Dr Kat and Anne Askew

hello and welcome back to the channel if you're new here hi you're very welcome this is reading the past and i'm dr kat and today's video topic is another one that has been heavily requested in my comment section i have been asked frequently to talk about and ask you and the more i've thought about it the fact that i was going to do it this week in this month strangely the more fitting it felt because of course we are in october halloween month and anne askew's life and especially the end of her life is a bit of a horror show so with that being said let's talk about it [Music] ann askew was born in lincolnshire in around 1521. her father had been knighted in 1513 to make him sir william askew he owned land in lincolnshire and nottinghamshire and he was made high sheriff of nottinghamshire in 1521 which was of course around the time that anne was born evidently this was a family on the rise and vitally it meant that anne had been born into the gentry class anne had two brothers and two sisters and after her mother elizabeth's death her father remarried twice more and thus provided anne with two more half-brothers it is believed that anne was most likely choosed at home certainly it seemed she was well educated in the narrative of her life which is brought to us by john bale more on him in a moment we are told that anne's father had arranged for her elder sister martha to marry one thomas kind but that unfortunately martha had died before the marriage could take place sir william askew was not happy to see his negotiations come to nothing master kaim after all was the son and heir of a neighbouring farmer this was a potentially valuable match so sir william decided that his second daughter anne should be the next up to bat john bale may have been attempting to mold anne's story into that of the traditional female martyr because he asserts that her marriage was unwillingly entered into that quote she was compelled against her will or free consent to marry with him that she demeaned herself like a christian wife and thus had two children bale also informs us that during her marriage anne's faith underwent reform and that quote by off-reading of the sacred bible she fell clearly from all old superstitions of paper street into a perfect belief in jesus christ the alteration in anne's faith appears to have become public knowledge in her local area and indeed it led to her being warned by members of her local community rather than feeling threatened by this warning she appears to have been emboldened so much so that she took it upon herself to go to lincoln cathedral set herself up there and visibly read the bible in this act it seems that she had gone too far for master thomas kyme perhaps he was embarrassed by these actions of his wife maybe he feared they might bring danger to his door or even jeopardize his immortal soul if she were a heretic and he her husband supported her was he therefore also supporting her heresy would it make it more difficult for him to get into heaven any or all of these causes may have been the reason that he allegedly forced her from the marital home violently we think that anne was most likely in london by the end of 1544. possibly she was hoping to formalize her separation from her husband legally alternatively or perhaps additionally she may have been seeking to capitalize on her family's court connections in doing so she may have been seeking to secure her own place in the world and or further the cause of religious reform anne's brother edward had served archbishop thomas cranmer a potential sign that anne was not the only member of the ascu clan to occupy a reforming stance in religion it may have been a shared religious ideology that endeared edward to cranmer and led to his further preferment this time in the household of cranmer's own master the king by the time anne reached london her brother edward was henry's cup bearer additionally her sister jane was married to the lawyer george saint paul he served the duke and duchess of suffolk they were henry viii's best friend charles brandon and his wife catherine alongside these family connections to the court anne had created her own circle made up of devout reformers including the chronicler edward hall and the future martyrs john lacelles and joan butcher sir thomas risley and that name may ring bells for those of you who have read or seen wolf hall because he is the very same call me risley had profited handsomely from the dissolution of the monasteries and had diligently served one of its architects thomas cromwell however he also clearly felt an allegiance or perhaps or a means of greater through his former tutor the devout conservative in mass of faith bishop stephen gardner sir thomas risley had anne askew in his crosshairs risley employed a man called wadlow to rent rooms near to ascuse and spy on her despite watching her for seemingly a number of days wadlow was apparently unable to find anything incriminating against her but others were also moving to implicate her and the ordermen of london found a woman who was prepared to offer testimony against anne anne was detained on the 10th of march 1545. those who imprisoned her were determined to prove that she was in breach of the act of six articles which had become law six years previously in 1539 and was interrogated on a charge of heresy the six articles of 1539 are as follows first that in the most blessed sacrament of the altar by the strength and efficacy of christ's mighty word it being spoken by the priest is present really under the form of bread and wine the natural body and blood of our savior jesus christ conceived the virgin mary and that after the consecration there remaineth no substance of bread or wine nor any other substance but the substance of christ god and man secondly that communion in both kinds is not necessarily add salutum by the law of god to all persons and that it is to be believed and not doubted of