On the Royal Mile, in Edinburgh, John Knox House is the oldest surviving house on the great thoroughfare. A fine example of Scottish Renaissance urban architecture, it bears the name of the great reformer — but its most tangible history is that of a goldsmith in the service of Mary Stuart.
A Renaissance house of the old town
Built around 1470, John Knox House is a precious witness of the urban dwelling of the Scottish Renaissance: a jettied timber gallery, hand-painted ceilings, a wrought façade opening onto the street. It is the very type of the rich Edinburgh town house, dense and vertical, constrained by the cramped space of the old town. The link with John Knox himself is traditional rather than attested: the reformer more probably lived at Warriston Close; but his name, attached to the house for centuries, has saved it from demolition.
Mary Stuart's goldsmith
The best-documented inhabitant of the house is the goldsmith James Mossman. His family was intimately linked to the Crown: his father had remade the crown of Scotland for James V, and he himself reset the jewels of Mary Stuart. Loyal to the deposed queen, Mossman held Edinburgh Castle for her during the 'Lang Siege' (the long siege) and struck coin there in Mary's name — acts of resistance that cost him his life: he was hanged and quartered in 1573. John Knox House thus keeps the memory not only of a reformer, but of a royalist craftsman, a martyr of his loyalty to Mary Stuart. To see: the Renaissance timber gallery, the hand-painted ceilings, the museum exhibitions, the Netherbow Wellhead outside.
Did you know?
The house that bears the name of Mary Stuart's greatest enemy — John Knox — was inhabited by one of her most loyal supporters: the goldsmith James Mossman, who held Edinburgh Castle for her and struck her coin, before being executed in 1573. An irony of history: under the name of the reformer who fought her relentlessly, it is in reality the memory of a royalist martyr of Mary that the house keeps.
Notes
John Knox House lies on High Street (Netherbow), Royal Mile, Edinburgh (today the Scottish Storytelling Centre); a museum open to the public. Hours to check.
Quiz
- What is exceptional about John Knox House?
- It is the oldest surviving house on the Royal Mile
- It is a castle
- It is a cathedral
- Which goldsmith lived there?
- James Mossman (goldsmith of Mary Stuart)
- Holbein
- John Knox himself (attested)
- What did Mossman do for Mary Stuart?
- He held Edinburgh Castle and struck coin for her
- He betrayed her
- He painted her portrait