Introduction

Tragedy strikes time and again throughout John Reynolds’ book The Triumphs of God’s Revenge. In each of its thirty vignettes, the dangerous passions of lust, jealousy, revenge, and greed turn good Christians into murderers; Reynolds writes that their malicious crimes against spouses and kin were almost too terrible to tell. Regardless of the devastation of these tragedies, justice always prevails. As the public learns the truth about each murder (or “murther”), every killer pays for their crimes with his or her own life.

As the title of the book suggests, the resolution of each murder is framed as God’s victory over man’s unlawful sinfulness. After a murder, Reynolds assures the reader that God “will make inquisition for Blood, and will severely and sharply revenge the death of his Children.” (Reynolds, The Triumphs of God’s Revenge, History I, 11.) In this passage, he references Psalms 9:12: “When he maketh inquisition for blood, he remembereth them: he forgetteth not the cry of the humble.”¹ God thus assumes the role of punisher, seeking justice for violence against innocent people by casting judgment on the offenders. This theme steers the course of The Triumphs, framing God’s inquisition for blood as a spiritual triumph. By presenting the investigation and punishment of murderers as an act of God, Reynolds equates the judicial process with the will of the divine, adding moral urgency to the punishment of the guilty.

First published in 1621, The Triumphs of God’s Revenge captivated generations of readers in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The Pritzker Legal Research Center’s 1726 copy of The Triumphs is a testament to the English public’s longstanding fascination with crime stories. The book’s printed illustrations bring each sordid history to life, conveying the horrific events and bitter consequences of each murder in sequential form. Examining these illustrations and the thirty written histories, we identify themes and conventions in Reynolds’ accounts of the killers and the crimes, the revelation of the truth, and the punishment. These tales may not always represent the actual incidents of crime or the judicial process in early modern England. However, The Triumphs reveals cultural truths about justice and morality that resonated with its original readers; it also presents a model for crime literature that is echoed in today’s true crime stories.

History XII Panel

Unknown artist, “Baretano murtherd / Clara falls to ye ground / Pedro apprehended & executed / a foole / Clara Albemore hangd & burnt / Leonardo and Valerio hangd,” copper engraving, in John Reynolds, The Triumphs of God’s Revenge[…] (London: Printed for R. Gosling, and Sold by J. Osborn, 1726), History XII, 154 (edited excerpt).

Thy Christian Friend: John Reynolds and His 30 Murder Stories →