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John Foxe and the Joy of Suffering Author(s): John R. Knott Source: The Sixteenth Century Journal, Vol. 27, No. 3 (Autumn, 1996), pp. 721-734 Published by: The Sixteenth Century Journal Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2544014 . Accessed: 17/05/2014 21:54 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The Sixteenth Century Journal is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Sixteenth Century Journal. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 192.211.24.157 on Sat, 17 May 2014 21:54:58 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions SixteenthCenturyJournal XXVII/3(1996) John Foxe and theJoy of Suffering JohnR. Knott Universityof Michigan JohnFoxe rejectedthe earlyChristian and medievalemphasis on the exceptional natureof martyrsand on thedisjunction between vulnerable body and transported soul,focusing instead on thehuman qualities of his Protestant martyrs and thecom- munalexperience of thepersecuted faithful, which becomes the locus of thesacred. He avoidedthe miraculous in attemptingto reconcilerepresentations ofhorrific suf- feringwith traditional affirmations ofthe inner peace andjoy ofthe martyr. Much of thedrama of theActs and Monuments arises from intrusions of the ordinary (the gesture ofwiping a sootyhand on a smock)and theunpredictable (a fire that will not burn). It is Foxe'sdeviations from the unwrittenscript of martyrdomand his occasional inabilityto containthe horror of a scenewith assertions of spiritual triumph that give hisnarrative its power. NEAR THE END of his massiveActs and Monuments,John Foxe interruptsan account of the "shameful lives and desperate ends" of persecutors"stricken with God's hand" (8:668)1 to praise the English Protestantmartyrs with whom he contrasts them: Let us now enterthe considerationof the blessed martyrs,who although they sufferedin theirbodies, yet rejoiced theyin theirspirits, and albeit theywere persecuted of men,yet were theycomforted of the Lord with such inward joy and peace of conscience, that some, writing to their friends,professed they were neverso merrybefore in all theirlives, some leaped forjoy, some for triumphwould put on their scarfs,some their wedding garments, going to the fire; others kissed the stake, some embraced the faggots,some clapt theirhands, some sang psalms;univer- sally they all forgave and prayed for their enemies; no murmuring,no repiningwas ever heard amongstthem. (8:669) The passage epitomizes Foxe's vision of the spiritualtriumph of the martyrsover the authorities,ecclesiastical and civil, who have power over their bodies. His hyperboleneeds to be qualifiedby a readingof the storiesof individualmartyrs- few in factforgive their enemies publicly;some betraytheir fears-but it captures the celebratorymood of a majorityof these stories.Foxe insistsupon the "inward joy and peace of conscience" of the martyrs,seen as enabled by the comforting presenceof God and conveyed to the watchingcrowd by gesturesof the sort he 1Myextracts are from Rev.Josiah Pratt, ed., The Acts and Monuments ofJohn Foxe, 8 vols.(London, 1877).Volumeand page numbersare given in thetext. 721 This content downloaded from 192.211.24.157 on Sat, 17 May 2014 21:54:58 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 722 SixteenthCenturyJournal XXVII / 3 (1996) enumerateshere. He saw the spiritualvictories he proclaimedas demonstratingthe power of a militantfaith to thosewho observedor read about them and as offering "an hope of heavenlycomfort" (1:521) for the persecuted. Foucault's model of civilpunishment, which shows authorityaffirming itself by the ritualexercise of its power to punish,does not go veryfar toward explaining the kind of agonFoxe rep- resents,with its culminationin the triumphof the victim.2This model, helpfulas it can be for understandingthe uses of institutionalpower, shiftsattention away fromquestions about the natureand meaningof sufferingand the representationof heroismand spiritualvictory that arise in connection with accounts of Christian martyrdom.Tounderstand the distinctivenessof Foxe's accounts of Protestantmar- tyrsit is more productiveto look at the traditionto which he was reacting. Christianmartyrology typically celebrates the peace and joy of martyrs,who are oftenrepresented as displayingan imperturbablefaith and as welcoming what- ever pain the tortureror executionercan inflictin the confidence that theywill soon be unitedwith God.Yet one of the most strikingthings about thiswriting is its fascinationwith the tormentsof the body.Accountsof the earlyChristian