John Knox

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John Knox

John Knox (* around 1514 in Gifford Gate near Haddington , East Lothian ; † November 24, 1572 in Edinburgh ) was a Scottish reformer and co-founder of the Presbyterian Churches .

Life

John Knox
Birthplace of John Knox in Giffordgate (Haddington).

Knox studied theology and law at St Andrews University . After he had received the minor consecration , he worked as a tutor in Scottish noble families who were close to the Reformation. He then joined the reformer George Wishart . After his execution in 1546, Knox was one of the leaders of the uprising against Cardinal David Beaton . He then holed up together with the other rebellious Protestants as a preacher in Andrews Castle. In 1547 they were captured by the French. Knox remained in galley detention in Rouen for two years .

After his liberation he became a preacher in Berwick-upon-Tweed in 1549 and in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1551 . He turned down a diocese offered to him in the event of his return to Catholicism. After the accession of the Catholic Queen Maria to the throne , Knox fled to Geneva in January 1554 , where he became a staunch supporter of John Calvin . After being in Frankfurt am Main and back in Scotland in 1555, he accepted a ministerial post in the English congregation in 1556. This made him a pioneer of the Calvinist Reformation, which affected almost the entire Scottish population.

Only now did the English bishops condemn the absent man to death by fire. During this time, however, Knox and some friends made an English translation of the Bible , which became known as the Geneva Bible . Simultaneously with this he gave in 1558 an "acclamation" to the nobility and the imperial estates of Scotland ( The appellation of John Knox and an admonition to England and Scotland ) and the writing The first blast of the Trumpet against the monstrous, directed against all Catholic rulers of Europe regiment of women , which was supposed to harm the Regent of Scotland, Marie de Guise , and her daughter Maria Stuart . After the Anglican Elizabeth I became Queen of England in 1558, Knox found himself in a dilemma. The relationship between the queen and the reformer was always hypothermic.

In May 1559 Knox finally returned to Scotland. This happened four months late because Elisabeth had not given him permission to travel through England. The Scottish regent, in turn, immediately declared him outlawed , while the people welcomed him with enthusiasm. When a Catholic priest immediately read mass after a sermon by Knox in Perth against the veneration of images, the fanatical crowd destroyed altars , images and relics . The War of Religion ended in 1560 when the Scottish Church became Presbyterian in teaching and worship .

Parking lot number 23, south of St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh, under which John Knox is buried.

When Maria Stuart returned home to her native land after the death of her mother and introduced Catholic worship at her court (1561), Knox met her in a way that was intended to be a conscious reminder of the appearance of Elijah towards Jezebel . A high treason trial initiated against him ended in 1563 with an acquittal . Knox was also instrumental in the imprisonment of the Queen at Loch Leven Castle in June 1567 and her forced abdication there. Mary's followers expelled him from Edinburgh in 1571, but returned after calm was restored and remained there until his death.

Statues of John Knox stand by the Geneva Reformation Monument , the Glasgow Necropolis and the Edinburgh Cathedral. The Evangelical Church in Germany remembers him with a day of remembrance in the Evangelical Name Calendar on November 24th .

literature

Web links

Commons : John Knox  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ "The first blast of the Trumpet against the monstrous regiment of women" in the digital library Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
  2. ^ J. Gordon Melton: Knox, John (c. 1514-1572) . leader of the Scottish Reformation and founder of Presbyterianism. In: Encyclopedia of World Religions . Encyclopedia of Protestantism, No. 6 . Facts of File, New York 2005, ISBN 978-0-8160-5456-5 , pp. 327 f . (English).
  3. ↑ John Knox in the Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints
personal data
SURNAME Knox, John
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Scottish preacher
DATE OF BIRTH around 1514
PLACE OF BIRTH Gifford Gate at Haddington
DATE OF DEATH November 24, 1572
Place of death Edinburgh