation movement leadership with the young King James I at the front. The Scottish leadership would make almost all the moves for him and created a truly Reformed Scotland. Knox didn't have many years left in him, and after finishing his book "History of the Reformation in Scotland." After being remarried and retiring from preaching he passed away in his sleep on November 24, 1572.


John Knox (Jane Dawson)
https://rb.gy/kzlbya
The Works of John Knox (You probably have access to this through a school library, but these books contain almost any document written by Knox that you would need)
https://rb.gy/naetkh
John Knox: An Introduction to His Life and Works (Richard G. Kyle)
https://rb.gy/tzslod
Resources by Bruce Gore on YouTube
   • 28. John Knox and the Scottish Reform...   (Knox Pt 1)
   • 29. John Knox: Prisoner, Exile, Refor...   (Knox Pt 2)
   • 30. John Knox and a New Vision for Sc...   (Knox Pt 3)