John Knox

This masterful biography is the definitive life of John Knox, a leader of the Protestant Reformation in sixteenth-century Scotland and founder of the Presbyterian denomination. Drawing largely on previously unavailable sources, including the recently discovered papers of Knox's close friend and colleague Christopher Goodman, Jane Dawson challenges the traditionally-held stereotype of Knox as a strident and misogynist religious reformer whose influence rarely extended beyond Scotland. Instead, she reveals a man who relied heavily on the support of his 'godly sisters' and conferred as well as argued with Mary, Queen of Scots; a man who was a proud member of the European community of Reformed churches and deeply involved in the religious reformations within England, Ireland, France, Switzerland and the Holy Roman Empire. Casting a surprising new light on the public and private personas of a highly complex, difficult and hugely compelling individual, Dawson's study offers a vivid, fully rounded portrait of this renowned Scottish preacher and prophet who made a seismic impact upon religion and society. -- Front jacket flap.