Thomas Cranmer
Cranmer, Thomas
(krăn`mər), 1489–1556, English churchman under Henry VIIIHenry VIII,1491–1547, king of England (1509–47), second son and successor of Henry VII. Early Life
In his youth he was educated in the new learning of the Renaissance and developed great skill in music and sports.
..... Click the link for more information. ; archbishop of Canterbury. A lecturer at Jesus College, Cambridge, he is said to have come to the attention of the king in 1529 by suggesting that Henry might further his efforts to achieve a divorce from Katharine of AragónKatharine of Aragón,
1485–1536, first queen consort of Henry VIII of England; daughter of Ferdinand II of Aragón and Isabella of Castile. In 1501 she was married to Arthur, eldest son of Henry VII.
..... Click the link for more information. by collecting opinions in his favor from the universities. Cranmer went (1530) to Rome to argue the king's case and was (1532) an ambassador to Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. In 1533, Henry named him archbishop of Canterbury, and as soon as the appointment was confirmed by the pope, Cranmer proclaimed that Henry's marriage to Katharine was invalid. A few days later he crowned Anne BoleynBoleyn, Anne
, 1507?–1536, second queen consort of Henry VIII and mother of Elizabeth I. She was the daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn, later earl of Wiltshire and Ormonde, and on her mother's side she was related to the Howard family.
..... Click the link for more information. as Henry's queen. Completely subservient to the king's will, Cranmer declared Anne's marriage invalid in 1536. He promoted Henry's marriage (1540) to Anne of ClevesAnne of Cleves
, 1515–57, fourth queen consort of Henry VIII of England. The sister of William, duke of Cleves, one of the most powerful of the German Protestant princes, she was considered a desirable match for Henry by those English councilors, most notably Thomas
..... Click the link for more information. and the divorce from her, and was later (1542) one of the accusers of Catherine HowardHoward, Catherine,
1521?–1542, fifth queen consort of Henry VIII of England. She was the daughter of Lord Edmund Howard and the niece of the powerful Thomas Howard, 3d duke of Norfolk. Henry married her soon after his divorce from Anne of Cleves in 1540.
..... Click the link for more information. . Cranmer was strongly influenced by the German Reformation. With his friend Thomas CromwellCromwell, Thomas, earl of Essex,
1485?–1540, English statesman. While a young man he lived abroad as a soldier, accountant, and merchant, and on his return (c.1512) to England he engaged in the wool trade and eventually became a lawyer.
..... Click the link for more information. , he endorsed the translation of the Bible into English and was influential in procuring a royal proclamation (1538) providing for a copy in every parish church. However, as long as Henry VIII lived, the archbishop could promote no significant doctrinal changes. The situation changed with the accession (1547) of the young Edward VIEdward VI,
1537–53, king of England (1547–53), son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour. Edward succeeded his father to the throne at the age of nine. Henry had made arrangements for a council of regents, but the council immediately appointed Edward's uncle, Edward
..... Click the link for more information. , during whose reign Cranmer shaped the doctrinal and liturgical transformation of the Church of England. He was responsible for much of the first Book of Common PrayerBook of Common Prayer,
title given to the service book used in the Church of England and in other churches of the Anglican Communion. The first complete English Book of Common Prayer was produced, mainly by Thomas Cranmer, in 1549 under Edward VI.
..... Click the link for more information. (1549) and compiled the revision of 1552, which contains the most famous examples of his sonorous prose, with the aid of prominent Continental reformers. His Forty-two Articles (1553), though never formally adopted, formed the basis of the Thirty-nine Articles (see creedcreed
[Lat. credo=I believe], summary of basic doctrines of faith. The following are historically important Christian creeds.
1 The Nicene Creed, beginning, "I believe in one God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and
..... Click the link for more information. (5)). Cranmer supported the claims of Lady Jane GreyGrey, Lady Jane,
1537–54, queen of England for nine days. She was the daughter of Henry Grey, marquess of Dorset (later duke of Suffolk), and Frances Brandon, daughter of Henry VIII's sister Mary.
..... Click the link for more information. after Edward's death. Upon the accession (1553) of the Roman Catholic Queen Mary IMary I
(Mary Tudor), 1516–58, queen of England (1553–58), daughter of Henry VIII and Katharine of Aragón. Early Life
While Mary was a child, various husbands were proposed for her—the eldest son of Francis I of France (1518), Holy Roman
..... Click the link for more information. , he was tried for treason, convicted of heresy, stripped of his preferments, and condemned. A few days before his death he recanted, but when asked to repeat the recantation at the stake, he refused and thrust the hand that had written it into the fire.
Bibliography
See biographies and studies by F. C. Hutchinson (1951, repr. 1966), T. Maynard (1956), J. G. Ridley (1962, repr. 1983), and D. MacCulloch (1996).
Cranmer, Thomas
Born July 2, 1489, in Aslacton, Nottinghamshire; died Mar. 21, 1556, in Oxford. English Reformation leader.
Cranmer received the degree of doctor of divinity at Cambridge University. In 1533 he became the archbishop of Canterbury. He assisted in establishing the supremacy of the king in church affairs (Henry VIII was proclaimed head of the English, or Anglican, Church in 1534 by Parliament) and in carrying out the Reformation and the secularization of church property. Under Henry VIII and Edward VI he carried out a number of church reforms in the Protestant spirit, but his work did not result in a thorough reorganization of the English Church. When Catholicism was restored under Mary Tudor, Cranmer was accused of high treason. He was imprisoned and then burned at the stake as a heretic.
REFERENCE
Pollard, A. F. Thomas Cranmer and the English Reformation, 2nd ed.London, 1926.