From the enactment of the first law against ‘heretics’ in 1401 to the Act of Toleration in 1680, innumerable English men and women have suffered the supreme penalty for putting the authority of the Bible over that of pope, bishop or king. Many of these were put to death out in the counties, but Smithfield was the primary place of execution in London for Lollards and Protestants. The extensive research and dynamic literary style of John Foxe resulted in popularizing the stories of the martyrs and had much to do with establishing England as a Protestant nation.