but that in the flesh under the form of bread is the very blood and with the blood under the form of wine is the very flesh as well apart as though they were both together thirdly that priests after the order of priesthood received as a four may not marry by the law of god fourthly the vows of chastity or widowhood by man or woman made to god advisedly or to be observed by the law of god and that it exempts them from other liberties of christian people which without that they might enjoy fifthly that it is meet and necessary that private masses be continued and admitted in this the king's english church and congregation whereby good christian people ordering themselves accordingly do receive both godly and goodly consolations and benefits and it is agreeable also to god's law sixthly that auricular confession is expedient and necessary to be retained and continued used and frequented in the church of god in short the sixth articles upheld the doctrine of transubstantiation the view that one need not receive both bread and wine at communion the obligation for celibacy in priests the binding character of vows of chastity the value of private masses and also of auricular confession for most if not all reformers this act represented nothing more than a return to superstition on this occasion anne was held for nearly a fortnight and she was interrogated at least twice during this time her inquisitors included one christopher dare also the lord mayor of london william laxton the chancellor of the bishop of london edmund bonner and bonner's archdeacon john wymsley helpfully anne wrote an account of these and later interrogations that she was subjected to these accounts were then edited and printed by john bale and then subsequently by john fox in acts and monuments also known as the book of martyrs and i will leave a link to the book of martyrs to the passage dealing with and interrogation in the description box beneath this video in her account of these interrogations and reports of her answers are occasionally equivocal and riddling but they always show that she maintains her faith in reformed religion and pronounced it anne's friends managed to get her bailed out she may or may not have recanted her faith at this time unfortunately this reprieve would not last long anne's estranged husband was summoned to appear before the privy council with his wife they attended as ordered on the 19th of june 1546 at which point thomas denied that he was anne's husband he was allowed to leave she was held at greenwich so that she could be questioned further about her suspected heresies this time her interrogators had grown in number and also in rank there was once again the chancellor sir thomas risley again stephen gardner bishop of winchester there was also john dudley by count leo and william parr the earl of essex and sir william paget who was the king's principal secretary as with the previous inquisitions we have anne's account of this questioning too and she reports answering the questions in accordance with her own faith once again we also have anne's account of an interaction that she had with the bishop of winchester stephen gardner gardner perhaps frustrated with anne told her that quote she spake in parables and later that she quote should be burnt despite these threats however anne refused to recant her faith anne was transferred to newgate prison where her questioning would continue she was arraigned for heresy on the 28th of june 1546 but her antagonists were not finished with her first run-in with religious conservatives in 1545 had apparently been solely concerned with anne her beliefs the things she had said and also the material she owned and was reading by 1546 her recantation would not be enough for them because they thought she could name names in their search for heretics at court and was once more transferred this time to the dread fortress of the tower of london here her interrogators risley and sir richard rich were intent on discovering if any at court had offered her support they asked about members of the privy council and by name they asked after my lady of suffolk my lady of sussex my lady of hartford mullet denny and my lady fitzwilliams these were ladies that surrounded queen catherine parr and this line of questioning was part of a much longer running scheme to bring the queen down in many ways ann askew was highly unlucky to be caught in the crossfire months before anne and her estranged husband had been summoned before the privy council to give an account of themselves in february 1546 gardner risley rich and william paget were already conspiring to destroy the queen they were concerned that this queen of a reforming persuasion might be the person that henry left as regent after his own death to support the minority rule of his son and heir the future edward vi gardiner risley rich and paget were keen to ensure that she simply would not be available to fill this role on account of the fact they wanted to make sure that she'd be dead in order to achieve this they started to cast about for evidence to build a case that would see her arrested convicted and executed as a heretic and would not give risley and rich what they wanted and so the extraordinary decision was made to resort to torture and sex and her social status the fact that she was gently born should have exempted her twice over but risley and rich proved zealous in fact they went so far as to turn the rack themselves in a moment i'm going to put up an image of the wrap in action and i'm going to talk a little bit about how it functioned and the damage it caused it is not my intention to be gratuitous in any way but nevertheless this might be upsetting and this content may not be suitable for all viewers and listeners so i will leave a timestamp that states when this particular section ends if you want to skip it here we have an image from fox's axe monuments also known as i said as the book of martyrs this is a