Foxe's Book of Martyrs

This version of the classic text, originally published in 1926 by the John S. Winston Company and edited by American clergyman and William Byron Forbush, abridges the original Foxe text for clarity and adds information on continued persecution of missionaries and others in the years since, including the French Revolution, through the year 1830. The 16th and 17th centuries saw a great deal of reading of John Foxe's survey of Christian martyrs throughout history, which placed a significant emphasis on those who had perished for their religion during Queen Mary's (1553-58) reign. Over the ensuing years, it had a significant impact on how people felt about Catholicism, supporting the legal persecution of Catholics up until the 19th century. Foxe started his work prior to Catholic Mary's rule and the associated Protestant persecution. His initial research focused on the early Christian martyrs, Inquisition victims, and Wycliffe and Tyndale supporters of the English translation of the Bible. As word of the persecution in England reached him as a Protestant exile in Germany, he continued to write. His book's initial Latin publication in 1559 featured scant information about the recent Protestant martyrs, whose biographies were incorporated in the book's later, far more comprehensive publication in English in 1563.