Anne Askew - Life

Life

Born at Stallingborough in 1520 or 1521 into a gentry family of Lincolnshire, she was forced by her father, Sir William Askew (1490–1541), to marry Thomas Kyme when she was fifteen, as a substitute for her sister Martha who had recently died. Anne rebelled against her husband by refusing to adopt his surname. She had at least one child, a son, William Askew.

The Dictionary of National Biography says no more than that she left her children to go "gospelling". Her marriage did not go well, not least because of her strong Protestant beliefs. When she returned from London, where she had gone to teach against the doctrine of transubstantiation, her husband turned her out of the house. She then went again to London to ask for a divorce, justifying it from scripture (1 Corinthians 7:15), on the grounds that her husband was not a believer. Eventually, Askew left her husband and went to London where she gave sermons and distributed Protestant books. These books had been banned and so she was arrested. Her husband was sent for and ordered to take her home to Lincolnshire. She escaped and not long after was back preaching in London.