Foxe's Book of Martyrs

262 Pages·2007·0.71 MB·English

by  John Foxe

Foxe's Book of Martyrs
John Foxe
Foxe's Book of Martyrs
Table of Contents
Foxe's Book of Martyrs............................................................................................................................................1
John Foxe.......................................................................................................................................................1
Edited by William Byron Forbush.................................................................................................................4
SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR........................................................................................................................5
I. St. Stephen..................................................................................................................................................9
II. James the Great.........................................................................................................................................9
III. Philip......................................................................................................................................................10
IV. Matthew.................................................................................................................................................10
V. James the Less.........................................................................................................................................10
VI. Matthias.................................................................................................................................................10
VII. Andrew.................................................................................................................................................10
VIII. St. Mark...............................................................................................................................................10
IX. Peter.......................................................................................................................................................11
X. Paul..........................................................................................................................................................11
XI. Jude........................................................................................................................................................11
XII. Bartholomew........................................................................................................................................11
XIII. Thomas................................................................................................................................................11
XIV. Luke....................................................................................................................................................11
XV. Simon...................................................................................................................................................11
XVI. John.....................................................................................................................................................12
XVII. Barnabas............................................................................................................................................12
CHAPTER I. History of Christian Martyrs to the First General Persecutions.........................................................12
CHAPTER II. The Ten Primitive Persecutions........................................................................................................12
The First Persecution, Under Nero, A.D. 67................................................................................................12
The Second Persecution, Under Domitian, A.D. 81....................................................................................13
The Third Persecution, Under Trajan, A.D. 108..........................................................................................13
The Fourth Persecution, Under Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, A.D. 162......................................................14
The Fifth Persecution, Commencing with Severus, A.D. 192.....................................................................17
The Sixth Persecution, Under Maximus, A.D. 235.....................................................................................18
The Seventh Persecution, Under Decius, A.D. 249.....................................................................................18
The Eighth Persecution, Under Valerian, A.D. 257.....................................................................................21
The Ninth Persecution Under Aurelian, A.D. 274.......................................................................................24
The Tenth Persecution, Under Diocletian, A.D. 303...................................................................................25
CHAPTER III. Persecutions of the Christians in Persia...........................................................................................31
Persecutions Under the Arian Heretics........................................................................................................32
Persecution Under Julian the Apostate........................................................................................................32
Persecution of the Christians by the Goths and Vandals.............................................................................33
The Last Roman "Triumph".........................................................................................................................34
Persecutions from About the Middle of the Fifth, to the Conclusion of the Seventh Century....................35
Persecutions from the Early Part of the Eighth, to Near the Conclusion of the Tenth Century..................36
Persecutions in the Eleventh Century..........................................................................................................37
CHAPTER IV. Papal Persecutions...........................................................................................................................38
Persecution of the Waldenses in France......................................................................................................38
Persecutions of the Albigenses....................................................................................................................39
The Bartholomew Massacre at Paris, etc.....................................................................................................41
From the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, to the French Revolution, in 1789........................................44
Martyrdom of John Calas.............................................................................................................................47
The Persecution of Dr. Aegidio...................................................................................................................49
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Foxe's Book of Martyrs
The Persecution of Dr. Constantine.............................................................................................................58
The Life of William Gardiner......................................................................................................................58
The Story of Galileo.....................................................................................................................................59
Summary of the Inquisition..........................................................................................................................67
Account of the Persecutions in the Valleys of Piedmont.............................................................................67
An Account of the Persecutions in Venice..................................................................................................68
