Martyrs and Martyrology

What is martyrdom, what are the political and cultural implications of martyr cults, and to what propagandist uses might they be put? Such questions are probed, from the women martyrs of the early church,through the medieval period -the little known martyrs of Anglo-Saxon England and Kievan Russia, as well as Thomas Becket -tothe martyr-saints of the Reformation. Some modern material.