Cranmer, Thomas

Cranmer, Thomas (1489–1556), Abp. of Canterbury. Soon after he became a Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge, he became convinced that specifically English matters were not properly any concern of the Pope. When in 1529 it seemed that Henry VIII's ‘divorce’ proceedings were unlikely to succeed, Cranmer played an active part in marshalling University opinion on behalf of the King. On William Warham's death (1532), Henry arranged for Cranmer to be elected Abp. of Canterbury (consecrated 1533). In 1533 he annulled Catherine of Aragon's marriage with Henry and three years later pronounced a similar judgement on the King's marriage with Anne Boleyn. He was partly responsible for the ‘Ten Articles’ and for the dissemination of the Bible in English. Under Edward VI, in the Book of Common Prayer of 1549 and again in 1552, he achieved his ambition of revising the Church services and putting them into English. He was largely responsible for the abolition of the old Church ceremonies, the destruction of images, the ‘Forty-Two Articles’, and an attempt at canon law revision (Reformatio Legum Ecclesiasticarum), and he pressed for union with the reforming Churches of Europe. On the accession of Mary (1553) he was accused of treason, tried, and sentenced, but the Queen spared his life. After being tried for heresy, he made several recantations but renounced them and was burnt at the stake. Feast day in CW, 21 Mar.; in the American BCP, 16 Oct.