SOURCE: King, John N. “Introductory Note.” In The Early Modern Englishwoman: A Facsimile Library of Essential Works, Part 1: Printed Writings 1555-1640, Volume 1, Anne Askew, pp. ix-xi. Aldershot, Hants: Scolar Press, 1996.

In the following excerpt, King maintains that, contrary to John Bale's depiction in his commentaries on the Examinations, Askew was a strong person who violated the patriarchal expectations of silent and obedient women.

Anne Askew (1521-1546) was accused of heresy because of her denial of the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation and ritual of the mass. According to her own account, her husband, Thomas Kyme, drove her from their household after she violated prohibitions against lay participation in theological debate and scriptural interpretation. Governmental authorities in London then interrogated her in two rounds that ended with the unprecedented application of the full rigour of torture and the rack to a gentlewoman in an unsuccessful attempt to force her to...