The information listed on this site has been excerpted from Foxe’s Book of Martyrs.
It is a cursory look at some of the names and stories mentioned throughout his book.
Some have asked, “Why are you posting this information?” My reply is simple. These stories are a megaphone, which echo the truth found in the Bible... the truth about saving faith. Saving faith is not mere intellectual assent. Saving faith is the heartfelt conviction, not only that God is dependable, but also that he is desirable!
It is the radical belief that if you sell all you have, abandon everything the world promises, and forsake all sinful pleasures, THE HIDDEN TREASURE OF HOLY JOY WILL SATISFY YOUR DEEPEST DESIRES. In the most quiet way, these people bellow to us today that GOD IS MORE TO BE DESIRED THAN ALL THE WORLD!! This link is not a record of pitiful stories of the persecuted, rather it is a storehouse of romance. I hope these martyrs will encourage you to remember the truth that ONLY GOD SATISFIES. May you trust him, cherish him, follow him… regardless of the cost.

Martyr Page Index

“they took a pious Protestant minister… they placed him amidst them, and made him the subject of their derision and mockery, during a whole day’s entertainment, trying to exhaust his patience, but in vain, for he bore the whole with Christian fortitude.
They spit in his face, pulled his nose, and pinched him in most parts of his body. He was hunted like a wild beast, until ready to expire with fatigue. They made him run the gauntlet between two ranks of them, each striking him with sticks. He was beat with their fists. He was beat with ropes. They scourged him with wires. He was beat with cudgels (short, heavy clubs). They tied him up by the heels with his head downwards, until the blood started out his nose and mouth. They hung him by the right arm until it was dislocated, and then had it set again. The same was repeated with his left arm. Burning papers dipped in oil were placed between his fingers and toes. His flesh was torn with red-hot pincers. He was put on the rack. They pulled off the nails of his right hand. The same was repeated with his left hand. He was bastinadoed (beaten with sticks) on his feet. A slit was made in his right ear. The same repeated on his left ear. His nose was slit. They whipped him through the town on a donkey. They made several incisions in his flesh. They pulled off the toe nails of his right and left foot. He was tied up by the loins, and suspended for a considerable time. The teeth of his upper and lower jaw were pulled out. Boiling lead was poured upon his fingers and toes. A knotted cord was twisted about his forehead is such a manner as to force out his eyes.

During the whole of these horrid cruelties, particular care was taken that his wounds should not mortify, and not to injure him mortally until the last day, when the forcing out of his eyes proved his death.” (Foxe, 152-153)

“The cruelties used by the imperial troops…are thus enumerated.
Half strangling, and recovering the persons again repeatedly. Rolling sharp wheels over the fingers and toes. Pinching the thumbs in a vice. Forcing the most filthy things down the throat, by which many were choked. Tying cords around the head so tightly that the blood gushed out of the eyes, nose, ears, and mouth. Fastening burning matches to the fingers, toes, ears, arms, and legs, and even the tongue. Putting powder in the mouth and setting fire to it, by which the person was blown up. Drawing cords backwards and forwards through the fleshy parts. Making incisions with bodkins and knives in the skin. Running wires through the nose, ears, lips, etc. Hanging Protestants up by the legs, with their heads over a fire, by which they were smoke dried. Hanging up by one arm until it was dislocated. Hanging upon hooks by the ribs. Forcing people to drink until they burst. Baking many in hot ovens. Fixing weights to the feet, and drawing up several with pulleys. Hanging, stifling, roasting, stabbing, frying, racking, ravishing (raping), ripping open, breaking the bones, rasping off the flesh, tearing with wild horses, drowning, strangling, burning, broiling, crucifying, immuring, poisoning, cutting off tongues, noses, ears, etc., sawing off the limbs, hacking to pieces, and drawing by the heels through the streets.” (Foxe, 169)

“Many others were put to deaths of the most horrid nature, and such as could have been invented only by demons instead of men. Some of them were laid with the center of their backs on the axletree of a carriage, with their legs resting on the ground on one side, and their arms and head on the other. In this position, one of the savages scourged the wretched object on the thighs, legs, etc., while another set on furious dogs, who tore to pieces the arms and upper parts of the body; and in this dreadful manner were they deprived of their existence. Great numbers were fastened to horse tails, and the beasts being set on full gallop by their riders, the wretched victims were dragged along until they expired. Others were hung on lofty gibbets, and a fire being kindled under them, they finished their lives, partly by hanging, and partly by suffocation.

Such was the savage ferocity of these barbarians, that even unborn infants were dragged from the womb to become victims to their rage. Many unhappy mothers were hung naked in the branches of trees, and their bodies being cut open, the innocent offspring were taken from them, and thrown to dogs and swine. And to increase the horrid scene, they would oblige the husband to be a spectator before suffering himself.

They beat an Englishwoman with such savage barbarity, that she had scarce a whole bone left; after which they threw her into a ditch; but not satisfied with this, they took her child, a girl about six years of age, and after ripping up its belly, threw her entrails to its mother, there to languish until she perished. They forced one man to go to Mass, after which they ripped open his body, and in that manner left him. They sawed another asunder, cut the throat of his wife, and after having dashed out the brains of their child, an infant, threw it to the swine, who greedily devoured it.” (Foxe, 308-310)