Frommer's Review
John Knox is acknowledged as the father of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, the Protestant tenets of which he established in 1560. While some regard him as a prototypical Puritan, he actually proposed progressive changes in the ruling of the church and in education; as well as being quite renowned for sharp wit and sarcasm. But Knox lived at a time of great religious and political upheaval; he spent 2 years as a galley slave for agitating against papal authority and later lived in exile in Geneva (ruled by Jean Calvin). Upon his return, he became minister of St. Giles and worked to ensure the reformation's success in Scotland.
Knox was also a writer/historian, perhaps best known for the inflammatory treatise, The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women, written in exile and inspired by his loathing of the reign of three Roman Catholic queens in Scotland, France, and England. Even if you're not interested in the firebrand reformer (who may have never lived here anyway), you may want to visit this late-15th-century house. It's characteristic of the "lands" that used to flank the Royal Mile, and the house is noteworthy for its painted ceiling as well as its Knox history. Following three years of renovations, the house reopened in 2006 and is now integrated into the completely modernized Scottish Storytelling Centre.
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