Thomas
Cranmer was born in Nottinghamshire in 1489. Educated at Jesus
College, Cambridge, he took holy
orders in 1523. When Henry
VIII was
discussing the possibility of divorcing Catherine
of Aragon,
Cranmer suggested an appeal to the universities of Christendom. This
advice gained him the favour of the king and he was appointed as archdeacon
of Taunton.
Cranmer
also became a royal chaplain and was attached to the household of
Thomas Boleyn, the father of Anne
Boleyn.
In 1530 he was sent on a mission to Italy and this was followed by
a trip to Germany to meet Charles V. In 1532 he went on a diplomatic
mission to Nuremberg where he met and married the niece of the German
Lutheran theologian, Andreas Osiander.
In
1533 Cranmer was appointed Archbishop
of Canterbury. Cranmer pronounced the Henry's marriage to Catherine
of Aragon null
and void. He followed this by arguing that the king marriage to Anne
Boleyn was
valid. Cranmer was also godfather to the king's daughter Elizabeth.
In
1536 Cranmer annulled Henry's marriage to Anne
Boleyn and
divorced him from Anne
of Cleves.
Cranmer also played an important role in discovering details about
the premarital affairs of Catherine
Howard.
When
Henry
VIII died
in 1547, Edward
was too young to rule, so his uncle, Edward
Seymour, Duke of Somerset, took over the running of the country.
Cranmer
supported Seymour's move towards Protestantism and promoted the translation
of the Bible into English. In 1548 he converted the Mass into Communion,
constructed two new Prayer Books (1549 and 1552) and composed the
42 articles of religion in 1553.
When Edward
Seymour fell from power Cranmer supported the new regent, John
Dudley, the Duke of Northumberland.
By this time Edward
was suffering from tuberculosis
and as his health deteriorated, Dudley,
persuaded the king to alter the succession in favour of his own daughter-in-law,
Lady Jane Grey. She was declared queen
three days after Edward's death. However, she was forced to abdicate
nine days later in favour of Edward's half-sister, Mary
Tudor.
On 14th September, 1553,
the new queen sent Cranmer to the Tower of
London. Convicted of treason he was condemned to die. In an effort
to save his life he signed seven submissive recantations. However,
he publicly repudiated his recantations just before he was
burnt at the stake on 21st March, 1556.
(1)
On 21 March 1556, Thomas
Cranmer was executed for heresy. An eyewitness in the crowd
described his death.
Coming to
the stake... he put off his garments with haste, and stood upright
in his shirt The fire was lit... he stretched out his right hand,
and thrust it into the flame, and held it there before the flame came
to any other part of the body... As soon as the fire got up, he was
very soon dead, never stirring or crying all the while.
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