woodcut showing the rack in action the rack works by putting the joints of the body under stress and this stressing of the joints would take place over a long period of time it can take hours it can take days the length of time all depends on the particular depravity of the people involved in turning the rack it works by putting the joints of the body under such stress that in extreme cases when the victim proves obstacles the limbs will dislocate the tendons muscles and ligaments will stretch and tear the effects of this will last a lifetime however long that lifetime might be for anne perhaps fortunately in her case it would only be a matter of weeks as a result of the brutality that she was subjected to and did make a disclosure but it was a miniscule one nowhere near enough to bring anything close to charges against anybody else but she was eventually compelled to admit that she had been given money by two men who claimed to be acting for the lady hartford and the lady denny in terms of any other support she received she claimed that her maid had apparently obtained money on her behalf from london apprentices those who were sympathetic to her plight although and words did not provide sufficient cause to act against the queen gardner was determined and so he pivoted to focus on the content of her library an arrest warrant was issued against catherine parr arguably she was only saved by the fact that she obtained prior knowledge of the plan to arrest her and that she managed through her terror to sufficiently subjugate herself before her husband in order to modify him sufficiently to get him to cancel the warrant we believe that queen catherine parr's most dangerous moment this brush with the rest was happening at around about the same time that ann askew is being prepared for her own execution had queen catherine parr been in a better more secure position with her husband perhaps she may have been able to intercede and beg for mercy on ann askew's behalf but queen catherine parr was in danger herself she had her own arrest and potential execution to escape ann askew would not be so lucky following the torture anne was given time to recover before being taken to newgate to await her execution as she was a convicted and unapologetic heretic the punishment she would suffer would be burning on the 16th of july 1546 ann askew was transported to smithfield to suffer at the stake she was to die alongside three others including her friend a member of her circle that i mentioned at the start of this video john lassels according to an eyewitness at smithfield that day one john luth and was so wracked that she could not stand she had to be carried or held up by two sergeants and when placing her on the stake to be burned she had to be tied to a seat rather than being left upright in her suffering on the rack and at the stake ann askew was made into a martyr and will be recognized as a protestant saint but for me the seeds of her suffering and arguably the suffering of so many others were planted by henry viii in his decision to break with the church in rome but not set down a clear mandated faith for his nation a path which the church of england would follow and not deviate from he is i think to blame the fact that the church of england keeps changing in character throughout his reign and the reins of his children leads to so many problems henry is the great equivocator and he loves faction he fosters it allows it to thrive at his court he lets traditionalist and reformer sit side by side and he encourages them to go to war with each other he doesn't mind when that infighting spills over into bloodshed because by equivocating by maintaining faction he divides and conquers he keeps the court busy fighting amongst themselves and so he keeps his firm grasp on his power on his crown and also on his headship the church of england it was a lesson that his daughter elizabeth learnt well and profited from but there was a price because the character of the church of england kept changing people suffered and died if you are the sort of person who takes a shall we say pragmatic approach to life then i think you probably are going to be fine in henry's england and in henry's church if you're prepared to turn the sixpence in massive faith in order to preserve life and limb well you're going to get along but if you were a true believer as ann askew seems to have been then your story is going to be quite different as a reformer when she looked at the act of six articles what it is asking and demanding of her would have felt like a heresy she would have seen it as paper street and superstition but by not following it in the eyes of her nation and the english church she was the heretic if neither will bend something has to break it seems in this case it would be ann's body but what do you think as always i'm looking forward to reading your conversation in the comments section underneath this video or you can find me over on my social media i'll leave links to my instagram and twitter in the description box you can follow me there and we can continue this conversation i do hope you enjoyed this video and found it useful if you did then please let me know by hitting the thumbs up please also subscribe to this channel and while you're there hit the notification bell beside the subscribe button so that youtube tells you when i've next uploaded i hope you're going to have a great day whatever you're doing and i look forward to speaking to all in my next video take care of yourselves bye for now [Music] you

Channel: Reading the Past

Views: 26,489

Rating: 4.9783154 out of 5

Keywords: Book of Martyrs, Anne Askew, Reformation, Six Articles, Heresy, Heretic, Burning at the Stake, Smithfield, John Foxe, John Bale, Tudor, Henry VIII, Katherine Parr, Education, Literature, Culture, History, Early Modern, Renaissance

Id: n7RdGb_4xMk

Length: 21min 39sec (1299 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 23 2020