Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Question from Sarah - John Foxe and the Book of Martyrs

Did John Foxe write the Book of Martyrs by himself, or was he more of a compiler and editor?

1 comment:

PhD Historian said...

I would call him a compiler and editor. I have rummaged through some of his surviving papers at the British Library, and from them it is clear that people sent him a wide variety of accounts and stories that he then edited and put together to create his book(s). He did completely rewrite some of those submissions, but others he seems to have repeated verbatim. Certainly the accounts of various theological debates were repeated verbatim, for example. And he no doubt also wrote some himself.