An Account of Several Remarkable Individuals, Who Were Martyred in Different Parts of Italy, on
Account of Their Religion..........................................................................................................................72
An Account of the Persecutions in the Marquisate of Saluces....................................................................77
An Account of the Persecutions in the Valleys of Piedmont, in the Seventeenth Century.........................78
Further Persecutions in the Valleys of Piedmont, in the Seventeenth Century...........................................80
A Narrative of the Piedmontese War...........................................................................................................81
To the Obstinate Heretics Inhabiting Roras.................................................................................................84
An Account of the Persecutions of Michael de Molinos, a Native of Spain...............................................89
CHAPTER V. An Account of the Inquisition...........................................................................................................92
CHAPTER VI. An Account of the Persecutions in Italy, Under the Papacy............................................................97
CHAPTER VII. An Account of the Life and Persecutions of John Wickliffe.......................................................101
John Wickliffe............................................................................................................................................101
CHAPTER VIII. An Account of the Persecutions in Bohemia Under the Papacy.................................................104
Persecution of John Huss...........................................................................................................................105
Persecution of Jerome of Prague................................................................................................................107
Persecution of Zisca...................................................................................................................................109
CHAPTER IX. An Account of the Life and Persecutions of Martin Luther..........................................................117
CHAPTER X. General Persecutions in Germany...................................................................................................122
CHAPTER XI. An Account of the Persecutions in the Netherlands......................................................................126
CHAPTER XII. The Life and Story of the True Servant and Martyr of God, William Tyndale...........................129
CHAPTER XIII. An Account of the Life of John Calvin.......................................................................................134
Calvin as a Friend of Civil Liberty............................................................................................................136
CHAPTER XIV. An Account of the Persecutions in Great Britain and Ireland, Prior to the Reign of Queen
Mary I.....................................................................................................................................................................137
CHAPTER XV. An Account of the Persecutions in Scotland During the Reign of King Henry VIII...................142
An Account of the Life, Sufferings, and Death of Mr. George Wishart, Who Was Strangled and
Afterward Burned, in Scotland, for Professing the Truth of the Gospel..................................................144
CHAPTER XVI. Persecutions in England During the Reign of Queen Mary........................................................148
The Words and Behavior of the Lady Jane upon the Scaffold..................................................................150
John Rogers, Vicar of St. Sepulchre's, and Reader of St. Paul's, London.................................................150
The Rev. Lawrence Saunders.....................................................................................................................151
The History, Imprisonment, and Examination of Mr. John Hooper, Bishop of Worcester and
Gloucester.................................................................................................................................................153
The Life and Conduct of Dr. Rowland Taylor of Hadley..........................................................................155
Martyrdom of William Hunter...................................................................................................................158
Dr. Robert Farrar........................................................................................................................................158
Martyrdom of Rawlins White....................................................................................................................159
The Rev. George Marsh.............................................................................................................................160
William Flower..........................................................................................................................................161
The Rev. John Cardmaker and John Warne...............................................................................................162
John Simpson and John Ardeley................................................................................................................163
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Thomas Haukes, Thomas Watts, and Anne Askew...................................................................................163
Rev. John Bradford, and John Leaf, an Apprentice...................................................................................164
Rev. John Bland, Rev. John Frankesh, Nicholas Shetterden, and Humphrey Middleton..........................165
Dirick Carver and John Launder................................................................................................................165
John Denley, John Newman, and Patrick Packingham..............................................................................166
W. Coker, W. Hooper, H. Laurence, R. Colliar, R. Wright and W. Stere.................................................166
The Rev. Robert Samuel............................................................................................................................167
Bishop Ridley and Bishop Latimer............................................................................................................167
Mr. John Philpot.........................................................................................................................................171
John Lomas, Agnes Snoth, Anne Wright, Joan Sole, and Joan Catmer....................................................172
Archbishop Cranmer..................................................................................................................................172
The Vision of Three Ladders.....................................................................................................................178
Hugh Laverick and John Aprice................................................................................................................179
Preservation of George Crow and His Testament......................................................................................180
Executions at Stratford−le−Bow................................................................................................................180
Rev. Julius Palmer......................................................................................................................................181
Sir Richard: "How may that be?"...............................................................................................................181
Joan Waste and Others...............................................................................................................................182
Persecutions in the Diocese of Canterbury................................................................................................183
