Anne Askew

Anne Askew (née Ayscough , Ascue; married name Anne Kyme; 1521 – 16 July 1546) was an English writer, poet, and Protestant martyr who was condemned as a heretic in England in the reign of Henry VIII of England. She is the only woman on record known to have been both tortured in the Tower of London and burnt at the stake. She is also one of the earliest-known female poets to compose in the English language and the first Englishwoman to demand a divorce (especially as an innocent party on scriptural grounds).

Anne Askew was born in 1521 in Lincolnshire, England. William Askew, a wealthy landowner, was her father. William was a gentleman in the court of King Henry VIII, as well as a juror in the trial of Anne Boleyn's co-accused. Her mother was Elizabeth Wrotessley, of Reading, Berkshire. Askew was the fourth of their five children, which included her brothers Francis and Edward, and sisters Martha and Jane. She also had two stepbrothers, Christopher and Thomas, by her father's second wife Elizabeth Hutton. She was also related to Robert who led the Pilgrimage of Grace.

William Askew had arranged that his eldest daughter, Martha, be married to Thomas Kyme. When Anne was 15 years old, Martha died. Her father decided Anne would take Martha's place in the marriage to Thomas to save money.

Askew was a devout Protestant. She studied the Bible and memorized verses. She was true to her belief for the entirety of her life. Her husband was a Catholic, which resulted in a brutal marriage. Askew had two children with Kyme before he threw her out for being Protestant, although it is unclear if these children survived past infancy, as they have not been mentioned by any of Askew's contemporaries but Bale. It is alleged that Askew was seeking to divorce Kyme, so this did not upset her.

Upon being thrown out, Askew moved to London. Here she met other Protestants and studied the Bible. Askew stuck to her maiden name, rather than her husband's name. While in London, she became a "gospeller" or a preacher.

In March 1545, Kyme had Askew arrested. She was brought back to Lincolnshire, where he demanded that she stay. The order was short lived; she escaped and returned to London to continue preaching. In 1546 she was arrested again, but released. In May 1546 she was arrested again, and tortured in the Tower of London. (She is the only woman recorded to have been tortured there.) She was ordered to name like-minded women, but refused. The torturers, Lord Chancellor Thomas Wriothesley and Sir Richard Rich, used the rack, which stretches the victim by the limbs eventually causing dislocation of wrists, ankles, elbows, knees, shoulders and hips. Askew refused to renounce her beliefs. On 18 June 1546, she was convicted of heresy, and was condemned to be burned at the stake.

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