The Oxford disputations were the last section of Book 10 that had any basis in the Rerum. All of the remaining narrative in this book was researched and composed in the period 1559 - 1570 from a medley of sources, mostly oral informants, chronicles and official documents. The very nature of these sources meant that Foxe's acquisition of them was relatively unplanned and somewhat chaotic.

The section on events in the first year of Mary's reign provides a classic example of how the later editions (to say nothing of the Victorian editions) conceal the sources and development of the Acts and Monuments. In every edition there are a few introductory sentences in which Foxe apologises for breaking the chronological order of his narrative to include further material on the first year of Mary's reign (1563, p. 1000; 1570, p. 1634; 1576, p. 1394; 1583, p. 1465). This was because new material reached him during the printing of the 1563 edition which he inserted into the text as he acquired it.

This material was a list of events about the reimposition of catholicism in Cambridge and London (1563, pp. 1000-01). The source for this was a journal or chronicle, now lost, by a source who was well informed about events in Cambridge. The London material either came from him or was added by Foxe from other sources. (The evidence suggests, however, that there was a single source for the London material; it is noticeable that all the London events take place in the area of Cheapside).

Almost all of this material was retained in later editions - the exception being which was very probably dropped because it depicted protestants as coming very close to sedition in their opposition to Mary - but this material was broken up and scattered (in chronological order) among new information which was added in the 1570 edition. This information was drawn largely from a London chronicle (or chronicles) now lost. Foxe printed this source en bloc, resulting in a great deal of repetition of events already discussed, irrelevancies (it was simpler to reprint than select and edit this material), inconsistencies (especially in dates) and inaccuracies. Foxe never reworked this material or tried to integrate it with the earlier political narrative in Book 10. This relative neglect, contrasted with the laborious editorial care devoted to the Oxford disputations, clearly demonstrates Foxe's editorial priorities.

Among the many repetitions is a notice of Gilbert Bourne's Paul's Cross sermon of 13 August 1553 (1570, p. 1634; 1576, p. 1394; 1583, p. 1465). (Incidentally, the date of the sermon is given as 13 August earlier in Foxe - 1570, p. 1570; 1576, p. 1339; 1583, p. 1397 - and as 11 August here. This is one of a number of cases where Foxe reprinted differing dates for events by different sources and never bothered to correct, or apparently even to check, them).

It is also worth observing that notes in the different editions direct the reader to the account of Bourne's sermon given earlier in Foxe. But in 1583, the note directs the reader to page 1339, which is the correct page in the 1576, not the 1583, edition. (The correct page in the 1583 edition is page 1397). This failure to revise the cross-references is a recurring problem in the 1583 edition.

Among other repetitions in this section of Book 10 are a description of Mary's proclamation against heretical books (1570, p. 1634; 1576, p. 1395; 1583, p. 1465) already printed in 1563, pp. 903-04; 1570, p. 1570; 1576, p. 1338; 1583, pp. 1408-09, and a new account of the executions of Northumberland, Gates and Palmer (1570, 1634; 1576, p. 1395; 1583, p. 1465) already described in 1563, p. 902; 1570, p. 1569; 1576, p. 1338; 1583, p. 1408. One cause of numerous repetitions was Foxe's introduction of material from the Privy Council Register into the 1583 edition. In many cases, Foxe had already related the incident, drawing it from other sources. Thus, for example, Foxe had a notice of John Bradford, Thomas Becon and Jean Veron being sent to the Tower in 1570, p. 1634; 1576, p. 1394; 1583, p. 1465) when he added another notice of this to 1583, p. 1497 [recte 1409], based on APC IV, p. 321.

The glosses here are less directly adversarial than they were during the disputations. Many of them describe political events, others deal with arraignments, imprisonments and pardons. The move from the debating chamber has not stopped Foxe's willingness to criticise procedure, though now it is illegality rather than indecorum that he attacks; it is perhaps significant that shortly after the account of the repeal of Edward VI's laws, Foxe reports and highlights the case of a Canterbury priest who repented saying Mass: the implication is perhaps that beyond the law, conscience must be heard. The shift to narrative also encourages Foxe to emphasize some providential signs in the glosses, as with the strange sights preceding Phillip's arrival and the satisfactorily horrible death of the 'murtherer' Thornton. This may be contrasted with the noble and godly death of Suffolk, whose virtuous deportment is cued by a series of glosses. It is worth noting that the last gloss contains further and more accurate information than the text, yet it was not edited into the main text after 1570. Other glosses provide examples of errors.

The curate of the Round Parish (1563, p. 1000; 1570, p. 1636; 1576, p. 1396; 1583, p. 1466) was the curate of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Cambridge, which is round rather than cruciform in shape.

Foxe resumed following his chronicle sources for events in the spring of 1554. One of these sources was the 'Cheapside chronicle,' which first appeared in 1563; the remaining material was added in 1570.