John Knox, engraving from Icones, by T. Beza, 1580.
John Knox
Born:
c. 1514, near Haddington, East Lothian, Scotland
Died:
November 24, 1572, Edinburgh
Notable Works:
“Book of Common Order”
Scots Confession
Subjects Of Study:
Reformation
Church of Scotland
Role In:
Reformation

John Knox (born c. 1514, near Haddington, East Lothian, Scotland—died November 24, 1572, Edinburgh) was the foremost leader of the Scottish Reformation, who set the austere moral tone of the Church of Scotland and shaped the democratic form of government it adopted. He was influenced by George Wishart, who was burned for heresy in 1546, and the following year Knox became the spokesman for the Reformation in Scotland. After a period of intermittent imprisonment and exile in England and on the European continent, in 1559 he returned to Scotland, where he supervised the preparation of the constitution and liturgy of ...(100 of 2944 words)