The Library
1577 works catalogued century by century, from the literature the Bible was written among to the present — each with a note on what it is, why it lasted, and where to read it.
201–300
1 work
259
Latin
The martyrs and an editor
A prison diary from Carthage in the year after Cyprian's death, written by the prisoners themselves until the account is finished by a survivor. They record their dreams, their hunger, a quarrel between two of them that had to be healed before they could die, and Flavian's mother asking to be allowed to be proud.
901–1000
1 work
c. 934–936
Latin
Praeloquia
Ratherius of Verona · c. 887–974
Written in prison after being deposed, a survey of the duties of every rank of society — kings, soldiers, merchants, the poor, the rich — with a good deal of self-examination mixed in.
1401–1500
1 work
1498
Latin
Infelix Ego
Girolamo Savonarola · 1452–1498
Written in prison after torture and days before his execution: a meditation on mercy that finds no ground of hope in itself and rests entirely on grace.
1501–1600
2 works
1534
English
Thomas More · 1478–1535
Written in the Tower awaiting execution, framed as Hungarians discussing the Turkish threat, and really about how to face the loss of everything including one's nerve.
poem c. 1578; commentary 1584
Spanish
John of the Cross · 1542–1591
A poem in the voice of a bride searching the woods for her beloved, begun in a prison cell, with a long commentary written for the nuns who asked what it meant.
1601–1700
5 works
1666
English
John Bunyan · 1628–1688
A tinker's account of years of torment over whether he had committed the unforgivable sin, with texts of scripture striking him like blows.
1666
English
Margaret Fell · 1614–1702
A scriptural argument that women may preach — from the women at the tomb, from Priscilla, and from the claim that in Christ there is neither male nor female.
1669, expanded 1682
English
William Penn · 1644–1718
Written in the Tower of London: an attack on worldly pride, titles, luxury, and hat honour, with a long anthology of testimonies against them.
c. 1682–1709
French
Jeanne Guyon · 1648–1717
An account of an unhappy marriage, widowhood, spiritual states of great intensity, and years of confinement in convents and the Bastille without trial.
dictated c. 1673–1676; published 1694
English
George Fox · 1624–1691
The founder of the Quakers records his search, the opening that Christ can speak to a person's condition directly, and years of imprisonment for refusing oaths and hat-honour.
10 of 1577 works