John Foxe
John Foxe | |
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Puritan |
John Foxe (1516
Education
Foxe was born in
Foxe took his bachelor's degree on 17 July 1537, his master's degree in July 1543, and was
Resignation from Oxford
Foxe resigned from his college in 1545 after becoming a Protestant and thereby subscribing to beliefs condemned by the
After being forced to abandon what might have been a promising academic career, Foxe experienced a period of dire need.
London under Edward VI
Foxe's prospects, and those of the Protestant cause generally, improved after the accession of
Foxe was ordained deacon by
Marian exile
On the accession of
In the autumn of 1554, Foxe moved to Frankfurt, where he served as a preacher for the English church ministering to refugees in the city. There he was unwillingly drawn into a
Moving to Basel, Foxe worked with his fellow countrymen John Bale and Lawrence Humphrey at the drudgery of proofreading. (Educated Englishmen were noted for their learning, industry and honesty and "would also be the last persons to quarrel with their bread and butter." No knowledge of German or French was required because the English tended to socialise with one another and could communicate with scholars in Latin.)[29] Foxe also completed and had printed a religious drama, Christus Triumphans (1556), in Latin verse. Yet despite receiving occasional financial contributions from English merchants on the continent, Foxe seems to have lived very close to the margin and been "wretchedly poor."[30]
When Foxe received reports from England about the ongoing religious persecution there, he wrote a pamphlet urging the English nobility to use their influence with the queen to halt it. Foxe feared that the appeal would be useless, and his fears proved correct.
Return to England
After the death of Mary I in 1558, Foxe was in no hurry to return home, and he waited to see if religious changes instituted by her successor,
Foxe was ordained a priest by his friend Edmund Grindal, now Bishop of London, but he "was something of a puritan, and like many of the exiles, had scruples about wearing the clerical vestments laid down in the queen's injunctions of 1559." Many of his friends eventually conformed, but Foxe was "more stubborn or single-minded." Some tried to find him preferments in the new regime, but it "was not easy to help a man of so singularly unworldly a nature, who scorned to use his powerful friendships to advance himself."[35]
Actes and Monuments
Latin editions
Foxe began his Book of Martyrs in 1552, during the reign of Edward VI, with the
As word of the contemporary English persecution made its way to the continent, Foxe began to collect materials to continue his story to the present. He published the first true Latin edition of his famous book at Basel in August 1559.[36][37] Of course, it was difficult to write contemporary English history while living (as he later said) "in the far parts of Germany, where few friends, no conference, [and] small information could be had."[38] But Foxe, who had left England poor and unknown, returned only poor. He had gained "a substantial reputation" through his Latin work.[19]
First edition
On 20 March 1563, Foxe published the first English edition of the Actes and Monuments from the press of John Day.[39] It was a "gigantic folio volume" of about 1800 pages, about three times the length of the 1559 Latin book.[40] As is typical for the period, the full title was a paragraph long and is abbreviated by scholars as Acts and Monuments,[41] although the book was popularly known then, as it is now, as Foxe's Book of Martyrs. Publication of the book made Foxe instantly famous – "England's first literary celebrity" – although because there were then no royalties, Foxe remained as poor as ever although the book sold for more than ten shillings, three weeks' pay for a skilled craftsman.[19][42] This publication would then go on to become the second most popular book written in English, after the Bible.[43]
Second edition
Actes and Monuments was immediately attacked by Catholics such as
Intending to strengthen his book against his critics, and being flooded by new material brought to light by the publication of the first edition,[46] Foxe put together a second edition in 1570 and where the charges of his critics had been reasonably accurate, Foxe removed the offending passages. Where he could rebut the charges, "he mounted a vigorous counter-attack, seeking to crush his opponent under piles of documents."[47] Even though he deleted material that had been included in the first edition, the second edition was nearly double the size of the first, "two gigantic folio volumes, with 2300 very large pages" of double-columned text.[48]
The edition was well received by the English church, and the upper house of the convocation of Canterbury meeting in 1571, ordered that a copy of the
Third and fourth editions
Foxe published a third edition in 1576, but it was virtually a reprint of the second, although printed on inferior paper and in smaller type.[50] The fourth edition, published in 1583, the last in Foxe's lifetime, had larger type and better paper and consisted of "two volumes of about two thousand folio pages in double columns." Nearly four times the length of the Bible, the fourth edition was "the most physically imposing, complicated, and technically demanding English book of its era. It seems safe to say that it is the largest and most complicated book to appear during the first two or three centuries of English printing history."[51] The title page included the poignant request that the author "desireth thee, good reader, to help him with thy prayer."[52]
