Anne Askew
1521-1546
1521-1546
Anne Askew (also spelled Ayscough or Ascue) was an English writer, poet, and Protestant preacher who was martyred for heresy during the reign of Henry VIII.
1521: Anne Askew was born in South Kelsey (or Stallingborough), Lincolnshire, England.
Main People: Her father was Sir William Askew, a wealthy landowner and courtier, and her mother was Elizabeth Wrottesley.
1536 (Circa): Anne was compelled to marry Thomas Kyme, a local Catholic landowner, after the death of her older sister, Martha, who was originally betrothed to him. The couple had two children.
Post-1536: Anne, having embraced Protestant beliefs through reading the Bible, was eventually thrown out of her home by her Catholic husband, Thomas Kyme. She moved to London.
London (Before 1545): Anne began preaching and became acquainted with other Protestants, including ladies of the court, like Queen Katherine Parr.
March 1545: Anne was first arrested for heresy under the Six Articles Act, brought before the Lord Mayor of London and cross-examined by Edmund Bonner, the Bishop of London's chancellor. She was imprisoned for 12 days in Sadler's Hall and the Counter prison. This was her first "examinacyon" (interrogation).
March 1545 (Later): Released on bail (paid by her cousin), she was ordered back to Lincolnshire by her husband, Thomas Kyme, but soon escaped back to London to continue preaching.
Early 1546: She was arrested a second time but then released.
May 1546: Anne was arrested for the third time and imprisoned, this time in Newgate Prison.
June 1546 (18th or 19th): Anne was subjected to a two-day-long cross-examination led by figures like Sir Thomas Wriothesley (Lord Chancellor) and Stephen Gardiner (Bishop of Winchester).
June 1546: Anne was taken to the Tower of London and severely tortured on the rack in an attempt to force her to name like-minded women, specifically to implicate Queen Katherine Parr's circle. Thomas Wriothesley and Sir Richard Rich personally administered the torture after the Constable of the Tower, Sir Anthony Kingston, refused. She became the only woman recorded to have been racked in the Tower.
June 1546 (28th): She was convicted of heresy and condemned to be burned at the stake.
July 16, 1546: Anne Askew was martyred by burning at the stake, at Smithfield, London, along with three others (John Lassells, Nicholas Belenian, and John Adams). Due to her injuries from the rack, she had to be carried to the stake in a chair.