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The Martyrdom of Anne Askew Pt. 2

© Michelle Powell-Smith

Askew's testimonies were published by the Protestant Bishop John Bale, who used her story as an example of the power of faith. He placed the credit for Anne's astonishing strength and will solely in the hands of God. Bale compared Askew's strength in the face of her own torture and death with that of the early Christian saint, Blandina. Bale uses Askew's testimony, along with several others as the basis for a "reformed martyrology" recording the conflict between the devout Protestants of England and the corrupt hierarchy of the church. Bale's dissemination of Anne Askew's writing was quite controversial, and aroused considerable anger in those implicated, either directly or indirectly, by the text. Askew's testimonies are also included in John Foxe's Acts and Monuments. In the hands of Protestants, Anne's story is a wonderful illustration of saintly martyrdom, and John Bale's text strives to make Anne and several other Protestant martyrs into saints. The Catholics of reformation England viewed Anne as a heretic and a sinner. Anne 's story was popular among the Quakers, and she was even written into the family ancestry of the Quaker Fells. Anne's story appeared in a variety of texts over the centuries, was twice fictionalized into a novel, and frequently used as a model of Protestant strength and the greatness of God.

Anne Askew uses her extensive knowledge of scripture to confront the male hierarchy of the church. While England was no longer a part of the Catholic Church under the leadership of the pope, the doctrine of the church was, for all practical purposes, Catholic under the leadership of Henry VIII. Anne was tried for her Protestant beliefs. In particular, she died for her beliefs regarding transubstantiation. Anne denied that the bread and wine of the Communion were, in fact, the body and blood of Christ. Protestant doctrine identified the bread and wine of the Communion as symbolic of or representative of the body and blood of Christ. The Six Articles of 1539 reaffirmed Catholic doctrine as law in England.

Anne had defied a number of laws and customs for her faith. The Six Articles of 1539 defined anyone who argued against or held opinions against transubstantiation to be "demed and adjudged heriticke" and condemned the heretic to suffer the "paynes of death by waye of burninge". By 1543, the law provided the opportunity for the accused to recant twice, and allowed for burning only if the accused refused to recant. Anne's testimony records her refusal to recant her faith; however, a copy of the "confession and belief of Anne Askew" was entered into the Bishops' Register in June 1546. This document is dated 20 March 1544/45; however, the timing of its introduction into the register clearly arouses suspicions as to its origins.