Accuracy
Foxe based his accounts of martyrs before the early modern period on previous writers, including
Foxe's material is more accurate when he deals with his own period, although it is selectively presented, and the book is not an impartial account. Sometimes Foxe copied documents verbatim; sometimes he adapted them to his own use. Foxe's method of using his sources "proclaims the honest man, the sincere seeker after truth."[54]
Foxe often treated his material casually, and any reader "must be prepared to meet plenty of small errors and inconsistencies."[55] Furthermore, Foxe did not hold to later notions of neutrality or objectivity. He made unambiguous side glosses on his text, such as "Mark the apish pageants of these popelings" and "This answer smelleth of forging and crafty packing",[56] as Foxe's age was one of strong language as well as of cruel deeds.[57] The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica went so far as to accuse Foxe of "wilful falsification of evidence."[58] Nevertheless, Foxe is "factually detailed and preserves much firsthand material on the English Reformation unobtainable elsewhere."[59] According to J. F. Mozley, Foxe presented "lifelike and vivid pictures of the manners and feelings of the day, full of details that could never have been invented by a forger."[60]
Life under Elizabeth I
Salisbury and London
Foxe had dedicated Acts and Monuments to the queen,
By 1565, Foxe had been caught up in the
At some point before 1569, Foxe left
In 1570, at the request of
In 1571, Foxe edited an edition of the Anglo-Saxon gospels, in parallel with the Bishops' Bible translation, under the patronage of Archbishop Parker, who was interested in Anglo-Saxon and whose chaplain, John Jocelyn was an Anglo-Saxon scholar. Foxe's introduction argues that the vernacular scripture was an ancient custom in England.[69]
Death and legacy
Foxe died on 18 April 1587 and was buried at St. Giles's, Cripplegate. His widow, Agnes, probably died in 1605. Foxe's son, Samuel Foxe (1560–1630) prospered after his father's death and "accumulated a substantial estate." Fortunately for posterity, he also preserved his father's manuscripts, and they are now in the British Library.
Personality
Foxe was so bookish that he ruined his health by his persistent study.
Certainly, Foxe had a hatred of cruelty in advance of his age. When a number of
John Day's son Richard, who knew Foxe well, described him in 1607 as an "excellent man... exceeding laborious in his pen... his learning inferior to none of his age and time; for his integrity of life a bright light to as many as knew him, beheld him, and lived with him" [75] Foxe's funeral was accompanied "by crowds of mourners".[76]
Historical reputation
After his death, Foxe's Acts and Monuments continued to be published and appreciatively read. John Burrow refers to it as, after the Bible, "the greatest single influence on English Protestant thinking of the late Tudor and early Stuart period."[77]
By the end of the 17th century, however, the work tended to be abbreviated to include only "the most sensational episodes of torture and death", thus giving to Foxe's work "a lurid quality which was certainly far from the author's intention."
It was not until J. F. Mozley published John Foxe and His Book, in 1940. that Foxe's rehabilitation as a historian began, initiating a controversy that has continued to the present.[81] Recent renewed interest in Foxe as a seminal figure in early modern studies created a demand for a new critical edition of the Actes and Monuments: Foxe's Book of Martyrs Variorum Edition.
In the words of Thomas S. Freeman, one of the most important living Foxe scholars, "current scholarship has formed a more complex and nuanced estimate of the accuracy of Acts and Monuments.... Perhaps [Foxe] may be most profitably seen in the same light as a barrister pleading a case for a client he knows to be innocent and whom he is determined to save. Like the hypothetical barrister, Foxe had to deal with the evidence of what actually happened, evidence that he was rarely in a position to forge. But he would not present facts damaging to his client, and he had the skills that enabled him to arrange the evidence so as to make it conform to what he wanted it to say. Like the barrister, Foxe presents crucial evidence and tells one side of a story which must be heard. But he should never be read uncritically, and his partisan objectives should always be kept in mind."[82]
See also
References
- ^ Maitland (Rev.), S.R. (1841). Notes on the Contributions of the Rev. George Townsend, M.A. Prebendary of Durham &c. to the new edition of Fox's Martyrology. Vol. 1. pp. 8–10.
- ^ "The patent of arms granted in 1590 to the family of John Foxe, and first printed by Maitland from a copy of 1692 in the college of arms, gives his birth year as 1516, and the date may have been supplied by [his own son] Samuel. But Samuel is very inaccurate in such matters; his diary misdates important happenings in his own life; and [his other son] Simeon's statement is too precise to be disregarded." Mozley, 12.
- ^ Foxe, Samuel (attrib.) (1641). Life of Mr John Foxe, in vol.2 of 1641 ed. of Actes and Monuments. pp. xxi–xxiv.
- ^ William Haller, Foxe's First Book of Martyrs and the Elect Nation (London: Jonathan Cape, 1963) argues that Actes and Monuments is a complex book, portraying the English church as a body of elect, whose history of suffering and dedication to the faith echo the history of Israel in the Old Testament.
