John Knox (c. 1514 – November 24, 1572) was a Scottish religious reformer who took the lead in reforming the Church in Scotland along Calvinist lines. He is widely regarded as the father of the Protestant Reformation in Scotland and of the Church of Scotland.

When the reformed religion was formally ratified by law in Scotland in 1560, Knox was appointed minister of the Church of St.Giles, then the great parish church of Edinburgh. He was at this time at the height of his powers, as is manifest in the style of his History of the Reformation—a work which he appears to have begun in about 1559 and completed over the next six or seven years.

At the very beginning of his labours as minister of Edinburgh, he had the misfortune to lose his much-loved young wife, Marjorie Bowes, who died in December 1560. She left two sons, one of whom, Nathaniel, died at Cambridge in 1580; the other, Eleazer, became vicar of Clacton Magna in the archdeaconry of Colchester and died in 1591, both without issue. In 1564 Knox made a second marriage, which was greatly talked of at the time, not only because the bride was distantly related to the royal family but because she was seventeen, while Knox was several years older. The young lady was Margaret, daughter of Andrew Stewart, Lord Ochiltree (d.1591). She bore Knox three daughters: Martha (1565), Margaret (c1567) and the youngest, Elizabeth (c1570) who became the wife, about 1594, of the famous John Welsh, minister of Ayr.

At this time the reformer lived a very busy life. As well as being devoted to his work as a parish minister, he was much engrossed with the public affairs of the national Church and embroiled in continual controversies with the ecclesiastical and political factions of the day. He was, however, not without social and family enjoyments. A fair stipend of four hundred marks Scots, equal to about forty-four pounds of English money of that day, enabled him to afford hospitality and to advance money to a friend in need. Knox also received a stipend of an hundred pounds and a further hundred and sixty pounds scots directly from the queen's private rents in 1564 (NAS E30/11 f19r).He had a good house, which was provided and kept in repair by the municipality.

During the greater part of his ministry in Edinburgh he lived in a house on a site now occupied by the City Council Chambers. Another house in Edinburgh, still preserved with little change and known since the eighteenth century at the latest as "John Knox's house," may have been occupied by him toward the close of his life. With all his severity, there must have been much sympathy in a man who was repeatedly invited to reconcile the sundered, husband with wife, friend with friend. He lived on good terms with his neighbors, many of whom became his intimate friends. His writings reveal, along with other aspects of his personality, a lively sense of humour.