Thomas Cranmer

Synopsis

Thomas Cranmer (1489 – 1556) was the archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of the English kings Henry VIII and Edward VI. He was an influential theologian who is arguably the co-founder (with Richard Hooker and Matthew Parker) of Anglican theological thought. He is credited with writing and compiling the first two Books of Common Prayer which established the basic structure of Anglican liturgy for over four centuries and influenced the English language through its phrases and quotations. Cranmer was an important figure in the English Reformation which denied papal authority over the English Church. After Queen Mary reunited the Church of England with the Roman Catholic Church, he was executed in 1556 for heresy.

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Main article

Thomas Cranmer (July 2, 1489 – March 21, 1556) was the archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of the English kings Henry VIII and Edward VI. [1] He was also an influential theologian who is arguably the co-founder (with Richard Hooker and Matthew Parker) of Anglican theological thought.

He helped build the case in favor of Henry's divorce from Catherine of Aragon. Cranmer guided the English Reformation in its earliest days. Following the death of King Henry, Thomas Cranmer became a key figure in the regency government of King Edward VI.

He is credited with writing and compiling the first two Books of Common Prayer which established the basic structure of Anglican liturgy for over four centuries and influenced the English language through its phrases and quotations. Cranmer was an important figure in the English Reformation which denied papal authority over the English Church.

After Queen Mary reunited the Church of England with the Roman Catholic Church, he was executed in 1556 for heresy. Cranmer was later celebrated as a martyr in Anglican culture, particularly through the works of John Foxe. His impact on religion in the United Kingdom was profound and lasting.

Life

Cranmer was born in 1489 in Aslacton, now Aslockton, near Nottingham. Details of Cranmer's early life are scarce. His parents, Thomas and Agnes (Hatfield) Cranmer, were from the lesser gentry and had only enough wealth and land to support their eldest son upon their death. Due to this lack of land, the scholarly Thomas and his younger brother entered the service of the church. Cranmer went to Jesus College, Cambridge in 1510. He lost his fellowship when he married Joan, the daughter of a local tavern-keeper. Cranmer was able to continue his studies and was ordained in 1523 following his wife's death during childbirth. He went on to earn a bachelor's degree of divinity and soon after he took his doctor's degree in divinity.

It is often thought that King Henry's infatuation with Anne Boleyn led him to seek a way to annul his existing marriage. However there is good evidence that Henry made the decision to end his marriage with Queen Catherine because she hadn't delivered a surviving male heir. What-ever the reason, Henry and his ministers applied for an annulment from the Vatican in 1527. The initial response was not favorable.

The following year, an outbreak of sweating sickness forced Cranmer to leave Cambridge for Essex. There he came to the attention of the family of Anne Boleyn, who found Cranmer a willing advocate for the annulment of the king's marriage from Catherine of Aragon. Cranmer became involved with the case as a researcher. Cranmer, Bishop Edward Foxe, and others compiled the Collectanea Satis Copiosa (the sufficiently abundant collection) in 1530, giving legal and historical precedent of cases such as Henry's, allowing the king to build an academic case to break with Rome. His work became known to the king and Cranmer was sent as part of the embassy to Rome in 1530. He was given the position of Archdeacon of Taunton.

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