John Knox

John Knox (1505, 1513 or 1514 – 1572) was a Scottish religious reformer who played the lead part in reforming the Church in Scotland in a Presbyterian manner. He died in Edinburgh on November 24, 1572.

Knox and Queen Mary

Queen Mary returned to Scotland in August, 1561, thoroughly predisposed against Knox; while he and the other Reformers looked upon her with anxiety and suspicion. Fundamental differences of character and training made a keen encounter between the two inevitable. Five personal interviews between Knox and the queen are recorded (each at Mary's invitation).

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Queen Mary - 1561

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He found her no mean opponent in argument, and had to acknowledge the acuteness of her mind, if he could not commend the qualities of her heart. His attitude for the most part was unyielding and repelling, his language and manner harsh and uncourtierlike. In his preaching and other public utterances he was sometimes even violent.

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It must be remembered, however, that the momentous issues at stake required a plain-spoken prophet, not a smooth-tongued courtier. Still it might have been wiser as well as more in keeping with Knox's desire to be "Christ-like" for him, at the outset of their intercourse, to seek to win rather than repel. Perhaps the Reformer feared Mary's well-known power of fascination and steeled himself against it. Later his heart became wholly hardened toward the adulterous accomplice (or so he believed) to her husband's murder.

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