The Second Blast of the Trumpet

BY MARIE MACPHERSON

KNOX ROBINSON PUBLISHING

£12.99

The second book in Macpherson’s Knox Trilogy follows on from The First Blast of the Trumpet and also takes its title from John Knox’s famous polemical tract against female rulers, The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women. Not surprisingly, Knox’s misogynistic rant antagonised women, especially Queen Elizabeth I. This impressive piece of historical fiction opens in 1549 as Knox prepares to set sail from France to England after serving 19 months as a galley slave. The Scottish Reformer was summoned to be Edward VI’s chaplain and charged with striking at the roots of papistry as God’s messenger on earth.

But after challenging the liturgy of the English Protestant Church, Knox made a series of dangerous enemies including the Catholic Mary Tudor who ascended to the throne after the untimely death of Edward VI in 1553. As a result, Knox fled to the continent, preaching in Frankfurt and Geneva. When Protestant Elizabeth I succeeds to the English throne, Knox sees this as an opportunity to return to England with his young family to resume his mission.

However, in Scotland, the Lords of the Congregation were plotting revolution in the name of religion and Macpherson reveals that even Knox himself was conflicted. When a young woman catches the eye of the charismatic preacher, more than Knox’s access to England is at stake as he tries to win her heart whilst trying to reconcile his feelings with his beliefs.

Knox’s relationships with women lie at the heart of Macpherson’s second book as she reveals the Calvinist reformer to be a great lover of women. Far from his traditional stern image, Knox, it transpires, attracted women in their droves. As a pastor in England he met Elizabeth and Marjory Bowes, a mother and her daughter. He married Marjory, who gave Knox two sons. When she died, it was said Knox had a close relationship with his mother-in-law until at the age of 50 he married 17-year-old Margaret Stewart. She was a distant relative of Mary, Queen of Scots and gave him three daughters.

Other women in Knox’s life included Anne Locke, who worked closely with him on the Reformation, and his godmother Elisabeth Hepburn, the daughter of the Earl of Bothwell. Hepburn, along with the Queen Regent Marie de Guise, strove to stem the tide of reform to ensure Mary, Queen of Scots ascended the throne. Macpherson has done for Knox what Hilary Mantel did for Cromwell by suggesting a hidden truth behind this much-maligned and misunderstood man.

‘Knox’s relationships with women lie at the heart of Macpherson’s second book as she reveals the Calvinist reformer to be a great lover of women’