- ^ In 1551, one Henry Foxe, a merchant and possible relative, became mayor of that town.
- ^ J. F. Mozley, John Foxe and His Book (New York: Macmillan Company, 1940), p. 13. After work when boys went out to play, "John would stay behind; and when search was made, he was found in church (sacro) at his prayers or deep in a book."
- dean of St Paul's Cathedral.
- ^ Foxe wrote several Latin plays on biblical subjects, of which the best, De Christo triumphante or Christus triumphans, an allegorical verse drama on the history of the church, was printed in London in 1551 and by Oporinus in Basel in March 1556. It was performed at Cambridge and probably Oxford in the 1560s. The play was translated into French in 1562 and English in 1579. The latter translation was produced by Richard Day, son of the printer, John Day or Daye, who published Foxe's Actes and Monuments. Foxe's earliest extant literary creation is Titus et Gesippus (written in 1544), a Latin comedy based on Boccaccio.
- ^ Mozley, p. 18.
- ^ Mozley, p. 20.
- Laurence Humphrey, Thomas Cooper, and Robert Crowley.
- Lansdowne MS.388, fols. 80v, 117r.
- ^ There exists in Foxe's papers a draft of a letter to Owen Oglethorpe, president of Magdalen, in which Foxe protests against the charges of irreverence and of belonging to a new religion, which were brought against him by some of the college's masters, who are not named by Foxe (BL, Lansdowne MS 388, folios 53r–58r). Foxe says these masters persecuted other fellows, including Thomas Cooper, later Bishop of Lincoln and Winchester under Elizabeth, and Robert Crowley, a lifelong friend and associate of Foxe, who also left the college at that time. Foxe's letter is printed in Pratt's edition (vol. i. Appendix, pp. 58–61); see also J. F. Mozley, John Foxe and His Book (New York: Macmillan Company, 1940).
- ^ Mozley, p. 21.
- ^ Thomas S. Freeman, "Foxe, John", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004). The reasons for Foxe's departure from the Lucys are unknown. According to a short remembrance written by Simeon Foxe in 1611 and appended to the 1641 Actes and Monuments, Foxe stayed with the Randalls in Coventry before returning to his parents in Coningsby.
- ^ John H. King, ed., Foxe's Book of Martyrs: Select Narratives (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), p. xvii.
- ^ One sermon was by Martin Luther ESTC 16983 and another by Urbannus Regius: An Instruction of the Christian Faith (ESTC 120847).
- ^ Surrey's father, Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk was at that time imprisoned in the Tower of London.
- ^ a b c d e f .
- ^ Freeman, brief on-line biography of Foxe. Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Mozley, pp. 31–36.
- ^ Foxe, Samuel (attrib.) (1641). Joannis Foxii Vitii, in vol.2 of 1641 ed. of Actes and Monuments.
- ^ Mozley, p. 41.
- ^ Encyclopedia Britannica 11th edition. Vol. 10. 1910. pp. 770–771.
- Savonarola and Reginald Pecock. It was printed in Strasbourg by Wendelin Richeliuswith the title of Commentarii rerum in ecclesia gestarum.
- OCLC 839388930.
- ^ Mozley, pp. 44–46. The prayer book faction reported Knox as having written treason against the Emperor, and they also persuaded the city magistrates to enforce the Prayer Book service on the English church.
- ^ Mozley, 46.
- St. John Chrysostom's works.
- ^ Mozley, p. 51.
- ^ The pamphlet, Ad inclytos ad praepotentes Angliae proceres... supplicatio (1557) was issued from the press of Oporinus.
- ^ Mozley, p. 58.
- ^ Mozley, p. 61.
- ^ Mozley, p. 62. Howard retained sincere affection for his tutor and left him a small pension in his will years later when Norfolk was executed for treason.
- ^ Mozley, p. 63.
- ^ Mozley, 118–123.
- ^ Fox J (1559) Rerum in ecclesia gestarum... pars prima, in qua primum de rebus per Angliam et Scotiam gestis atque in primis de horrenda sub Maria nuper regina persecutione narratio continetur, at google books at 08 August 2018. Or for free download from the Bavarian State Library.
- ^ Mozley, 124.
- ^ Day's epitaph reads: "He set a Foxe to write how martyrs run/By death to life. Foxe ventured pains and health/To give them light: Daye spent in print his wealth,/And God with gain restored his wealth again,/ And gave to him as he gave to the poor." (Mozley, p. 138)
- ^ Mozley, p. 129.
- ^ The full title is "Actes and Monuments of these latter and perilous days, touching matters of the Church, wherein are comprehended and described the great persecutions and horrible troubles that have been wrought and practised by the Romish prelates, specially in this realm of England and Scotland, from the year of our Lord 1000 unto the time now present; gathered and collected according to the true copies and writings certificatory, as well of the parties themselves that suffered, as also out of the bishops' registers, which were the doers thereof; by John Foxe."
