Fox's Book of Martyrs / Or A History of the Lives, Sufferings, and Triumphant / Deaths of the Primitive Protestant Martyrs

by John Foxe

CHAPTER VI.

AN ACCOUNT OF THE PERSECUTION IN ITALY, UNDER THE PAPACY.

We shall now enter on an account of the persecutions in Italy, a country which has been, and still is,

1. The centre of popery.

2. The seat of the pontiff.

3. The source of the various errors which have spread themselves over other countries, deluded the minds of thousands, and diffused the clouds of superstition and bigotry over the human understanding.

In pursuing our narrative we shall include the most remarkable persecutions which have happened, and the cruelties which have been practised,

1. By the immediate power of the pope.

2. Through the power of the inquisition.

3. At the instigation of particular orders of the clergy.