John Knox House, Edinburgh

Though pilgrimage and devotions at the graveside were out of the question for the great church reformer John Knox, he has left an interesting trail to follow in Edinburgh.

This house is a rare opportunity to explore the founding figure of a British church – John Knox, the father of the Reformation in Scotland. There is no comparable museum in England or Wales, though John and Charles Wesley’s chapel in Bristol comes close for the Methodist movement.

The house mostly dates from the mid-16th century, a time when the Scottish reform movement was reaching its peak. The building is probably not connected to John Knox directly, though he lived a few doors away towards the end of his life. It tells the story of the Reformation in Scotland with a particular emphasis on the leader himself.

A fiery and compelling preacher, John Knox was both the leading advocate and leading theologian behind the Reformation in Scotland. He led the campaign for reform, culminating in an act of parliament in August 1560 that removed the Pope’s authority and put an end to Catholic practices.

Although one such practice was the use of images and adornment in church, John Knox House has rather a lot of ‘domestic’ Biblical imagery, which was allowed. There is even a wall painting in the house depicting the murder of Abel by Cain, and a fireplace with an image of the Crucifixion depicted on tiles. The exhibition doesn’t say why religious art was allowed at home but not in a church, though it is easy to guess a theologian’s line of thinking: objects not to be worshipped, but to serve as reminders.

The Reformation was a significant journey for John Knox personally. He started out as a Catholic priest, but broke away from the church around 1544 to develop the principles behind Presbyterianism. He even served for a time in the Church of England, another stage on his long spiritual journey.

Thanks to him more than anyone else, the Church of Scotland has some important differences to other Reformation churches in northern Europe. The most obvious difference is the lack of bishops: John Knox believed passionately that no-one should be able to wield authority on spiritual matters over another individual – that role belonging to God alone.

Such respect for the individual helped the church pioneer some highly influential and progressive ideas. As early as 1561, one year after the Reformation, the church started to set up a nationwide education system, with a teacher appointed in every church. This is the world’s first universal school provision, an idea that was later adopted by other churches.

So saying, Knox did also regard it as the church’s duty to police morality. “Drunkenness, excess (be it in apparel or be it in eating and drinking), fornication, oppression of the poor, buying or selling by wrong measure, wanton words and licentious living – tending to slander, do properly pertain to the church of GOD to punish,” reads a heart-warming panel in the museum.

Drunkenness, excess (be it in apparel or be it in eating and drinking), fornication, oppression of the poor, buying or selling by wrong measure, wanton words and licentious living – tending to slander, do properly pertain to the church of GOD to punish

His views are mostly influenced by John Calvin, the French reformer. Other Protestant countries such as England tended to follow Martin Luther’s thinking.

In other ways though, John Knox was a typical 16th-century religious figure. For example, he repeatedly called for the execution of Mary Queen of Scots after she abdicated, even though he had met her several times and knew that she was an advocate of religious tolerance.

It is a surprise to find an individual so highly honoured by the Church of Scotland – a contrast to the way it sometimes downplays Scotland’s amazing heritage of early founding figures and saints. Perhaps I was in the mood to look for irony after the man at the front desk attempted to sell me a ticket and a guidebook and direct me into the museum without using any words at all. But I do think it’s a fair question: if John Knox, why not St Columba too?

John Knox’s Grave

John Knox died in Edinburgh on 24 November 1572, in a house a few steps from the museum. One of many Catholic practices he disliked was veneration at graves. It seems appropriate therefore that his own gravesite is underneath lot number 23 of the car park behind St Giles Cathedral, 400m uphill from John Knox House.

The grave site is now marked by a grey stone set around with bricks, much the same colour as the road itself. A couple arrived as I was photographing the minimalist non-shrine, and took out their cameras too.

Further up the Royal Mile

Edinburgh Castle is a short walk uphill from St Giles Cathedral. It has two items with a particular spiritual connection, the Stone of Scone, used for coronations in Westminster Abbey, and a chapel once thought to be connected to St Margaret but now believed to be 12th century.

Directions

John Knox House, 45 High St (The Royal Mile), Edinburgh EH1 1SR

www.scottishstorytellingcentre.co.uk

W3W: crew.hunter.maker

GPS: 55.9506N 3.1851W

John Knox House is open Mon–Sat 10am–6pm, Sun only in July and August 12noon–6pm. Entry £6 adults, £5 concessions, children over 7 £1. It is owned by the Church of Scotland, and part of the Scottish Storytelling Centre, an innovative venue that hosts live storytelling in a theatre next to the house. It can also conduct a storytelling tour around the house itself; for details tel: 0131 556 9579.

To find John Knox’s grave, walk around the back of St Giles Cathedral – which is 400m further up the Royal Mile – and look for parking lot 23.