On this day in Tudor history, 24th May 1546, letters were sent from the Privy Council to the future Protestant martyr Anne Askew and her estranged husband, Thomas Kyme.
The couple were ordered to appear in front of the council within fourteen days.
But why? What was going on? And what happened next?
Here are some articles on Anne Askew:
- 18 June 1546 – Anne Askew sentenced to death
- 16 July 1546 – The Execution of Anne Askew, “a singular example of Christian constancy for all men to follow”
Anne’s story is very interesting and tragic, the first time I heard about her was when I read Plaidy’s ‘The Sixth Wife’, her novel about Katherine Parr, I was in awe of this incredibly brave woman who stuck to her beliefs and in the true stuff of martyrs – died because of it, I did not know she had children which must have been dreadful knowing their mother perished the way she did, but they must have been enormously proud of her to, her husband obviously found her too much of a handful and abandoned her, he wanted to live he did not wish to incur the wrath of Henry V111, it was through her Stephen Gardiner wished to bring down the queen and several others whom he regarded as a heretic, so determined was he, he had Anne racked, this just goes to show what an evil person Gardiner was and Wriothesley also, how many men would find this somewhat impossible to do, it goes against the grain of male chivalry it was also illegal and Ann was no peasant, she was a gentlewoman, by law no noble person could be tortured let alone a woman, this was the reason the courtiers who died with Anne Boleyn were not tortured it was Mark Smeaton who quite likely was threatened with it, but both the kings ministers were disappointed Anne never spoke she implicated no one, and the queen must have been severely distressed on account of her friend, for she must have come to hear of it, she must have felt awful knowing Anne was in very deep pain because of her, and frightened for herself and her friends who shared her beliefs, one was the indomitable Lady Katherine Willoughby half Spanish, she had embraced the reform with open arms, and Gardiner would have loved to have her sent to the block to, the queen was no fool and knew the Catholic Gardiner and others considered her an enemy, this last wife of Henry V111 could well have gone the way of her tragic predecessors but fortune was on her side, she had an encounter herself with Stephen Gardiner when he arrived with an armed guard to escort her to the Tower, luckily she was with the king in the gardens and he cursed Gardiner calling him a knave and cuffed him, Gardiner hastily withdraw in fear his plan had been foiled, but Katherine Parr knew how uneasily she shared the kings throne and every day must have been a nightmare, Anne Askew’s end was terrible her limbs were so broken she could not support herself and had to be carried in a chair to the stake, the Rack was much feared it dislocated every bone in the body, it was an ingenious invention used to extract information, but it was not used a lot and it could be that faced with the prospect of being tied to it, was enough to make many a man speak, she was bound by chains to the stake still sitting in her chair and with the other martyrs, met her end, none of them recanted their beliefs which faced with such a terrible death showed immense courage, such courage is rare and admirable, and Anne Askew for her very sex was braver than a lion, Queen Katherine Parr must have been truly thankful she had been blessed with such a unique dear friend.