Born in 1516 in Lincolnshire, England, John Foxe was a Protestant clergyman and author who wrote and compiled the Actes and Monuments (Freeman 695). He was educated at Oxford, and became a lecturer at the University, although he resigned from the position following his conversion to Protestantism, as the position would have required him to be ordained as a Catholic priest (695). Upon Edward VI's rise to the throne, Foxe began translating and publishing Protestant sermons, and began writing the Actes and Monuments, later known as The Book of Martyrs (696). Foxe married Agnes Randall in 1547, with whom he had six children (695). When Mary Tudor, a Catholic, assumed the throne after Edward's death, Foxe reluctantly fled England out of fear of religious persecution (696). However, when Elizabeth I finally came to power, Foxe returned to England where he became acquainted with John Day, who printed and illustrated the first English edition of the Actes and Monuments in 1563 (699). Subsequent second, third, and fourth editions of the book were printed and became increasingly popular in the first half of the 17th century (708). Foxe died in April 1587, leaving his estate to his son, Samuel Foxe (707).