• Born about 1514 in Haddington of townsfolk stock.
• Ordained as a priest but did not serve a parish.
• Qualified as a Notary ( equivalent to modern day Solicitor).
• Tutored sons of country gentlemen.
• Developed bitter hatred of Church of Rome due to the burning of his mentor, Wishart.
• Was captured by the French at St. Andrews garrison in 1547 and became a galley slave.
• Released from slavery in 1549 and made way to England; considered a safe place for a man of his views.
• Invited to preach before the young King Edward VI who was being brought up as a Protestant.
• Was offered and refused the Bishopric of Rochester.
• When Mary succeeded to the throne in 1553, Knox fled to the Continent, first Frankfort then Geneva where the Reformation was directed by John Calvin who systematized a radical Protestant theology.
• England reverted to Catholicism under Mary Tudor and her husband, Philip II.
• Scotland became a satellite of France.
• Knox spent some months in Scotland in 1555-6 preaching in a number of houses. Then left for Geneva.
• Mary Tudor dies 17th November 1558.
• England moves to Protestantism.
• Scots and English share affinity of purpose-free from servitude to France, Spain and the Pope.
• Knox lands in Scotland in 1559.
• In 1560 Knox returns to the pulpit in St. Giles.
• In August 1560 Parliament abolished the authority of the Pope, forbade the Mass and approved a reformed Confession of Faith.
• Knox denounces Queen Mary's mass.
• Knox dies in Edinburgh on 24th November 1572.
  

posted by Nigel Cole @ 12:11 PM