Derek Wilson’s book The Queen and the Heretic is about Catherine Parr (the queen) and Anne Askew (the heretic). Both women had similar backgrounds and lived at the time of Henry VIII. This book is about the Reformation in England and how that affected people. This is an interest of mine, and I have quite a few history books dealing with the period. I picked this book up in a charity shop in Dewsbury in September 2025 because it looked like a book I would find interesting – I did.
The Reformation in England was not a tidy or ordered affair. There were a number of factors in play, including Henry VIII’s wish to separate the state from the influence of Rome, the new availability of the Bible in English which meant that many more people could read it, the desire of the government to seize many of the buildings and financial assets owned by the church in order to pay for increasing war expenditure, and many new theological ideas coming into the country from the continent. These changes, and an increased number of people rejecting accepted thinking, caused the men in power (and it was men at this time) to become more and more punitive to those who challenged them. The result was a time of upheaval and many executions.
This book outlines what was happening, and why, and then talks about the two women of the title. Catherine Parr was the final wife of Henry VIII and an ardent, and thoughtful, Protestant. She came under attack from men around Henry who feared her influence and was forced to apologise and submit to the king for having her own thoughts and opinions. She survived Henry’s reign. Anne Askew, a gentlewoman, read the Bible for herself and became an advocate of Protestant thinking. She fell afoul of the authorities because they felt threatened and eventually she was tortured and burned alive. Both women were intelligent and educated and, unusualyl for the time, both put their religious thoughts in writing so we can read and understand their views.
This is a short book but I found it fascinating. The author outlined clearly what was happening, and why, and using the two women to look at what could happen to people at the time was very enlightening. This is possibly not a book for someone who doesn’t understand the main issues of the Reformation, but if you do then it is a very interesting read. I shall shelve this book with my collection of volumes on Tudor history.
