Description
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. Since the English monarchs also asserted control over the Church in England, a change in rulers could change the legal status of religious practices. As a consequence, adherents of one religion risked judicial execution by the State depending on the attitudes of the rulers. During Mary's reign, common people of Christian faith were publicly burned at the stake in an attempt to eliminate dissension from Catholic doctrines.
Foxe's account of Mary's reign and the martyrdoms that took place during it contributed very significantly to the belief in a distinction from the Roman Catholic Church and the Pope as a central aspect of English national identity. By compiling his record, Foxe intended to demonstrate a historical justification for the foundation of the Church of England as a contemporary embodiment of the true and faithful church, rather than as a newly established Christian denomination.
About the Author
John Foxe (1516-1587), born at Boston, Lincolnshire, England, was a devout and scholarly boy. He attended Brasenose College, Oxford and then Magdalen College where he held a fellowship for seven years. While a student, Foxe became known for his scholarly wisdom and piety and could have led a quiet and successful life; becoming aware of certain spiritual truths, however, Foxe embraced Protestantism. In 1545, he resigned his fellowship at the university and become a tutor for the Lucy family of Warwickshire. Shortly thereafter, he married Agnes Randall of Conventry. John Foxe worked for the Reformation, writing tracts and beginning his famous history of the persecutions and martyrdoms in England from John Wycliffe through the early 1500s. When staunch Roman Catholic Queen Mary took the throne in 1553, Foxe and his family fled England for the continent in fear for their lives. There he continued working on his manuscript, which was eventually published in 1563 as The Acts and Monuments of These Latter and Perilous Days. Foxe continued laboring on his work until his death in 1587.