Knox Abroad

Re From The Moderator, Change is Coming, April
The fact of the matter is, John Knox did not flee Scotland. Knox left Scotland three times.
In 1547, he was taken prisoner by the French Navy from St. Andrew’s and sent to the galleys for 19 months sailing around France and the Mediterranean. The navy revisited St. Andrew’s and released him February 1549, no reason given but he was a very ill man. Being of Scottish stock he soon recovered. There was, however, no future for him at this time and by his own volition he crossed the border to England where he was accepted by the Church of England and did church – related work for several years. However, he was not satisfied with his progress—Mary Tudor re – established Roman Catholicism—and he left for the Continent after a breach with the Church of England. He spent several years in Geneva and Frankfurt having conferred with, on occasion, John Calvin. He returned to Scotland, but to no avail and having got an urgent call from his Geneva followers, he stayed there for three years.
He eventually returned to Edinburgh after Protestantism was ratified by law and was appointed minister of St. Giles. (Of whose congregation the famous Jenny Geddes belonged.) Knox outlived John Calvin by two years, dying in 1572, at the age of 67. As an interesting aside, it is noted that both Knox at St. Salvatore’s and Calvin at Paris were tutored by John Moir of Haddington, Scotland, who was Professor of Theology at St. Salvatore’s and Professor of Theology and Ideology at Paris.