Edinburgh
Town Guide
Edinburgh Town Guide, John Knox, 4K

John Knox was the central figure of the Scottish reformation of the 16th century and is remembered as one of Edinburgh's most influential sons.

Edinburgh Town Guide, John Knox, 1K Born in the early 16th century he studied religion at St Andrew's University and became a priest in the 1540s.

His early religious leanings were towards Protestantism and as a young man his friends included Protestant teacher George Wishart.

By this time Protestantism was sweeping across the whole of the UK and so in the late 1540s Knox travelled to England where he became involved in the English reformation.

As a result when the Catholic Queen Mary took the English throne in 1553 Knox was forced into exile.

He went to Geneva where he learnt about Calvinism - an extreme version of Protestantism - and he was quickly converted.

Knox returned to Scotland in 1555 where he became minister of the High Kirk of St Giles in Edinburgh, and he quickly introduced Calvinism to his congregation.

Despite the fact that Scotland had a Catholic monarch, Mary Queen of Scots, the citizens of Edinburgh were soon converted to Protestantism.

Famously Knox used to have lively debates on the subject of religion with the Queen, but she was never converted.

Her son and successor James IV, however, was Protestant and in the 1560s Scotland declared itself a Protestant country.

John Knox's House, which traces the history of the religious reformer, is located on the High Street section of the Royal Mile.




Edinburgh A-Z

| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | W | Y | Z |



Edinburgh Town Guide Home Page

Travel Advice | Accommodation in Edinburgh | Other Town Guides