• John Foxe and His Turbulent Times
    Awake!—2011 | November

    • John Foxe and His Turbulent Times

      DOES mankind learn from the past, or are history’s lessons wasted on us? Think about that question as you consider the life of John Foxe, an Englishman who took to the pen in hopes that his readers would repudiate the unspeakable cruelties that plagued his time.

      John Foxe’s accounts, recorded during the Reformation, did indeed have a powerful influence on the people of England for centuries. His book, entitled Acts and Monuments of the Church, took more than 25 years to complete. And it is said by some to be second only to the vernacular Bible as a formative influence on the English language and culture.

  • John Foxe and His Turbulent Times
    Awake!—2011 | November

    • Additionally, Foxe began to compile a history of the Lollards in England, completing it in 1554. The work was published in Strasbourg, today a city in France, as a small Latin volume of 212 leaves. In effect, this was the first of his Acts and Monuments of the Church. Five years later, he enlarged the volume to over 750 folio pages.

  • John Foxe and His Turbulent Times
    Awake!—2011 | November

    • Foxe Completes His Work

      Back in England, Foxe embarked on an enlarged edition of his account, details of which may have been witnessed in person by some of his readers. His first English edition​—with some 1,800 pages and a number of woodcut illustrations—​appeared in 1563 and became an immediate best seller.

      The second edition followed seven years later. Its two volumes had over 2,300 pages and 153 illustrations. The following year, the Church of England decreed that a copy of Foxe’s book be installed alongside the Bible in all English cathedrals and in the homes of church dignitaries for the benefit of servants and visitors. Parish churches soon followed this example. Even the illiterate could benefit, thanks to the illustrations, which made a deep and lasting impression.

  • John Foxe and His Turbulent Times
    Awake!—2011 | November

    • [Box/​Picture on page 28]

      FOXE’S BOOK OF MARTYRS

      As the Catholic Church continued to fight the Reformation, martyrologists in Europe, such as Jean Crespin, compiled details of persecution and martyrdom in their countries.c As a result, Foxe’s Acts and Monuments of the Church was dubbed Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. Later, as revised and abridged editions appeared, the unofficial title superseded the one chosen by Foxe.

      [Footnote]

      c See the article “Jean Crespin’s Book of Martyrs” in the March 2011 issue of this magazine.

      [Credit Line]

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