Preserving the memory: Martyrs’ Mirror

Thieleman J. van Braght’s Martyrs’ Mirror brought together accounts of Christian witness from the time of Christ through the sufferings of the Anabaptists. The work alternates teaching about baptism and faith with narratives of persecution, joining the beliefs of the church to the lives of those who held them.

Its letters, confessions, court records, and personal testimonies give the witnesses a voice beyond the account of their deaths. Van Braght’s addresses to fellow believers explain the purpose: to encourage a living faith expressed in love, obedience, and steadfastness. His valedictory is signed at Dort in 1659, before the 1660 publication milestone.

The supplied overview follows the book’s later illustrated and translated editions. This archive preserves the supplied English edition in full, including its original headings, page markers, and images, while linking its sections to named people, places, and events. The first-century and medieval accounts therefore remain part of the same navigable history as the later Anabaptist witnesses.