Rev. John Hullier.......................................................................................................................................185
Simon Miller and Elizabeth Cooper...........................................................................................................185
Executions at Colchester............................................................................................................................185
Mrs. Joyce Lewes.......................................................................................................................................186
Executions at Islington...............................................................................................................................187
"RICHARD ROTH."...............................................................................................................................................188
Mrs. Cicely Ormes.....................................................................................................................................189
Rev. John Rough........................................................................................................................................189
Cuthbert Symson........................................................................................................................................190
Thomas Hudson, Thomas Carman, and William Seamen.........................................................................191
The Story of Roger Holland.......................................................................................................................192
Flagellations by Bonner.............................................................................................................................193
Rev. Richard Yeoman................................................................................................................................193
Thomas Benbridge.....................................................................................................................................195
Mrs. Prest...................................................................................................................................................195
Richard Sharpe, Thomas Banion, and Thomas Hale.................................................................................198
J. Corneford, of Wortham; C. Browne, of Maidstone; J. Herst, of Ashford; Alice Snoth, and
Catharine Knight, an Aged Woman..........................................................................................................199
Deliverance of Dr. Sands...........................................................................................................................202
Queen Mary's Treatment of Her Sister, the Princess Elizabeth.................................................................204
God's Punishment upon Some of the Persecutors of His People in Mary's Reign....................................208
CHAPTER XVII. Rise and Progress of the Protestant Religion in Ireland; with an Account of the Barbarous
Massacre of 1641...................................................................................................................................................211
CHAPTER XVIII. The Rise, Progress, Persecutions, and Sufferings of the Quakers...........................................222
An Account of the Persecutions of Friends, Commonly Called Quakers, in the United States................226
The History of the Silver Child..................................................................................................................230
The Catholic Arms at Beaucaire................................................................................................................231
Massacre and Pillage at Nismes.................................................................................................................233
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Royal Decree in Favor of the Persecuted...................................................................................................234
Petition of the Protestant Refugees............................................................................................................235
Monstrous Outrage Upon Females............................................................................................................236
Further Account of the Proceedings of the Catholics at Nismes...............................................................236
Attack Upon the Protestant Churches........................................................................................................238
Murder of General La Garde......................................................................................................................238
Interference of the British Government.....................................................................................................240
Ultimate Resolution of the Proestants at Nismes.......................................................................................241
CHAPTER XIX. An Account of the Life and Persecutions of John Bunyan.........................................................242
CHAPTER XX. An Account of the Life of John Wesley.......................................................................................243
CHAPTER XXI. Persecutions of the French Protestants in the South of France, During the Years 1814 and
1820........................................................................................................................................................................244
CHAPTER XXII. The Beginnings of American Foreign Missions........................................................................244
The Persecution of Doctor Judson.............................................................................................................245
Removal of the Prisoners to Oung−pen−la−Mrs. Judson Follows Them..................................................250
Missionary Beginnings..............................................................................................................................256
Epilogue to the Original Edition................................................................................................................257
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Foxe's Book of Martyrs
John Foxe
This page copyright © 2001 Blackmask Online.
http://www.blackmask.com
• Edited by William Byron Forbush
• SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR
• I. St. Stephen
• II. James the Great
• III. Philip
• IV. Matthew
• V. James the Less
• VI. Matthias
• VII. Andrew
• VIII. St. Mark
• IX. Peter
• X. Paul
• XI. Jude
• XII. Bartholomew
• XIII. Thomas
• XIV. Luke
• XV. Simon
• XVI. John
• XVII. Barnabas
• CHAPTER I. History of Christian Martyrs to the First General Persecutions
• CHAPTER II. The Ten Primitive Persecutions
• The First Persecution, Under Nero, A.D. 67
• The Second Persecution, Under Domitian, A.D. 81
• The Third Persecution, Under Trajan, A.D. 108
• The Fourth Persecution, Under Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, A.D. 162
• The Fifth Persecution, Commencing with Severus, A.D. 192
• The Sixth Persecution, Under Maximus, A.D. 235
• The Seventh Persecution, Under Decius, A.D. 249
• The Eighth Persecution, Under Valerian, A.D. 257
• The Ninth Persecution Under Aurelian, A.D. 274
• The Tenth Persecution, Under Diocletian, A.D. 303
• CHAPTER III. Persecutions of the Christians in Persia
• Persecutions Under the Arian Heretics
• Persecution Under Julian the Apostate
• Persecution of the Christians by the Goths and Vandals.
• The Last Roman "Triumph"
• Persecutions from About the Middle of the Fifth, to the Conclusion of the Seventh Century
• Persecutions from the Early Part of the Eighth, to Near the Conclusion of the Tenth Century
• Persecutions in the Eleventh Century
Foxe's Book of Martyrs 1
Foxe's Book of Martyrs
• CHAPTER IV. Papal Persecutions
• Persecution of the Waldenses in France
• Persecutions of the Albigenses
• The Bartholomew Massacre at Paris, etc.
