N20568:912
The new and complete book of martyrs; or, An universal history of martyrdom: being…
The new and complete book of martyrs; or, An universal history of martyrdom: being Fox's Book of martyrs, revised and corrected, with additions and great improvements. : Containing an authentic account of the lives, persecutions and sufferings of the holy martyrs; and the many dreadful persecutions against the Church of Christ in all parts of the world, by pagans, Jews, Turks, papists, and others, from earliest ages of the church to the present period. ... The whole forming at once a general Christian martyrology, and a complete history of persecutions. / By the Rev. Mr. John Fox, M.A. late of Magdalen College, Oxford. ; Now revised, corrected and improved, with many additional articles, relating to the acts and monuments of the church. By Paul Wright, D.D. ; Embellished with forty elegant copper plate engravings. ; In two volumes. Vol. I[-II].The new and complete book of martyrs; or, An universal history of martyrdom: being Fox's Book of marytrs, revised and corrected, with additions and great improvements. : Containing an authentic account of the lives, persecutions and sufferings of the holy martyrs; and the many dreadful persecutions against the Church of Christ in all parts of the world, by pagans, Jews, Turks, papists, and others, from earliest ages of the church to the present period. ... The whole forming at once a general Christian martyrology, and a complete history of persecutions. / By the Rev. Mr. John Fox, M.A. late of Magdalen College, Oxford. ; Now revised, corrected and improved, with many additional articles, relating to the acts and monuments of the church. By Paul Wright, D.D. ; Embellished with forty elegant copper plate engravings. ; In two volumes. Vol. I[-II].
New-York: printed by William Durell, 1794
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Volume 1 › Chapter 3 › An Account of the Persecutions in the Eleventh Century.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
THE people belonging to the diocese of Winchester, were the only persons who did not sincerely rejoice at his promotion; for they were too sensible of the loss they sustained by his translation, not to regret his removal to Canterbury.
SOON after his being made archbishop, he went to Rome, and received the pall from pope John XVIII. and after his return to England, laboured assiduously to introduce the best regulations into the church.
AFTER Alphage had governed the see of Canterbury about forty years, with great reputation to himself, and benefit to his people, the Danes made an incursion into England. Ethelred, who then reigned, was a prince of a very weak understanding, and pusillanimous disposition. Too fearful to face the enemy himself, and too irresolute to furnish others with the means of acting in his stead, he suffered his country to be ravaged with impunity, and the greatest depredations to be committed, at the option of his enemies.
THE archbishop Alphage, upon this trying occasion, acted with great resolution and humanity: he went boldly to the Danes, purchased the freedom of several whom they had made captives; found means to send a sufficient quantity of food to others, whom he had not money enough to redeem, and even made converts of some of the Danes: but the latter circumstance made the Danes, who still continued pagans greater enemies to him than they would otherwise have been, and determined them to be revenged on him for occasioning a change in the sentiments of their companions. Edric, an English malcontent, and an infamous traitor, gave the Danes every encouragement, and even assisted them in laying siege to Canterbury. When the design of attacking this city was known, many of the principal people made a precipitate flight from it, and would have persuaded Alphage to follow their example. But he, like a good pastor, would not listen to such a proposal; he assured them he could not think of abandoning his flock, at a time when his presence was more necessary than ever, and was resolved to hazard his life in their defence, at this calamitous juncture. While he was employed in assisting and encouraging his people, Canterbury was taken by storm; the enemy poured into the town, and destroyed all that came in their way, by fire and sword. The monks did what they could to detain the archbishop in the church, where they hoped he might be safe. But his concern for his flock made him break from them, and run into the midst of the danger. He had the courage to address the enemy, and offer himself to their swords, as more worthy their rage than the people: he begged they might be saved, and that they would discharge their whole fury on him. They accordingly seized him, tied his hands, insulted, and abused him in a rude and barbarous manner; and obliged him to remain on the spot till his church was burnt, and the monks massacred. They then decimated all the inhabitants, both ecclesiastics, and laymen, leaving only every tenth person alive: so that they put 7236 persons to death, and left only four monks, and 800 laymen alive: after which they confined the archbishop in a dungeon, where they kept him close prisoner for several months.