By "regiment", Knox meant 'rule' or 'regime'. His tract was published just a few months before the death of Mary Tudor. In it, he wrote: "To promote a woman to bear rule, superioritie, dominion or empire above any realme, nation, or citie, is repugnant to nature." He described Mary as "unworthy by reason of her bloody tyranny of the name of woman."
Some nine years later – a fortnight before Mary Stuart returned from France to take the Scottish throne – Knox wrote to Mary Tudor's successor, her half–sister Elizabeth. Elizabeth and the Scottish Mary (like Mary Tudor before them) were rare examples of queens regnant in a world dominated by men, although they would become deadly rivals. They were united however in their hatred of Knox, who mentioned in his letter that Mary "travail[ed] earnestly" to have his tract "confuted by the learned in diverse realms" – as did Elizabeth.
The above is an edited version of a piece on the website of the UK's National Archive, where you can hear Knox's letter being read.
© Haydn Thompson 2023