Image and Reality of the Catholics in the Early Modern England

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After the Reformation, Catholics were persecuted as dangerous elements and the anti-Catholic feeling was strong in the society. On the other side, some Catholics lived in peace and quiet in the same society. In eighteenth century, there was a movement to emancipate the Catholics under the influence of the Enlightenment and the growing feeling of religious tolerance. At the same time, some new editions of John Foxe's 'Book of Martyrs' came out. Especially later eighteenth century editions were all infected with strong anti-Catholicism. Some historians have interpreted these editions as the expression of the Protestant identity of the English people, which was then strengthened by the war against France. But we should interpret them as the impatience of the conservatives with the situation shifting to the much tolerate society for Catholics.The eighteenth century editions of Foxe were quite different from original ones. They were only collections of the anti-Catholic episodes for the religious conservatives to resist the emancipation of Catholics.