130 K N K N O
pension of £200, bestowed by Sir Robert Peel. He died at Torquay, November 30, 1862.
A full list of the works of Knowles and of the various notices of him will be found in his Life, by his son Richard Brinsley Knowles, of which twenty-five copies were printed privately.
KNOX, John (1505-1572), the great Reformer of Scotland, was born at Haddington, the county town of East Lothian, in the year 1505.[1] His father was William Knox, commonly said to have been descended from the Knoxes of Ranfurly in Renfrewshire, but there is no evidence to prove what rests solely upon the authority of David Buchanan. The name of his mother was Sinclair, and some of his letters, written in seasons of danger, were signed "John Sinclair." Whatever might be their lineage, Knox's relations were in such circumstances as secured for him a liberal education in the grammar school of his native town; and, when about sixteen years of age, he was sent to pursue his studies at the university of Glasgow, where Dr John Mair or Major was principal regent, or professor of philosophy and divinity. Owing to some undiscovered cause he left the university without qualifying himself to take the degree of master of arts. It has been usual to state that from Glasgow Knox proceeded to St Andrews and there taught philosophy and theology, but no evidence can be adduced to show that he was officially connected in any way whatever with the university of that city. Not having qualified himself by taking his degree, he would be excluded from acting as a regent or professor, so that if he taught it can only have been in the way of private tuition. In truth, for some years about this time the course of life pursued by Knox is involved in obscurity. The probability is that he took orders in the Church of Rome as a secular priest about 1530, and was connected for upwards of ten years with one of the religious establishments in the neighbourhood of Haddington. In the Protocol books of that town the name of John Knox occurs among the witnesses to deeds of the years 1540, 1541, and 1542, in one deed under the style of Schir, that being the designation of priests who had not attained the higher academical degree of Magister; and as late as March 27, 1543, he pens and signs a notarial instrument as an apostolic notary, describing himself as "sacri altaris minister, Sanctiandrææ dioceseos, auctoritate appostolica notarius."
The martyrdom of Wishart in 1540 was the turning point in the spiritual life of Knox, determining him to renounce scholastic theology and to profess his adherence to the Protestant faith. As this subjected him to suspicion and trouble, he resolved to leave Scotland and visit the schools of Germany; but Douglas of Longniddrie and Cockburn of Ormiston, to whose sons Knox had for some time been acting as private tutor, prevailed on him to relinquish his design, and, along with his pupils, to enter the castle of St Andrews as a place of safety from the Romish clergy. It was there that Knox received a public call to the ministry, "whairat," to use his own graphic description of the scene in the great church, "the said Johnne abashed, byrst furth in moist abundand tearis, and withdrew him self to his chalmer."
In June of the same year (1547) the Catholics of Scotland and France joined their forces to avenge the death of Cardinal Beaton by capturing the Protestant garrison of St Andrews, the French fleet appeared in the bay, and the castle surrendered. It was stipulated that the lives of the refugees should be spared, that they should be removed to France, and that such of them as declined entering into the French service should be conveyed to any other country except Scotland. Knox, sharing the fate of his companions, was conveyed on board one of the French ships to Rouen; but the terms of the capitulation were grossly violated, and the captives were treated as prisoners of war. Knox and some others were sent on board the galleys, and, after being loaded with chains, were compelled to labour at the oar. Here they were subjected to many indignities and much suffering; but, in spite of every hardship and every threat, not one of their number renounced his faith. During the ensuing winter the galley in which he was confined lay in the Loire; and in the summer of 1548 it sailed for Scotland, and cruised off the east coast. The hardships to which he was now subjected produced a very serious effect upon his health: he was seized with a violent fever, and no hope was entertained of his recovery. He, however, regained his strength, and during his captivity had sufficient energy of mind to engage in literary work. In the winter of 1548 Henry Balnaves of Halhill, who remained a prisoner in the old palace of Rouen, had sent to Knox a treatise on the doctrine of justification by faith. With this work Knox was so much pleased that, having revised it carefully, divided the contents into chapters, and added a brief summary of the book, he sent it to Scotland for publication with an epistle addressed by "the bound Servant of Jesus Christ unto his best beloved Brethren of the Congregation of the Castle of St Andrewes, and to all Professours of Christs true Evangell" (Works of John Knox, vol. iii.). As the old copy of this epistle bears the title of "The Confession of Faith," this work may have been the "confession of his faith, containing the substance of what he had taught at St Andrews," which "he found means to convey to his religious acquaint ances in Scotland," and which, Dr M'Crie thinks, "appears to have been lost." If so, leaving out of view the notices of his first sermon and of his disputation with Friar Arbuckle in St Leonard's Yards, contained in his Historie, this epistle will rank as the earliest specimen of the Reformer's composition that has been preserved.
After an imprisonment of eighteen or nineteen months Knox obtained his release from the French galleys in February or March 1549. As he probably owed his freedom to the intercession of Edward VI. or the English Government, he came to London on obtaining his liberty, and was favourably received by Archbishop Cranmer and the lords of council. Of the English section of his life, extending over five years, Knox himself disposes in few words: "The said Johne was first appointed preachar to Berwik, then to Newcastell; last he was called to London, and to the sowth partes of England, whar he remaned to the death of King Edward the Sext" (Historie, book i.). At Berwick, where he laboured for two years, he preached with his characteristic fervour and zeal, exposing the errors of Romanism with unsparing severity. The tendency of his zeal was not, however, calculated to recommend him to the bishop of the diocese, Dr Cuthbert Tunstall or Tonstall,
- ↑ Founding upon the designation "Giffordiensis" applied to him by Beza in his Icones of 1580, and the statement of Spottiswood in his History (1627) that Knox "was born in Gifford in the Lothians," later writers, beginning with David Buchanan, have given Gifford, a village a few miles to the south of Haddington, as the birthplace of Knox. On the other baud two contemporary Romanist writers – Archibald Hamilton (1577) and James Laing (1581) – assign to Haddington itself the honour in question: Presbyter Joannes Knoxeus natus in Hadintona oppido in Laudonia"; "Joannes Knox natus prope Hadintonam, quæ est urbs in Laudonia." In 1785 the Rev. Dr Barclay of Haddington directed attention to Giffordgate, one of the suburbs of Haddington, as the locality which popular tradition has uniformly maintained to have been the spot where the Reformer was born, and which, with the grounds adjoining, is called "Knox's Walls" in a charter of 1607. Recent investigations prove that no village of the name of Gifford was in existence until the latter half of the 17th century, whereas in the Geneva Register of 1558, when Knox was admitted a burgess of Geneva, his name is thus entered: "Jehan, filz de Guillaume Cnoxe, natif de Hedington en Escosse." David Laing, who in 1846 followed M'Crie in preferring Gifford, in 1864 gives his verdict in favour of the Giffordgate, stating that a visit to the locality led him to the conclusion that the question now admits of no dispute.
