Image and Reality of the Catholics in the Early Modern England

宗教改革后，天主教徒作为危险分子受到迫害，社会上反天主教情绪强烈。另一方面，一些天主教徒在同一个社会里过着和平安宁的生活。18世纪，在启蒙运动和日益增长的宗教宽容意识的影响下，出现了一场解放天主教徒的运动。与此同时，一些新版本的约翰·福克斯的《烈士书》问世。尤其是十八世纪后期的版本，都受到强烈的反天主教思想的影响。一些历史学家将这些版本解读为英国人民新教身份的表达，这种身份后来因反法战争而得到加强。但我们应该将其解读为保守派对形势转向对天主教极为宽容的社会的不耐烦。18世纪的福克斯版本与最初的版本有很大的不同。它们只是宗教保守派抵抗天主教徒解放的反天主教插曲的集合。

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.