• From the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, to the French Revolution, in 1789
• Martyrdom of John Calas
• The Persecution of Dr. Aegidio
• The Persecution of Dr. Constantine
• The Life of William Gardiner
• The Story of Galileo
• Summary of the Inquisition
• Account of the Persecutions in the Valleys of Piedmont
• An Account of the Persecutions in Venice
• An Account of Several Remarkable Individuals, Who Were Martyred in Different Parts of Italy, on
Account of Their Religion
• An Account of the Persecutions in the Marquisate of Saluces
• An Account of the Persecutions in the Valleys of Piedmont, in the Seventeenth Century
• Further Persecutions in the Valleys of Piedmont, in the Seventeenth Century
• A Narrative of the Piedmontese War
• To the Obstinate Heretics Inhabiting Roras
• An Account of the Persecutions of Michael de Molinos, a Native of Spain
• CHAPTER V. An Account of the Inquisition
• CHAPTER VI. An Account of the Persecutions in Italy, Under the Papacy
• CHAPTER VII. An Account of the Life and Persecutions of John Wickliffe
• John Wickliffe
• CHAPTER VIII. An Account of the Persecutions in Bohemia Under the Papacy
• Persecution of John Huss
• Persecution of Jerome of Prague
• Persecution of Zisca
• CHAPTER IX. An Account of the Life and Persecutions of Martin Luther
• CHAPTER X. General Persecutions in Germany
• CHAPTER XI. An Account of the Persecutions in the Netherlands
• CHAPTER XII. The Life and Story of the True Servant and Martyr of God, William Tyndale
• CHAPTER XIII. An Account of the Life of John Calvin
• Calvin as a Friend of Civil Liberty
• CHAPTER XIV. An Account of the Persecutions in Great Britain and Ireland, Prior to the Reign of Queen
Mary I
• CHAPTER XV. An Account of the Persecutions in Scotland During the Reign of King Henry VIII
• An Account of the Life, Sufferings, and Death of Mr. George Wishart, Who Was Strangled and
Afterward Burned, in Scotland, for Professing the Truth of the Gospel
• CHAPTER XVI. Persecutions in England During the Reign of Queen Mary
Foxe's Book of Martyrs 2
Foxe's Book of Martyrs
• The Words and Behavior of the Lady Jane upon the Scaffold
• John Rogers, Vicar of St. Sepulchre's, and Reader of St. Paul's, London
• The Rev. Lawrence Saunders
• The History, Imprisonment, and Examination of Mr. John Hooper, Bishop of Worcester and Gloucester
• The Life and Conduct of Dr. Rowland Taylor of Hadley
• Martyrdom of William Hunter
• Dr. Robert Farrar
• Martyrdom of Rawlins White
• The Rev. George Marsh
• William Flower
• The Rev. John Cardmaker and John Warne
• John Simpson and John Ardeley
• Thomas Haukes, Thomas Watts, and Anne Askew
• Rev. John Bradford, and John Leaf, an Apprentice
• Rev. John Bland, Rev. John Frankesh, Nicholas Shetterden, and Humphrey Middleton
• Dirick Carver and John Launder
• John Denley, John Newman, and Patrick Packingham
• W. Coker, W. Hooper, H. Laurence, R. Colliar, R. Wright and W. Stere
• The Rev. Robert Samuel
• Bishop Ridley and Bishop Latimer
• Mr. John Philpot
• John Lomas, Agnes Snoth, Anne Wright, Joan Sole, and Joan Catmer
• Archbishop Cranmer
• The Vision of Three Ladders
• Hugh Laverick and John Aprice
• Preservation of George Crow and His Testament
• Executions at Stratford−le−Bow
• Rev. Julius Palmer
• Sir Richard: "How may that be?"
• Joan Waste and Others
• Persecutions in the Diocese of Canterbury
• Rev. John Hullier
• Simon Miller and Elizabeth Cooper
• Executions at Colchester
• Mrs. Joyce Lewes
• Executions at Islington
• "RICHARD ROTH."
• Mrs. Cicely Ormes
• Rev. John Rough
• Cuthbert Symson
• Thomas Hudson, Thomas Carman, and William Seamen
• The Story of Roger Holland
• Flagellations by Bonner
• Rev. Richard Yeoman
• Thomas Benbridge
• Mrs. Prest
• Richard Sharpe, Thomas Banion, and Thomas Hale
• J. Corneford, of Wortham; C. Browne, of Maidstone; J. Herst, of Ashford; Alice Snoth, and Catharine
Knight, an Aged Woman
Foxe's Book of Martyrs 3
Foxe's Book of Martyrs
• Deliverance of Dr. Sands
• Queen Mary's Treatment of Her Sister, the Princess Elizabeth
• God's Punishment upon Some of the Persecutors of His People in Mary's Reign
• CHAPTER XVII. Rise and Progress of the Protestant Religion in Ireland; with an Account of the Barbarous
Massacre of 1641
• CHAPTER XVIII. The Rise, Progress, Persecutions, and Sufferings of the Quakers
• An Account of the Persecutions of Friends, Commonly Called Quakers, in the United States
• The History of the Silver Child
• The Catholic Arms at Beaucaire
• Massacre and Pillage at Nismes
• Royal Decree in Favor of the Persecuted
• Petition of the Protestant Refugees
• Monstrous Outrage Upon Females
• Further Account of the Proceedings of the Catholics at Nismes
• Attack Upon the Protestant Churches
• Murder of General La Garde
• Interference of the British Government
• Ultimate Resolution of the Proestants at Nismes
• CHAPTER XIX. An Account of the Life and Persecutions of John Bunyan
• CHAPTER XX. An Account of the Life of John Wesley
• CHAPTER XXI. Persecutions of the French Protestants in the South of France, During the Years 1814 and
1820
• CHAPTER XXII. The Beginnings of American Foreign Missions
• The Persecution of Doctor Judson
• Removal of the Prisoners to Oung−pen−la−Mrs. Judson Follows Them
• Missionary Beginnings
• Epilogue to the Original Edition
ABOUT THE BOOK
Edited by William Byron Forbush
This is a book that will never die−one of the great English classics. Interesting as fiction, because it is written with
both passion and tenderness, it tells the dramatic story of some of the most thrilling periods in Christian history.
