SOURCE: Beilin, Elaine V. Introduction to The Examinations of Anne Askew, edited by Elaine V. Beilin, pp. xv-xliii. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.

In the following essay, Beilin provides a brief description of Askew's works and a short account of her life, sets the historical context for her martyrdom, surveys the background of the editions of the Examinations, and discusses the reputation of her life and work from the time of her death to the late twentieth century.

Anne Askew (ca. 1521-1546) could have lived a prosperous, conventional life as a gentlewoman in Lincolnshire. Instead, she broke the law and defied the rules of her society: converting to the “heretical” Protestant faith, she sought a divorce from her Catholic husband and went to London, apparently to join other Protestant Reformers and to participate in current debates on controversial questions of belief.¹ Perhaps through her connections to the Protestant...