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Actes and Monumentes of the Church.

What an answere was that? Though it were but meane (sayed I): Yet it was good enough for the question  

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Askew is here again indicating her rejection of the idea of the mass as a propitiatory sacrifice. Bonner understands this, as he shows in his reaction: 'What an aunswer is that?' (See Megan L. Hickerson, 'Negotiating Heresy in Tudor England: Anne Askew and the Bishop of London', Journal of British Studies 46 [October 2007], 788-89.)

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. Then I toulde my Lorde that there was a priest, which did here what I sayd there, before my Lorde Mayer and them. With that the Chauncelor answered, which was the same prieste. So she spake it in verye dede saith he before my Lorde mayer and me: then were there ceretaine priestes,MarginaliaD. Stādish as Doctor Standish & other which tēpēted me much to know my mind. And I āswered thē alwayes thus. That I said to my lord of Londō, I haue sayde. And then Doctor Standish desyred my Lord, to bid me say my mind, concerninge the same text of Saint Paules lerning, that I being a woman, should enterprete the scriptures specialy where so many wise lerned men wer  
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Standish's reference is to 1 Corinthians 14. Foxe omits, here, Askew's answer to Standish. As Thomas Freeman and Sarah Wall have noted, the passage in Foxe's base-text, Bale's 1550 (Copland) edition, reads: 'doctor Standish desired my lord, to byd me say my mind, concerning the same text of. S. Paule. I answered that it was against saynt Paules lerning, that I being a woman, shuld interprete the scriptures, specially where so many wise lerned men were'. Freeman and Wall have argued convincingly that this was a case of 'eye skip' - an error on the part of the compositor copying from Bale's 1550 (Copland) edition (See Thomas F. Freeman and Sarah E. Wall, 'Racking the Body, Shaping the Text: The Account of Anne Askew in Foxe's Book of Martyrs', Renaissance Quarterly 54 [2001], 1175-76).

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. Then my lorde of London said he was informed that one should ask of me if I would receiue the sacramente at Easter, and I made a mocke of it, then I desired that mine accuser might come forth, which my Lord would not. But he said againe vnto me I sēt one to geue you good councell, and at the first word ye called him papist. That I denied not, for I perceaued he was no lesse, yet made I him none answere vnto it. Then he rebuked me, and saide that I should reporte, that there were bente againste me threscore priestes at Lincolne. In dede (quod I) I sayd so. For my frendes tolde me, if I did com to Lincoln, þe priests wold assaulte me and put me to great trouble as therof they had made their boast. And whē I herd it I went thither in dede, not being afrayed, because I knew my matter to be good. Moreouer, I remained there. ix. dayes, to se what would be said vnto me. And as I was in the minster, reading vpon the bible, they resorted vnto me by. ii. and by, ii. by. v. and by, vi, minding to haue spoken to me, yet wēt they their wayes againe with out wordes speaking.

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Then my Lord asked, if there were not one that did speake vnto me. I told him yeas, that there was one of them at the laste, whiche did speake to me in dede. And my Lord than asked me what he said? And I told him, his wordes were of smal effect, that I did not now remembre them. Then said my Lord there are many that read and know the scripture, and yet not follow it nor liue therafter. I said againe, my Lord I would wish that all men knew my cōuersation and liuinge in all poynts, for I am so sure of my selfe this houre þt there are none able to proue any dishonestie by me. If you know any that can do it, I pray you bring thē furth  

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Whether or not Bonner implies, here, immoral living on Askew's part, this is how she interprets it, as she shows in her answer. In context, a woman's 'honesty' is her chastity, and her 'conversation' is her moral behavior. In his gloss ('Anne askew standeth upon her honesty') Foxe also suggests that this exchange is about Askew's sexual morality.

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. Then my lorde went away and said he would entitle sumwhat of my meaning. And so he wrote a greate circumstance. But what it was I haue not all in memory For he wuld not suffer me to haue the copy therof. Only do I remembre this small portion of it. Be it knowen (sayeth he) of all men that I Anne Askew doo cōfesse this to be my faith and beliefe, notwithstanding my reportes made afore to the contrary. I beleue that they which are houseled at the handes of a priest whether his cōuersation be good or not, do receiue the body and bloud of Christ in substance really. Also I do beleue that after the consecration whether it be receiued or reserued, to be no lesse than the very body and bloud of Christ, in substance. Finally I doo beleue in this and in all other sacramentes of holly church in all poynts according to the old catholike faith of the same. In witnes wherof I the said An haue subscribed my name. There was sumwhat more in it, which because I had not the copy I cannot now remebre. Then he redde it to me and asked me if I did agre to it. And I said againe I beleue so much therof as the holy scripture doth agre vnto. wherfore I desire you, that ye will adde that therunto. Then he aunswered that I shoulde not teach him what he shoulde write. With that, he went forth into his great chamber, and redde the same bill afore the audience, which enueygled & willed me to set to my hand saing also, that I had fauour shewed me. Then said the Bishop I might thanke other and not my selfe, of the fauour þt I found at his hande. For he considered (he saide) that I had good frendes, and also that I was come of a worshipfull stocke. Then aunswered one Christofer, a seruaunt to maister Dennie, rather ought ye (my Lord) to haue done it in such case, for goddes sake than for mannes. Then my Lord sat downe and toke me the writinge to set therto my hand: And I writte after this maner. I Anne Askew do beleue all manner thinges couteined in the faith of the Catholike church  
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This 'circumstance' (or confession of faith) appears in Bonner's Bishop's Register (Guildhall Library MS 9531/12, 109r) as Foxe reproduces it. Askew's addendum to her signature, as she describes it - 'I Anne Askew do beleve all maner of things conteined in the faith of the catholike church' - is intended to relieve her of any commitment to ideas contained within the confession that actually conflict with her own beliefs. Her use of the word 'catholike' implies 'universal' - or rather, Christ's true universal church, rather than the orthodox church associated with Roman or Henrician 'Catholic' orthodoxy.

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It is impossible to ascertain whether or not Askew did sign the confession prepared for her by Bonner in the manner she describes. However, if she wrote the First Examination as part of an exercise also including her authorship of the Lattre - in effect, after the publication of this confession of faith in June 1546 (following her condemnation) - it is likely that she had an interest in denying that she had been apostate in 1545. (See Megan L. Hickerson, '"Ways of Lying": Anne Askew and the Examinations', Gender & History 18 [April 2006], 50-65.)

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And for as much as mention here is made of the Writīg of Boner, which this godly Ann sayd before she had not in memory, therfore I thought in this place to infer the same, both with the whol circumstance of Boner, & with the title therunto prefixed by the register, & also with her owne subscription: to the entent the reader seing the same subscription nether to agre with the time of the title aboue prefixed, nor with the subscription after the writing annexed, he might the better vnderstād therby what credit is to be geuē hereafter to such bishops, and to such regesters. The tenor of Boners wriing procedeth thus.

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MarginaliaThe tenor of Boners writing wherunto An Askew suscrybed.The true copy of the confession and beliefe of Anne Askew otherwise called Anne Kime made before the bishop of London the. xx. day of March in the yere of oure Lorde God after the computation of the church of Englād. 1544 and subscribed with her owne hand in the presēce of the said B. and other whose names here after are resited, setforth & published at this present, to the entent the world may see, what credence is now to be geuen vnto the same womā who in so short a time hath most dampnably altered and changed her opinion and beliefe and therfore rightfully in open court arrayned and condempned.

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