1960. The Examination of Anne Askew. The Presbyterian Journal. XVIII (36), 8–9.
THE EXAMINATION OF Anne Askew
GORDON H. CLARK, Ph.D.
Our knowledge of the examination of Anne Askew is based on letters
which she wrote at the time, beginning in March 1545. The following are excerpts.
"First, Christopher Dare examined me at Sadler's Hall and
asked if I did not believe that the sacrament hanging over the altar was the very
body of Christ. Then I asked him, Why was Stephen stoned to death? When he said
he could not tell, I replied that I would not answer him either.
"Then a priest came and also asked about the sacrament of
the altar. But as he was obviously a papist, I desired to be excused from answering.
Yet he asked if I did not think that private masses were of help to departed
souls. I replied that it is idolatry to believe more in them than in the death of
Christ.
"The bishop's chancellor next rebuked me for quoting the
Scriptures, for, he said, the Apostle forbade women to speak or to talk of the Word
of God. I answered him that I knew St. Paul's meaning as well as he did, when the
Apostle wrote that a woman ought not to preach in the congregation. And I asked
the chancellor how many women he had seen preaching. When he said, none, I continued,
Then you ought to find no fault with poor women, except they have offended the law.
"Then I was held in jail for eleven days during which time
none of my friends was permitted to visit me. On March 23 my cousin Britain tried
to get me out on bail, but the officer said that the charge was too serious for
bail. However, the Bishop of London granted another examination.
"The bishop examined me at length on the sacrament of the
altar, and I always answered that I would believe Scripture. Then he asked me why
I had so few words, and I answered that God had given me the gift of knowledge but
not of utterance, and that Solomon wrote that a woman of few words is the gift of
God. The bishop asked if I would attend mass on Easter Sunday. This I resolutely
refused to do. The bishop was displeased, but after a time accepted bail and I was
released."
The next year, 1546, Anne Askew was arrested again, and wrote
the following documents:
"Your request concerning my fellow prisoners I am not able
to satisfy because I did not hear their examination; but the effect of mine was
this: First, Mr. Kyme questioned me. But I answered that my lord chancellor knew
my mind in the matter already. Mr. Kyme said it was the king's pleasure that I should
open the matter fully. I replied that I would not do so unless the king, like Solomon,
would be willing to hear the testimony of a simple woman.
"Then the lord chancellor came and questioned me about the
sacrament. My answer was that I believe that as often as I, in a Christian congregation,
receive the bread in remembrance of Christ's death, I receive also the fruits of
His most glorious passion, n.b. in effect, this denies private masses as well as
transubstantiation.)
"The next Sunday I was so extremely ill that I thought I
might die. I asked to see Mr. Latimer, but this was not granted. Sick as I was,
they took me to Newgate, where on Tuesday the Lord was pleased to renew my strength.
At Newgate Mr. Rich and the Bishop of London came to persuade me, but I did not
esteem their glossing pretences. Then Nicholas came and urged me to recant. I told
him that it had been good for him never to have been born.
"Next Mr. Rich sent me to the Tower where he and one other
charged me to name any others who shared my faith. They asked me about Lady Suffolk,
Lady Sussex, Lady Hertford, Lady Denny, and Lady Fitzwilliam.
"Then they put me on the rack because I confessed no ladies
or gentlemen to be of my opinion, and they kept me on the rack a long time. (The
rack was an instrument of torture, consisting of two axles about six feet or so
apart. The victim's ankles were tied to the two ends of one axle and her hands to
the other. Then by a rachet she was pulled so that her joints were loosened.) Because
I did not cry, my lord chancellor and Mr. Rich racked me with their own hands until
I was nigh dead. The lieutenant then loosed the rack and I fainted. After I recovered
from the faint, they sat me on the stone floor and questioned me for two hours.
They urged me to recant, but I said I would rather die than break my faith."
Anne Askew was now released for a time while she recovered from
her torture. Then she was arrested again and wrote and signed the following confession:
"I, Anne Askew, of good memory, do confess myself here a
sinner before the throne of his heavenly majesty, desiring his forgiveness and mercy...
But this is the heresy which they report me to hold, that after the priest has spoken
the words of consecration, there remaineth bread still. They both say and teach
it for a necessary article of faith, that after these words be spoken, there remaineth
no bread, but even the self-same body that hung upon the cross on Good Friday, both
flesh, blood, and bone. To this belief of theirs, I say, Nay... Concerning your
mass as it is now used in our days, I say and believe it to be the most abominable
idol that is in the world. For my God will not be beaten with the teeth, neither
yet dieth he again ; and upon these words that I have now spoken will I suffer death."
Anne Askew, born to wealth and prosperity, could have enjoyed
life if she had not chosen to follow Christ. After signing the confession she was
condemned to die. She was carried to Smithfield,
the place of execution, in a chair because her tortures had made it impossible for
her to walk. She was tied to the stake by a chain that held up her body. Three others were also brought with her to suffer
for the same offence. They were Nicholas
Belenian, a priest; John Adams, a tailor; and John Lacels, a gentleman of the court
and household of Henry VIII.
When the wood had been piled around them, Dr. Shaxton preached
a sermon. During the sermon, where he said something Scriptural, Anne Askew would
approve it; but where he spoke error, she said, "He misseth the mark in speaketh
without the Book."
After the sermon the four martyrs prayed. A great crowd stood
around, kept back by a railing. In seats of honor, or rather dishonor, sat Wrisley,
the Chancellor of England, the old Duke of Norfolk, the old Earl of Bedford,
the Lord Mayor, and others. Then the Lord Chancellor offered Anne Askew a letter
of pardon, if she would recant; but she refused to look at the letter, saying that
she had not come to this place to deny her Lord and Master. Pardons were also offered
to the other three, and they likewise refused.
Then the Lord Mayor commanded the fire to be put to them and
cried out, Fiat Justitia. And thus Anne and her three companions were swallowed
up in the flames as sacrifices to God.
*****
Dr. Clark is Professor of Philosophy,
Butler University, Indianapolis, Ind.
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