Place of Knox’s Birth, and his Parentage.—Although the question respecting Knox’s birth‑place is not of very great importance, I shall state the authorities for the different opinions which are entertained on the subject.
Beza, who was contemporary, and personally acquainted, with our Reformer, designs him “Joannes Cnoxus, Scotus, Giffordiensis,” evidently meaning that he was a native of the town of Gifford. Icones, seu Imagines Illustrium Virorum, Ee. iij. an. 1580. Spotswood, who was born in 1565, and could receive information from his father, and other persons intimately acquainted with Knox, says that he was “born in Gifford within Lothian.” History, p. 265, edit. 1677. David Buchanan, in his Memoir of Knox, prefixed to the edition of his History, and published in 1644, gives the same account; which has been followed in the Life written by Matthew Crawfurd, and prefixed to the edition of the History, 1732; and by Wodrow, in his MS. Collections, respecting the Scottish Reformers, in Bibl. Coll. Glas. In a Genealogical Account of the Knoxes, which is in the possession of the family of the late Mr James Knox, minister of Scoon, the Reformer’s father is said to have been a brother of the family of Ranferlie, and “proprietor of the estate of Gifford.” Scott’s History of the Scottish Reformers, p. 94.
On the other hand, Archibald Hamilton, who was his countryman, as well as his contemporary and acquaintance, says that Knox was born in the town of Haddington: “Obscuris natus parentibus in Hadintona oppido in Laudonia.” De Confusione Calvinianæ Sectæ apud Scotos Dialogus, fol. 64, a. Parisiis, 1577. AnotherScotsman, who wrote in that age, says that he was born near Haddington; “prope Haddintonam.” Laingæus De vita, et moribus, atque rebus gestis Hæreticorum nostri temporis, fol. 113, b. Parisiis, 1581. Dr Barclay, late minister of Haddington, advanced an opinion which reconciles the two last authorities, (although it is probable that he never saw either of them,) by asserting that our Reformer was born in one of the suburbs of Haddington, called the Giffordgate. Transactions of the Society of Antiquaries in Scotland, p. 69, 70.
The testimony of Archibald Hamilton is not altogether without weight; for, although he has retailed a number of gross falsehoods in the work referred to, there does not appear to be any reason for supposing that he would intentionally mislead his readers on such a circumstance as the birth‑place of the Reformer. But I consider Spotswood’s statement as going far to set aside Hamilton’s; for, as the archbishop could scarcely be ignorant of it, and as he fixes Knox’s birth at a different place, it is reasonable to suppose that he had good reasons for varying from a preceding authority. The grounds of Dr Barclay’s opinion are, that, according to the tradition of the place, the Reformer was a native of Haddington; that the house in which he was born is still pointed out in the Giffordgate; and that this house, with some adjoining acres of land, belonged for a number of generations to a family of the name of Knox, who claimed kindred with the Reformer, and who lately sold the property to the earl of Wemyss. I acknowledge that popular tradition may be allowed to determine a point of this nature, provided it is not contradicted by other evidence. In the present case, it is not altogether free from this objection. As the sons of the Reformer died without issue, there is no reason to think that the family which resided in the Giffordgate was lineally descended from him. Still, however, the property might have belonged to his elder brother, which is consistent with the supposition of his being born in the house which tradition has marked out. But I have lately been favoured with extracts from the title‑deeds of that property, now in the possession of the earl of Wemyss, extending from the year 1598 downwards, which are not favourable to that supposition. On the 18th of February, 1598, William Knox inMoreham, and Elizabeth Schortes his wife, were infeft in subjects in Nungate (of Haddington,) by virtue of a crown charter. This charter contains no statement of the warrants on which it proceeded, farther than that the lands formerly belonged to the Abbey of Haddington, and were annexed to the crown. Having communicated the names of the persons mentioned in the first charter and subsequent deeds to the Reverend Mr Scott of Perth, with a request to be informed, if any such names occur in the genealogy of the Knox family which belonged to the late Mr Knox, minister of Scoon, I was favoured with an answer, saying, that neither the name of William Knox at Moreham, nor that of any other person answering to the description in my letter, is to be found in that genealogy. But, farther, the charter expressly states, that the lands in question belonged to the Abbey of Haddington, and, as they must have been annexed to the crown subsequently to the Reformation, they could not be the property of the family at the time of our Reformer’s birth. The tradition of his having been born in the Giffordgate is therefore supported merely by the possibility that his parents might have resided in that house while it was the property of the Abbey. In opposition to this, we have the authorities already mentioned in support of the opinion that he was born in the village of Gifford.
With respect to the parentage of our Reformer, David Buchanan says that his “father was a brother’s son of the house of Ranferlie.” Life, prefixed to History of the Reformation, edit. 1644. In a conversation with the earl of Bothwell, Knox gave the following account of his ancestors: “My lord,” said he, “my great grandfather, gudeschir, and father, have served your Lordchip’s predecessours, and some of them have dyed under their standards; and this is a pairt of the obligatioun of our Scottish kindness.” Historie of the Reformatioun, p. 306, edit. 1732. Matthew Crawfurd says, that “these words seem to import that Mr Knox’s predecessors were in some honourable station under the earls of Bothwell, at that time the most powerful family in East Lothian,” Life of the Author, p. ii. prefixed to Historie, edit. 1732. The only thing which I would infer from his words is, that his ancestors had settled in Lothian as early as the time of his great‑grandfather. I do not wish to representthe Reformer as either of noble or of gentle birth, and cannot place much dependence on the assertion in the preceding note, which makes his father “proprietor of the estate of Gifford.” John Davidson, in the poem written in commendation of him, says,
“First he descendit bot of lineage small,
As commonly God usis for to call
The sempill sort his summoundis til expres.”
At the same time, the statement given by some authors of the meanness and poverty of his parents is not supported by good evidence, and can in part be disproved. Dr Mackenzie says, the Reformer was “the son of a poor countryman, as we are informed by those who knew him very well: his parents, though in a mean condition, put their son to the grammar‑school of Haddington; where, after he had learned his grammar, he served for some time the laird of Langniddrie’s children, who being sent by their parents to the university of St Andrews, he thereby had occasion of learning his philosophy.” Lives of Scottish Writers, vol. iii. p. 111. As his authorities for these assertions, the Doctor has printed on the margin, “Dr Hamilton, Dr Bailie, and many others;” popish writers, who, regardless of their own character, fabricated or retailed such stories as they thought most discreditable to the Reformer, many of which Mackenzie himself is obliged to pronounce “ridiculous stories, that are altogether improbable,” p. 132. “Dr Bailie” was Alexander Bailie, a Benedictine monk in the Scottish monastery of Wirtsburgh; and, as he published the work to which Mackenzie refers in the year 1628, it is ridiculous to talk of his being well acquainted with either the Reformer or his father. Hamilton, (the earliest authority,) instead of supporting Mackenzie’s assertions, informs us, as far as his language is intelligible, that Knox was in priest’s orders before he undertook the care of children: “quo victum sibi pararet magis quam ut deo serviret (Simonis illius magi huc usque sequutus vestigia) presbyter primum fieri de more, quamvis illiteratus, tum in privatis ædibus puerorum in vulgaribus literis formandorum curam capere coactus est.” De Confusione Calv. Sectæ, p. 64. The fact is, that Knox entered into the family ofLangniddrie as tutor, after he had finished his education at the university; and so late as 1547, he was employed in teaching the young men their grammar. Historie, p. 67.