Islam, the Turks and the Making of the English Reformation: The History of the Ottoman Empire in John Foxe’s «Acts and Monuments»

466 Pages·2016·4.367 MB·English

by  Christopher Toenjes

s
e
j
n
e
o
T
r
e
h
p Christopher Toenjes
o
t
Christopher Toenjes s
i
r
h
Islam, the Turks and the Making C Islam, the Turks
of the English Reformation n
o and the Making of the
i
John Foxe wrote the first English history of main theme of his ecclesiastical history, t
a
the Ottoman Empire in his magnum opus, shedding new light on the established m
The Acts and Monuments. He exceeds notions of his historiographic methodol- English Reformation
r
contemporary representations in his ogy and his perception of Catholicism as o
f
extremely negative image of Islam and the the greatest enemy of “true religion”. e
“Turks,” who are identified as Antichrist R
and the epitome of wickedness. By juxta- h The History of the Ottoman Empire
posing Foxe’s work with that of his sources, The Author s
i
fascinating conclusions can be drawn. The Christopher Toenjes is a teaching assistant gl in John Foxe’s Acts and Monuments
author analyzes the factors prompting at the Department of Early Modern His- n
Foxe to insert a lengthy digression on a tory, Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg E
topic that does not directly concern the (Germany). e
h
t
f
o
g
n
i
k
a
M
e
h
t
d
n
a
s
k
r
u
T
e
h
t
,
m
a
l
s
I
ISBN 978-3-631-66931-0
s
e
j
n
e
o
T
r
e
h
p Christopher Toenjes
o
t
Christopher Toenjes s
i
r
h
Islam, the Turks and the Making C Islam, the Turks
of the English Reformation n
o and the Making of the
i
John Foxe wrote the first English history of main theme of his ecclesiastical history, t
a
the Ottoman Empire in his magnum opus, shedding new light on the established m
The Acts and Monuments. He exceeds notions of his historiographic methodol- English Reformation
r
contemporary representations in his ogy and his perception of Catholicism as o
f
extremely negative image of Islam and the the greatest enemy of “true religion”. e
“Turks,” who are identified as Antichrist R
and the epitome of wickedness. By juxta- h The History of the Ottoman Empire
posing Foxe’s work with that of his sources, The Author s
i
fascinating conclusions can be drawn. The Christopher Toenjes is a teaching assistant gl in John Foxe’s Acts and Monuments
author analyzes the factors prompting at the Department of Early Modern His- n
Foxe to insert a lengthy digression on a tory, Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg E
topic that does not directly concern the (Germany). e
h
t
f
o
g
n
i
k
a
M
e
h
t
d
n
a
s
k
r
u
T
e
h
t
,
m
a
l
s
I
Islam, the Turks and the Making of the English Reformation

Christopher Toenjes

Islam, the Turks
and the Making of
the English Reformation

The History of the Ottoman Empire
in John Foxe’s Acts and Monuments
Bibliographic Information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibli-
ografie; detailed bibliographic data is available in the internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de.

Zugl.: Freiburg (Breisgau), Univ., Diss., 2015

Cover illustration:
Crucifix mocked by Turks following the conquest of Constantinople, from The Book of
Martyrs : A Complete and Authentic Account of the Lives, Sufferings, and Triumphant
Deaths of the Primitive and ProtestantMartyrs. By John Foxe, Glasgow 1871, 32.
Kind thanks to John Wade.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Toenjes, Christopher, 1979- author.
Title: Islam, the Turks and the making of the English Reformation : the
history of the Ottoman Empire in John Foxe's Acts and monuments /
Christopher Toenjes.
Description: 1 [edition]. | New York : Peter Lang, 2016.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016005558 | ISBN 9783631669310
Subjects: LCSH: Foxe, John, 1516-1587. Actes and monuments. |
Martyrologies–History and criticism. | Church history–Historiography. |
Turkey–History–Ottoman Empire, 1288-1918.
Classification: LCC BR1609 .T64 2016 | DDC 272/.6–dc23 LC record available at
http://lccn.loc.gov/2016005558

D 25
ISBN 978-3-631-66931-0 (Print)
E-ISBN 978-3-653-06704-0 (E-Book)
DOI 10.3726/978-3-653-06704-0
© Peter Lang GmbH
Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften
Frankfurt am Main 2016
All rights reserved.
Peter Lang Edition is an Imprint of Peter Lang GmbH.
Peter Lang – Frankfurt am Main ∙ Bern ∙ Bruxelles ∙ New York ∙
Oxford ∙ Warszawa ∙ Wien
All parts of this publication are protected by copyright. Any
utilisation outside the strict limits of the copyright law, without
the permission of the publisher, is forbidden and liable to
prosecution. This applies in particular to reproductions,
translations, microfilming, and storage and processing in
electronic retrieval systems.
This publication has been peer reviewed.
www.peterlang.com
Contents
Acknowledgements ................................................................................................xi
Abbreviations ........................................................................................................xiii
Preface ........................................................................................................................xv
Introduction ...............................................................................................................1
1. Using and Abusing the Turkish Threat .....................................................21
2. Revealed History ............................................................................................103
3. Descriptions of the Turks and Their Religion .....................................207
4. The “feare of the Turke” ...............................................................................311
Conclusion ............................................................................................................387
Appendices ............................................................................................................393
Bibliography ..........................................................................................................401
Index ........................................................................................................................441
v

Index of Figures
Figure 1: Portrait of John Foxe .....................................................................................4
Figure 2: Vienna ..........................................................................................................52
Figure 3: Siege of Vienna ............................................................................................56
Figure 4: Title page of The Actes and Monumentes, 1570 edition ......................115
Figure 5: “Tamburlaine, the great” ..........................................................................198
Figure 6: Title page of first first printed Latin edition of the Qur’an ..................217
Figure 7: Ottoman Turks ..........................................................................................251
Figure 8: Murder of “Achmat” by Selim I’s henchmen .........................................282
Figure 9: “The Martyrdome of a Christian Jewe in Constantinople” .................286
vii