Anke Hanß was born in 1584 as the daughter of a wealthy landowner in Koldenbüttel, North Frisia (now Germany). She became an orphan at an early age and at the age of 15 married the high-level official Hermann Hoijer (Hoyers). From this period on she was known as Anna Ovena Hoijer (Hoyers). After her husband's death in 1622 she lost a large part of her assets as a result of inheritance disputes. At this point she began to intensively deal with religious themes and subsequently published out of convincement many writings which were directed against the Lutheran clergy. On various occassions she provided shelter and protection to persecuted sectarians from the official church. These action brought her repeatedly in conflict with the authorities who accused her of heresy. She reacted at these attacks with aggressive anticlerical-satirical poems.
She subsequently emigrated to Sweden, after surviving with much luck a devastating storm tide in 1634 (''Buchardi flood''; 10.11-11.10.1634) which resulted in her losing the remainder of her land In the following years, she lived in deep poverty and constant wandering.
Even from her Swedish exile she contintued to attack the German clergy in the strongest terms.
Not until 1648 did her financial situation begin to stabilize as a result of receiving a small estate near Stockholm which was provided to her as a present by the widow of Gustav Adolph.
She lived here with her sons until her death in 1655.
