Anne Askew: The Defiant Voice of Protestant Martyrdom in Tudor England
In the final turbulent years of Henry VIII’s reign, when religious reform clashed violently with traditional orthodoxy, one young woman stood out—not for her birth or her wealth, but for her unflinching belief that her religion spoke more clearly than bishops and kings. Her name was Anne Askew, and unlike the many women of Tudor England who endured quietly, she chose to speak boldly. Arrested multiple times, interrogated by the most powerful men in the kingdom, and subjected to horrific torture in the Tower of London, she never betrayed her beliefs or her fellow reformers.
Carried to the stake in Smithfield because she could no longer walk, Anne was burned alive at just 25 years old. But her voice—captured in her own writings—was not extinguished with the flames.
But who was Anne Askew, really? And what led her to become one of the most memorable—and controversial—figures of the English Reformation?
The Making of a Rebel: Anne Askew’s Early Life
Born in 1521 in South Kelsey, Lincolnshire, Anne Askew was the daughter of Sir William Askew, a wealthy landowner and gentleman of King Henry VIII’s court. Her mother, Elizabeth Wrotessley of Reading, Berkshire, came from a well-connected family. Anne was the fourth of five children—her siblings were Francis, Edward, Martha, and Jane—and she also had two half-brothers, Christopher and Thomas, from her father’s second marriage to Elizabeth Hutton.
The Askew family was notable in Tudor England. They were related to Robert Aske, leader of the ill-fated Pilgrimage of Grace, a northern uprising against Henry VIII’s religious policies. It is perhaps unsurprising, then, that Anne would eventually find herself at the centre of religious controversy.
When Anne’s older sister Martha died, her father arranged for 15-year-old Anne to marry Martha’s intended husband, Thomas Kyme, likely for economic reasons. The marriage was an unhappy one—Kyme was a staunch Catholic, while Anne became increasingly committed to Protestant teachings.
A Woman of the Word: Protestant Beliefs and Marital Rejection
Anne Askew’s religious convictions intensified during her short life. She was particularly troubled by the doctrine of transubstantiation—the belief that the bread and wine used in the Eucharist become the actual body and blood of Christ. Her open denunciation of this doctrine created tension within her community and her own household. Her husband and brother Francis reportedly disapproved of her evangelical fervour.
Despite having two children with Kyme, Anne was thrown out of the family home for her Protestant beliefs. Far from being a setback, this expulsion seems to have given her the freedom to fully embrace her religious identity. She moved to London and began preaching, eventually reverting to her maiden name and joining circles of like-minded reformers. Among them was the Anabaptist Joan Bocher, and together they studied the Bible—an act that, at the time, was a subversive challenge to ecclesiastical authority.
Arrest, Interrogation, and the Rack
Anne’s preaching and outspoken views eventually drew the attention of the authorities. In March 1545, her estranged husband had her arrested and returned to Lincolnshire under the Six Articles Act. She escaped and fled back to London, but was arrested again in early 1546. Though released, she remained under scrutiny. In May 1546, she was arrested a third time and taken to the Tower of London—this time, the consequences would be fatal.
What makes Anne Askew’s story particularly harrowing is her torture on the rack—a form of punishment almost never inflicted upon women. Sir Thomas Wriothesley, Lord Chancellor, and Sir Richard Rich interrogated her personally. Refusing to betray her fellow Protestants or implicate any members of the Queen’s circle, Anne was stretched until her joints were dislocated. Even then, she maintained her silence.
Sir Anthony Knyvett, the Lieutenant of the Tower, was so disturbed by the torture that he refused to continue and sought pardon from the King. Wriothesley and Rich, unperturbed, turned the rack themselves. They turned the handles so hard that Anne was drawn apart, her shoulders and hips were pulled from their sockets and her elbows and knees were dislocated. Askew's cries could be heard in the garden next to the White Tower where the Lieutenant's wife and daughter were walking. Askew gave no names and her ordeal ended when the Lieutenant ordered her to be returned to her cell.
Execution at Smithfield and the Final Sermon
On 16 July 1546, Anne Askew was burned at the stake in Smithfield, London, alongside John Lascelles, Nicholas Belenian (also known as John Hemsley), and John Adams. Unable to walk because of the torture she endured, she was brought to her execution in a chair, dressed only in her shift.
She was dragged from the chair to the stake and fastened upright to the stake by a chain around her middle. Foxe reports that of the four martyrs burned together that day at three stakes, at least some had gunpowder tied around their bodies to speed up death
Before the flames were lit, Bishop Shaxton was sent to offer the martyrs a final chance to recant. As he preached, Anne reportedly listened carefully, affirming his words when they matched scripture and boldly declaring “There he misseth, and speaketh without the book” when she disagreed.
There are alternative views on how merciful was Anne’s death. Some accounts say that a small barrel of gunpowder was used to speed things up, and a barrel of gunpowder will do that for you, it does tend to speed things up it must be said; others wrote that the fire was made to go particularly slow in punishment for her intransigence, and that it took an hour to kill her.
The Political and Religious Storm
Anne Askew’s execution did not occur in isolation. She became entangled in a dangerous power struggle between conservative Catholics and reformist Protestants in Henry VIII’s final years. The traditionalist faction—figures like Stephen Gardiner, Thomas Wriothesley, Edmund Bonner, and Richard Rich—sought to halt reform and return England to Catholic orthodoxy, partly to strengthen ties with Charles V, the Catholic Holy Roman Emperor.
Askew’s interrogators likely hoped to expose high-profile women around Queen Katherine Parr, who was herself suspected of harbouring reformist sympathies. They targeted individuals connected to Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, including Anne’s brother Edward, a servant of Cranmer, and others like Rowland Taylor and Richard Turner.
Anne Askew’s Voice and Writings
Unlike most of her contemporaries, Anne Askew left behind a direct account of her trials and beliefs. Her writings—The Examinations—were published posthumously by the Protestant polemicist John Bale and later featured prominently in John Foxe’s Acts and Monuments (better known as Foxe’s Book of Martyrs). While both men shaped her words to fit their own religious agendas, her clear voice remains present in the text.
Anne’s answers under interrogation were marked by “plain speaking”—a trait deeply mistrusted by the establishment. Bishop Gardiner dismissed such speech as a devilish tool to spread heresy. But Anne turned her perceived weakness into rhetorical strength. She quoted scripture fluently and refused to accept any authority above the Bible. Asked if animals could consume God when eating the Eucharist, she replied with sharp wit and doctrinal clarity. When interrogated about whether she spoke with the Holy Spirit, she replied: “If I had not, I was but a reprobate.”
A Legacy of Courage and Conviction
Anne Askew’s legacy remains that of a fiercely intelligent and resolute woman who challenged the religious orthodoxy of her time. Despite facing torture, isolation, and public execution, she never recanted her beliefs or betrayed others. Her writings became a cornerstone of Protestant martyrology, albeit filtered through the pens of men who sought to frame her story to fit their own theological agendas.
Modern scholarship has increasingly focused on reclaiming Anne Askew’s voice from the distortions of Bale and Foxe. While both are credited with preserving her memory, their editorialising has raised questions about how we interpret historical sources shaped by polemical intent. Nevertheless, Anne Askew endures as a powerful figure in English Reformation history—not only as a martyr but also as a scholar, writer, and brave dissenter.