- ^ Mozley, p. 130; David Loades, "The Early Reception" Archived 17 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
- OCLC 839388930.
- ^ Harpsfield, a former archdeacon of Canterbury under Mary I, wrote under the name of Alan Cope, Dialogi sex, contra summi pontificatus, monasticae vitae, sanctorum, sacrarum imaginum oppugnatores, et pseudomartyres (1566), a thousand-page book, with the sixth dialogue aimed at Foxe. Mozley, p. 139.
- ^ Mozley, p. 138.
- ^ "[P]ersonal testimonies poured in on Foxe without solicitation as people sought to exonerate themselves and accuse or eulogize others." Freeman, ODNB.
- ^ Freeman, ODNB: "In short, Foxe reacted to Harpsfield's challenge like the commander of a besieged city, abandoning what could not be defended and fortifying what could. Harpsfield drove Foxe to more intensive and extensive research and made his martyrology a more impressive, although not necessarily more accurate, work of scholarship."
- ^ Mozley, p. 141.
- ^ Mozley, p. 147.
- ^ Mozley, pp. 148–49.
- ^ John N. King, Foxe's Book of Martyrs: Select Narratives (Oxford University Press, 2009), p. xli.
- ^ Mozley, pp. 149–50.
- OCLC 839388930.
- ^ Mozley, 168. "What the intent and custom is of the papists to do, I cannot tell: for mine own I will say, although many other vices I have, yet from this one I have always of nature abhorred, wittingly to deceive any man or child, so near as I could, much less the church of God, whom I with all my heart do reverence, and with fear obey." A&M, 3, p. 393.
- ^ Mozley, p. 155.
- ^ Mozley, p. 157.
- ^ Mozley, 158.
- ^ "John Foxe", 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.
- ^ 2009 Encyclopædia Britannica.
- ^ Mozley, p. 168.
- Constantine. The dedication was dropped after 1563.
- ^ Mozley, 67.
- ^ Mozley, p. 69.
- ^ Magdalene College, Cambridge, Pepys Library, "Papers of state", 2.701.
- ^ Mozley, p. 75. Mozley says that the registers show that Foxe was never officially vicar of St. Giles.
- ^ Mozley, p. 84. Norfolk left Foxe twenty pounds a year.
- ^ STC 11242.
- ^ Mozley, 93–94.
- ^ Mozley, 80–81. "Anglo-Saxon studies were patronized by Archbishop Parker in the hope that they would demonstrate that the Church in England had always been independent of Rome. It was a preoccupation analogous to aspects of French Gallicanism." John Burrow, A History of Histories. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2008, p. 295.
- ^ Mozley, pp. 95–96.
- ^ Mozley, 96, 100–01.
- ^ Mozley, 101–02.
- ^ Mozley, pp. 96 and 105–07. Foxe had to stop the sick from being carried to him for healing.
- ^ Mozley, pp. 86–89.
- ^ Mozley, 240–41.
- ^ Mozley, p. 240
- ^ John Burrow, A History of Histories (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2008), p. 296.
- ^ Freeman, ODNB. Maitland, Six letters on Foxe's Acts and Monuments (1837).
- ^ D. Trenow, "The Credibility of John Foxe, the 'martyrologist' (1868), quoted in Freeman, ODNB.
- ^ David Loades, "The Maitland Controversy"
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/10050. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ Freeman, ODNB.
- Freeman, Thomas S. (2004) "Foxe, John," Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
- Haller, William (1963) Foxe's First Book of Martyrs and the Elect Nation. London: Jonathan Cape
- MacLure, Millar (comp.) (1989) Register of Sermons Preached at Paul's Cross1534–1642; revised and expanded by Peter Pauls and Jackson Campbell Boswell. Ottawa: Dovehouse Editions
- Mozley, J. F. (1940) John Foxe and His Book. London: SPCK
- The "Critical apparatus and additional material" of the Foxe's Book of Martyrs Variorum Edition includes a score of interpretative essays about Foxe and the Book of Martyrs.
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Foxe, John". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 10 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 770–771. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
Further reading
- Thornton, Wallace (2013) John Foxe and His Monument: A Theological-Historical Perspective (Aldersgate Heritage Press: Birmingham, AL)
External links
- Works by John Foxe at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about John Foxe at Internet Archive
- Works by John Foxe at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
- Works by John Foxe at Open Library
- Works by John Foxe at Post-Reformation Digital Library
- Foxe's Book of Martyrs (Actes and Monuments) Variorum Edition Online, from the Humanities Research Institute of The University of Sheffield
- Thomas Freeman, John Foxe: A Biography
- Complete e-book at Christian Classics Ethereal Library
- John Foxe Christ Crucified 1575