This book was first published shortly after the death of Queen Mary. During Mary's reign, common people of Protestant Christian faith were publicly burned at the stake in an attempt to eliminate dissension from Catholic doctrines.

Foxe's account of Mary's reign and its martyrdoms form a significant part of the work. Foxe intended to justify the foundation of the Church of England as a continuation of the true and faithful ancient church, rather than as a new denomination.

The work has a historic perspective. It begins with early Christian martyrs, and continues with the Inquisition, Wycliffe, and the Marian Persecutions.

For the English Church, Foxe's book remains a fundamental witness to the sufferings of faithful Christian people at the hands of the anti-Protestant Roman Catholic authorities, and to the miracle of their endurance unto death.