John Knox

John Knox (c. 1514–1572) was the leading Reformer of Scotland. Born at Haddington and ordained a priest, he embraced Protestant teaching through George Wishart. After Cardinal Beaton's murder in 1546, French forces captured Knox and sent him to the galleys; released in 1549, he served Edward VI in England before fleeing under Mary I to Geneva, where he studied with John Calvin.

Returning to Scotland in 1559, he led the Reformation that overthrew the regent Mary of Guise, helped frame the Kirk's 1560 confession and Presbyterian order, and challenged Mary, Queen of Scots. He died at Edinburgh in 1572.