Anne Askew (1521-1546) was one of the earliest-known female poets to compose in the English language, the first Englishwoman to demand a divorce, and wound up the only recorded woman to be tortured in the Tower of London. She died via explosion when one of her supporters hid gunpowder in the pyre for her execution by burning. An icon!
References:
The Queen and the Heretic: How Two Women Changed the Religion of England by Derek Wilson
Anne Askew Sentenced to Death (The Anne Boleyn Files)
Anne Askew (Spartacus Educational)
Anne Askew: Dangerous Convictions (Dangerous Women Project)
The Examinations of Anne Askew
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