Today Anne Askew was burned at the stake. Anne was a pawn in a plot to implicate suspected Protestant-leaning women at court, including Katherine Parr herself.
Anne started off her adult life married off to a man originally intended for her sister, but her sister died before the marriage, and so she took her place. She eventually sued for divorce for spiritual reasons, her husband kicked her out, and she moved to London and began preaching the gospel by heart. At the time she was arrested, opponents of the King’s current, and last Queen, Katherine Parr, tried to link Anne with Katherine in an attempt to bring the Queen down. But even though Anne was illegally tortured on the rack – the only woman on record ever to have been tortured in the Tower – she never gave away any names, and never implicated the Queen. After her torture, she had to be carried to the stake – where she was burned – on a chair because her injuries were so great. The constable of the tower was so impressed with her, he refused to torture her, so others had to. In part because of backlash against her execution, no more Protestants were killed under Henry VIII before he died.
That’s your Tudor Minute for today. Remember you can dive deeper into life in 16th century England through the Renaissance English History Podcast at englandcast.com
Suggested links:
5 Kick-ass Tudor Women You Probably Don’t Know (but should)
Episode 093: Tudor Times on Katherine Parr
Episode 012: The final years of Henry VIII’s reign
From my shop:
Tudorcon Tickets
“Eat, Sleep, Tudor, Repeat” Mug
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Heather Teysko is the creator, writer, and producer of The Renaissance English History Podcast, one of the longest running indie history podcasts, going since 2009. She's been writing about history online for over 25 years, since her first site on Colonial American history became number one in history on Yahoo in 1998. She writes books, created the original Tudor Planner (a yearly diary filled with Tudor history) and in 2019 created the world's first Tudorcon (you can "attend" online this year!). She has been passionate about Tudor England since she first read Alison Weir's The Six Wives of Henry VIII 20 years ago, and subsequently moved to London after college to spend her time immersed in Tudor history.