mar- tyrsdetail grotesquetortures, some of which Foxe catalogues:"stripes and scourg- ings, drawings,tearings, stonings, plates of iron laid into them burning hot ... gridirons,gibbets and gallows" (1:109-10). Foxe himself celebrates the "mild deathsof the [Protestant]saints" (1:521), as he describesthese deathsat one point, yet he presentsthe violence theysuffer in detailed and realisticways, keeping the reader'sgaze focusedupon the actual scene of sufferingand the disfiguringeffects of the flames.I want to explorewhy Foxe confrontedhis readerswith such disturb- ing detail and how he reconciled,or attemptedto reconcile,the representationof sufferingwith affirmationsof spiritualjoy. His task,as martyrologist,was to per- suade his readersthat his "saints" did indeed die mildly,with spiritualrejoicing, while experiencinghorrific torments. Foxe's representationof the sufferingof EnglishProtestants was stronglyinflu- enced by examples of earlyChristian martyrdom that he knew well, mainlyfrom the EcclesiasticalHistory of Eusebius,yet he transformedthe traditionhe inherited in importantways.3 The storyof Eulalia,a young Spanish virginof the fourthcen- turywho soughtmartyrdom, illustrates the appeal of thismaterial for Foxe and also his unease with the miraculouselements he found in his source,in this case the LiberPeristephanon of Prudentius.Eulalia in her abundance of zeal fleesher parents and aftera nightjourney guided by a troop of angels confrontsthe Roman judge who is persecutingChristians. Foxe reportsPrudentius' account of a white dove flyingfrom Eulalia's mouth at the momentof death and snow miraculouslycover- ing the scene of her executionbut adds a revealingqualification, "whereof let every reader use his own judgment" (1:272). He admiringlydescribes the "bold stom- 2MichelFoucault, Discipline and Punish, trans. Alan Sheridan (NewYork: Pantheon Books, 1979), chaps.1, 2. 3Foxeextended his chronological range to theRoman persecutionsof the early Christians in the secondEnglish edition of the Acts and Monuments (London, 1570), drawing extensively upon Eusebius. This content downloaded from 192.211.24.157 on Sat, 17 May 2014 21:54:58 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Knott / Foxe & theJoyof Suffering 723 ach" with which the twelve-year-oldEulalia defies Roman authority,scattering the images she is commanded to worshipas a gestureof contemptfor the idolatry theyrepresent.4 She challengesher persecutorto "burn,cut, and mangle"her body and professesto welcome being slashed to the bone with iron claws: "O Lord! behold thou art inscribed upon me! how pleasant it is to note these piercings, which markthy triumphs, 0 Christ!"(1:271).5 Her sufferingbecomes an emblem of Christ's,as she convertsher punishmentsinto a sign of victory.Foxe praises Eulalia as "merry"in embracingthe "terribleharrowing of her flesh"and her final tormentof being burned with torches.The only indication we get that Eulalia acknowledgespain at all is the reportthat she swallowsflames to speed her death. Foxe could accept the seeminglymiraculous tolerance of pain where he could not the appearance of angels and othermanifestations of the supernaturalor the cre- ation of a shrinefor the venerationof her bones,because he could understandit as evidence of a fortitudemade possibleby the sustainingpower of God. Eulalia's sufferingconforms to a pattern often found in accounts of early Christianmartyrs. She welcomes abuses of the body as ifseeking to imitatethe pas- sion of Christ;she insiststhat the pain of the fleshcannot reach her spirit;she shows no sign of being masteredby thispain. In retellingthe storiesof the earlymartyrs, Foxe reproducesmany of the formulasthat signal victory over pain and hence over the agency thatinflicts it. Blandina wears out her torturersand feelsno pain when finallygored to death by a bull (1:138 ff.);Peter Brown characterizesher as "raptin communion with Christ"while she is being gored.6Sanctus can endurehot plates applied to his "tender parts"because he is refreshedby "the water of life which flowsfrom Christ" (1:139). So miraculouslydoes God temperthe firethat Lau- rence'sgridiron becomes "not a bed of consumingpain, but a pallet of nourishing rest"(1:208). This is what Thomas Heffernan,writing about medieval saints'lives, calls the "analgesic state"often found in earlyacts of the martyrs.7For Foxe it is evidence that God will comfortmartyrs and strengthenthem to endure their ordeals.He frequentlydescribes his martyrsas displayingfortitude, but this is for him a distinctivelyChristian fortitude,
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