Reprinted here in its most complete form, it brings to life the days when "a noble army, men and boys, the matron
and the maid," "climbed the steep ascent of heaven, 'mid peril, toil, and pain."
"After the Bible itself, no book so profoundly influenced early Protestant sentiment as the Book of Martyrs. Even
in our time it is still a living force. It is more than a record of persecution. It is an arsenal of controversy, a
storehouse of romance, as well as a source of edification."
• James Miller Dodds, English Prose.
John Foxe 4
Foxe's Book of Martyrs
FOX'S BOOK OF MARTYRS
A HISTORY OF THE LIVES, SUFFERINGS AND TRIUMPHANT DEATHS OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN
AND THE PROTESTANT MARTYRS
"When one recollects that until the appearance of the Pilgrim's Progress the common people had almost no other
reading matter except the Bible and Fox's Book of Martyrs, we can understand the deep impression that this book
produced; and how it served to mold the national character. Those who could read for themselves learned the full
details of all the atrocities performed on the Protestant reformers; the illiterate could see the rude illustrations of
the various instruments of torture, the rack, the gridiron, the boiling oil, and then the holy ones breathing out
their souls amid the flames. Take a people just awakening to a new intellectual and religious life; let several
generations of them, from childhood to old age, pore over such a book, and its stories become traditions as
individual and almost as potent as songs and customs on a nation's life."
• Douglas Campbell, "The Puritan in Holland, England, and America"
"If we divest the book of its accidental character of feud between churches, it yet stands, in the first years of
Elizabeth's reign, a monument that marks the growing strength of a desire for spiritual freedom, defiance of those
forms that seek to stifle conscience and fetter thought."
• Henry Morley, "English Writers"
"After the Bible itself, no book so profoundly inflienced early Protestant sentiment as the Book of Martyrs. Even
in our own time it is still a living force. It is more than a record of persecution. It is an arsenal of controversy, a
storehouse of romance, as well as a source of edification."
• James Miller Dodds, "English Prose"
SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR
John Fox (or Foxe) was born at Boston, in Lincolnshire, in 1517, where his parents are stated to have lived in
respectable circumstances. He was deprived of his father at an early age; and notwithstanding his mother soon
married again, he still remained under the parental roof. From an early display of talents and inclination to
learning, his friends were induced to send him to Oxford, in order to cultivate and bring them to maturity.
During his residence at this place, he was distinguished for the excellence and acuteness of his intellect, which
was improved by the emulation of his fellow collegians, united to an indefatigable zeal and industry on his part.
These qualities soon gained him the admiration of all; and as a reward for his exertions and amiable conduct, he
was chosen fellow of Magdalen College; which was accounted a great honor in the university, and seldom
bestowed unless in cases of great distinction. It appears that the first display of his genius was in poetry; and that
he composed some Latin comedies, which are still extant. But he soon directed his thoughts to a more serious
subject, the study of the sacred Scriptures: to divinity, indeed, he applied himself with more fervency than
circumspection, and discovered his partiality to the Reformation, which had then commenced, before he was
known to its supporters, or to those who protected them; a circumstance which proved to him the source of his
first troubles.
He is said to have often affirmed that the first matter which occasioned his search into the popish doctrine was
that he saw divers things, most repugnant in their nature to one another, forced upon men at the same time; upon
this foundation his resolution and intended obedience to that Church were somewhat shaken, and by degrees a
dislike to the rest took place.
Edited by William Byron Forbush 5