Internet Shakespeare Editions

About this text

  • Title: The Book of Martyrs (Selection (Old Spelling))
  • Editors: Michael Best, David G. Newcombe, Michael Pidd

  • Copyright Sheffield University. This text may be freely used for educational, non-profit purposes; for all other uses contact the Editor.
    Author: John Foxe
    Editors: Michael Best, David G. Newcombe, Michael Pidd
    Not Peer Reviewed

    The Book of Martyrs (Selection (Old Spelling))

    The Book of Martyrs

    1A profoundly influential book in the protestant cause, John Foxe's Acts and Monuments, more readily known as the Book of Martyrs, was first published in English in 1563 as a large folio volume, and was reprinted frequently thereafter. The current transcription comes from the edition of 1570, and is reproduced here with permission from the John Foxe Project, Humanities Research Institute, University of Sheffield. Shakespeare was clearly familiar with the narrative Foxe provides of the dispute between King John and Pope Innocent III.