Foxe  (fŏks)  English martyrologist who wrote The Book of Martyrs (1563), an account of Protestant martyrs during the reign of Mary I. |
Foxe, John
English Puritan preacher and author of The Book of Martyrs, a graphic and polemic account of those who suffered for the cause of Protestantism. Widely read, often the most valued book beside the Bible in the households of English Puritans, it helped shape popular opinion about Roman Catholicism for at least a century. The feeling of the English populace against Spain, important in the politics of the age, was fanned by the book's description of the Inquisition. It dealt chiefly, however, with the martyrdom of English Protestants from the 14th century through the reign of Queen Mary I in Foxe's own time.
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