Anne Askew was born in Lincolnshire in 1521. When she was fifteen her
family forced her to marry a Catholic man, Thomas Kyme, when she was just 15,
as a substitute for her sister who had died. Anne was a Protestant and rebelled
against her husband by refusing to adopt his surname.
Eventually Anne left her husband and went to London where she gave
sermons and distributed Protestant books. These books had been banned and so
she was arrested. Her association with the Protestant Reform movement led her
to be questioned by Church and government authorities in 1545. Her husband was
sent for and ordered to take her home to Lincolnshire. Anne soon escaped and it
was not long before she was back preaching in London. In 1546 she was arrested
again, tried and tortured in an attempt to force her to implicate fellow
reformers. Sir Anthony Kingston, the Constable of the Tower of London, was so
impressed with the way Anne behaved that he refused to carry on torturing her,
and Henry VIII's Lord Chancellor had to take over. However, she refused to
abandon her Protestant faith or to incriminate her associates so she was burnt
at the stake
Courageous Poet Burned at Stake
London, England, July 16,1546: Today, the poet and member of the
Reformed Church, Anne Askew, was burned at the stake after being charged twice
with the crime of heresy. She is the first woman to be tortured in the Tower of
London. Witnesses say that after months of torture on the rack, she was too
crippled to walk to the stake and had to be carried to her execution on a
chair.
Born at Stallingborough into a notable Lincolnshire
family, she was forced by her father, Sir William Askew (Ayscough), to marry a
Catholic man, Thomas Kyme, when she was just 15, as a substitute for her sister
who had died. Anne, who bore two children, rebelled against her husband by
refusing to adopt his surname. Her association with the Protestant Reform
movement led her to be questioned by Church and government authorities in 1545.
She was eventually released, but was tried again this year and tortured in an
attempt to force her to implicate fellow reformers. However, she refused to
abandon her Protestant faith or to incriminate her associates.
Anne Askew will be remembered for her courage and wit, which shine
through in her writings, as well as her knowledge of the law and her subversion
of male authority. Askew was a strong independent woman who has bravely
presented these tumultuous times with an alternative model of Christian virtue.
