Published early in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England, only five years after the death of the Roman Catholic Queen Mary, the work is an affirmation of the Protestant Reformation in England during the ongoing period of religious conflict between Catholics and Protestants. The book went through four editions in Foxe's lifetime and as well as a number of later editions and abridgements, including some that specifically reduced the text to a Book of Martyrs. The book was highly influential in those countries and helped shape lasting popular notions of Catholicism there. It includes a Protestant account of the sufferings of Protestants under the Catholic Church, with particular emphasis on England and Scotland. The Actes and Monuments, popularly known as Fox's Book of Martyrs, is a work of Protestant history and martyrology by John Foxe, first published in English in 1563 by John Day.

Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition software. While Foxe was by no means an impartial writer, and his presentation of history is selective and peppered with comment, his access to the evidence from very recent trials and eye-witness accounts renders his work generally reliable.2018 Reprint of 1926 Edition. The first edition of his book, in Latin, was published in 1559, and contained little information about the recent Protestant martyrs, whose stories were included in the much fuller edition published in English in 1563. As a Protestant in exile in Germany he continued writing, as news of the persecutions in England reached him. His first studies were of the early Christian martyrs, the victims of the Inquisition, and the followers of Wycliffe and Tyndale, who supported the reading of the Bible in English.

It had a great influence on popular opinion with regard to Catholicism over the following centuries, providing support for the legal oppression of Catholics until the 19th century.įoxe began his work before Catholic Mary’s reign and the persecution of the Protestants. John Foxe’s survey of Christian martyrs throughout history laid strong emphasis on those who had died for their faith during the reign of Queen Mary (1553-58), and was widely read during the 16th and 17th centuries.

Fox's Book of Martyrs by John Foxe