Knox

JOHN KNOX (c1513 - 1572)

Thomas Carlyle called Knox 'the one Scotchman to whom of all others, his country and the world owes a debt.' By the time of his appointment in the Church of England to preach in Berwick, and later at St Nicholas in Newcastle, the turbulent priest had already seen his mentor John Wishart burned as a heretic by Cardian Beaton in St Andrews, and, after joining the cardinal's murderers in the castle there, had himself been captured by a French expedition and served nineteen months as a galley-slave. His discourse from the pulpit of St Nicholas on 4 April 1550 is one of only two examples of Knox's preaching style we possess. It is a tub-thumping display. Knox seems to have resided on Castle Stairs, and Newcastle remained the fiery priest's headquarters until September 1552, when he moved for a time to London, before returning to St Nicholas to preach the Christmas sermon in December. Knox's first wife was Marjory Bowes, one of the fifteen children of Richard Bowes the captain of Norham castle.

As king's chaplain, Knox had taken part, along with Nicholas Ridley in King Edward VI's revision of the prayer-book. He denounced the execution of Lord Protector Somerset from St Nicholas pulpit in 1552, and was again in Newcastle in December 1553, after the accession of Mary Tudor, before prudently fleeing the country early in the following year. Knox sent a number of propaganda tracts over from the continent, and in one of them, in 1558, he expressed his frustration at the queens who had thwarted him - notably Mary Tudor and Mary of Guise, by publishing his celebrated A First Blast of the Trumpet against the Monstrous Regiment of Women. By regiment here he meant rule. A ruling woman was, he says, 'repugnant to nature... the subversion of all equity and justice.' He had intended three blasts, but admitted that the first one had blown from him all his friends in England. Elizabeth I was, unsurprisingly, deeply offended.

Knox was co-author of the First Book of Discipline (1559), which advocated a national system of education. He also wrote a lengthy history of the Reformation in Scotland in 1587. This includes his notable account of Mary, Queen of Scots' return to Scotland in 1561, his own interviews with her and his fierce denunciations from the pulpit of St Giles in Edinburgh.

Myers Literary Guide:	The North-East
JOHN KNOX (c1513 - 1572) Thomas Carlyle called Knox 'the one Scotchman to whom of all others, his country and the world owes a debt.' By the time of his appointment in the Church of England to preach in Berwick, and later at St Nicholas in Newcastle, the turbulent priest had already seen his mentor John Wishart burned as a heretic by Cardian Beaton in St Andrews, and, after joining the cardinal's murderers in the castle there, had himself been captured by a French expedition and served nineteen months as a galley-slave. His discourse from the pulpit of St Nicholas on 4 April 1550 is one of only two examples of Knox's preaching style we possess. It is a tub-thumping display. Knox seems to have resided on Castle Stairs, and Newcastle remained the fiery priest's headquarters until September 1552, when he moved for a time to London, before returning to St Nicholas to preach the Christmas sermon in December. Knox's first wife was Marjory Bowes, one of the fifteen children of Richard Bowes the captain of Norham castle. As king's chaplain, Knox had taken part, along with Nicholas Ridley in King Edward VI's revision of the prayer-book. He denounced the execution of Lord Protector Somerset from St Nicholas pulpit in 1552, and was again in Newcastle in December 1553, after the accession of Mary Tudor, before prudently fleeing the country early in the following year. Knox sent a number of propaganda tracts over from the continent, and in one of them, in 1558, he expressed his frustration at the queens who had thwarted him - notably Mary Tudor and Mary of Guise, by publishing his celebrated A First Blast of the Trumpet against the Monstrous Regiment of Women. By regiment here he meant rule. A ruling woman was, he says, 'repugnant to nature... the subversion of all equity and justice.' He had intended three blasts, but admitted that the first one had blown from him all his friends in England. Elizabeth I was, unsurprisingly, deeply offended. Knox was co-author of the First Book of Discipline (1559), which advocated a national system of education. He also wrote a lengthy history of the Reformation in Scotland in 1587. This includes his notable account of Mary, Queen of Scots' return to Scotland in 1561, his own interviews with her and his fierce denunciations from the pulpit of St Giles in Edinburgh.
Return to Index	On to next Author