The first persecution of the Church took place in the year 67, under Nero, the sixth emperor of Rome.

Foxe was also so poor that he was unable to travel with his family until money was sent to him. " He also worked unsuccessfully to prevent the two burnings for religion that occurred during the reign of Edward VI. At some point before 1569 Foxe left Norfolk's house and moved to his own on Grub Street.

John Foxe (1516/17 – 18 April 1587) was an English historian and martyrologist the author of Actes and Monuments (popularly known as Foxe's Book of Martyrs) an account of Christian martyrs throughout Western history but emphasizing the sufferings of English Protestants and proto-Protestants from the fourteenth century through the reign of Mary I.