Foxe's Book of Martyrs
John Foxe (1516-1587) was an English Protestant clergyman and author of The Book of Martyrs. He was born in Boston, Lincolnshire, and educated at the University of Oxford. He was a fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, from 1539 to 1545 and tutor to the children of the English poet and soldier Henry Howard from 1548 to 1553. With the accession to the English throne of the Roman Catholic Mary I, he left the country, remaining on the Continent until 1559, after Elizabeth I became queen of England. Foxe was ordained in 1560, and he was prebendary in Salisbury Cathedral in 1563.
While in exile he had begun to work on a Latin history of Christian persecutions, Rerum in Ecclesia Gestarum .... Commentarii. He completed this work in 1559, having included in it much material from the Roman Catholic persecutions of the Protestants in England. An English translation, Acts and Monuments of These Latter and Perilous Dayes ..., was published in 1563 and became popularly known as The Book of Martyrs. This work was the source of the popular conception of Roman Catholics for generations of English people. Its accuracy was attacked and a second edition, corrected by Foxe, was published under the title Ecclesiastical History, Contayning the Actes and Monuments of Things Passed in Every Kynges Tyme. In 1570 the Anglican Convocation ordered this edition to be placed in every collegiate church in England. The work is uncritical and indicates that, at best, Foxe believed every atrocity story he heard. On the other hand, Foxe was far in advance of his time in advocating religious tolerance.
"Foxe, John," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2000
Available at K-State Libraries' Special Collections
Foxe, John. The Book of Martyrs: Containing an Account of the Sufferings & Death of the Protestants in the Reign of Queen Mary the First.
Illustrated with copper plates. Originally written by Mr. John Fox. Now
carefully revised and Corrected with a Recommendatory. Preface by the Rev.
Mr. Madan. (London: H. Trapp), 1784.
List of Contents including a complete list of
engravings, some of which have been scanned.
Foxe, John. The New and Complete Book of Martyrs; or, an Universal History of Martyrdom. Containing the Whole of Fox's Book of Martyrs, ...
Originally composed and written by the Rev. and Celebrated Mr. John Fox.
The Whole Newly Revised, Corrected, Modernized, and Improved, with Additions
and Great Improvements, by Paul Wright, D.D. (London: Alex. Hogg), [1784?].
List of Contents including a complete list of
engravings.
Foxe, John. Acts and Monuments of Matters most Special and Memorable, Happening in the Church: with an Universal History of the same.
Now again, as it was Recognized, Perused, and Recommended to the Studious
Reader, by the Author, Mr. John Fox. Whereunto are annexed certain Additions
of like Persecutions which have happened in these Later Times. To which also
is added the Life of the Author both in Latine and English. Ninth Edition.
(London: Company of Stationers), 1684.
List of Contents including a complete list of engravings.
Related Links
- Fox's Book of Martyrs - CCEL
- Foxe's Book of Martyrs - Chick Publications
- History and Legacy of Foxe's Book of Martyrs - Robert Liedl
- Silence: The Ultimate Protector of Individual Rights - Carl Watner
- British Academy John Foxe Project - British Academy
- Selected Woodcuts and Passages from Actes and Monuments - University of Pennsylvania
Please do not contact Rare Books for book values or appraisals. Visit the RBMS Guide: Your Old Books.
Information presented for research or promotional purposes and may be reproduced without permission provided proper credit is given.
All illustrative images, unless otherwise stated, are the property of Morse Dept. of Special Collections and may not be used without prior written permission from the Rare Books Librarian.
Rare Books, Richard L. D. & Marjorie J. Morse Dept. of Special Collections, K-State Libraries
