Foxe, John 1516-87
English martyrologist

Born in Boston, Lincolnshire, he entered Brasenose College, Oxford, at the age of 16, and became a Fellow of Magdalen College (1538-45). During the reign of Mary I, Tudor he lived on the Continent, where he met John Knox, Edmund Grindal (1519-83) and Whittingham. On Elizabeth I's accession he received a pension and a prebend of Salisbury (1563), but lived chiefly in London. He published numerous controversial treatises and sermons, besides an apocalyptic Latin mystery play called Christus Triumphans (1556). His best known work is History of the Acts and Monuments of the Church, popularly known as Foxe's Book of Martyrs, the first part of which was published in Latin at Strasbourg in 1554 (trans 1563).