A deeply researched, well written and comprehensive biography which vividly brings its subject and the milieu of the Scottish Reformation to life. Knox's precept that any man should, and could, talk directly to Christ without any intercession took reform to the gates of revolution. He maintained that if rulers were unjust the people had the right to remove them. It was this belief in the rights of the people that was at the root of his achievements: the Church of Scotland, the acceptance of an obligation to care for the poor and infirm, and the Scottish system of education. A fully rounded picture of the man who handed the torch of democracy to the citizens of today.

It was in September 1561 that John Knox had the first of his famous meetings with Mary, Queen of Scots. His life and fervent beliefs led him through siege at St Andrews to slavery on the galleys of France. In this text, Rosalind Marshall untangles truth from mythology in the life of John Knox.