Thomas Cranmer (2 July 1489 – 21 March 1556) was a leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a short time, Mary I. He helped build the case for the annulment of Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon, which was one of the causes of the separation of the English Church from union with the Holy See. Along with Thomas Cromwell, he supported the principle of royal supremacy, in which the king was considered sovereign over the Church within his realm.
During Cranmer's tenure as Archbishop of Canterbury, he was responsible for establishing the first doctrinal and liturgical structures of the reformed Church of England. Under Henry's rule, Cranmer did not make many radical changes in the Church, due to power struggles between religious conservatives and reformers. He published the first officially authorised vernacular service, the Exhortation and Litany.
When Edward came to the throne, Cranmer was able to promote major reforms. He wrote and compiled the first two editions of the Book of Common Prayer, a complete liturgy for the English Church. With the assistance of several Continental reformers to whom he gave refuge, he changed doctrine or discipline in areas such as the Eucharist, clerical celibacy, the role of images in places of worship, and the veneration of saints. Cranmer promulgated the new doctrines through the prayer book, the Homilies and other publications.
After the accession of the Catholic Mary I, Cranmer was put on trial for treason and heresy. Imprisoned for over two years and under pressure from Church authorities, he made several recantations and apparently reconciled himself with the Catholic Church. While this would have normally absolved him, Mary wanted him executed, and he was burned at the stake on 21 March 1556; on the day of his execution, he withdrew his recantations, to die a heretic to Catholics and a martyr for the principles of the English Reformation. Cranmer's death was immortalised in Foxe's Book of Martyrs and his legacy lives on within the Church of England through the Book of Common Prayer and the Thirty-Nine Articles, an Anglican statement of faith derived from his work.
^Matthew & Harrison 2004; MacCulloch 1996, p. 340; Ridley 1962, p. frontispiece
ThomasCranmer (2 July 1489 – 21 March 1556) was a leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward...
great-grandfather of Oliver Cromwell. Cromwell declared to Archbishop of Canterbury ThomasCranmer that he had been a "ruffian[…]in his young days". In his youth he left...
from the church. It has less accurately been termed Cranmer's Bible, since although ThomasCranmer was not responsible for the translation, a preface by...
works on commission, initially from Thomas Cromwell in Dissolution and Dark Fire, then archbishop ThomasCranmer in Sovereign and Revelation, queen Catherine...
agenda. His religious establishment was probably chosen by Archbishop ThomasCranmer, a leading reformer. Both Cox and Cheke were "reformed" Catholics or...
executed when they fell out of his favour. Thomas Wolsey, Thomas More, Thomas Cromwell, and ThomasCranmer all figured prominently in his administration...
indiscretions had meanwhile come to the attention of ThomasCranmer, then Archbishop of Canterbury. During Cranmer's investigations, he came across rumours of an...
writer Kyle Cranmer (born 1977), American particle physicist Margarete Cranmer (died c.1571), second wife of ThomasCranmer Michael Cranmer (born 1989)...
Countess of Wiltshire, wife of Thomas Boleyn Stephen Gardiner John Lambert (martyr) Henry Pole, 1st Baron Montagu Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton...
into this broad Reformation movement, under the leadership of reformer ThomasCranmer, whose work forged Anglican doctrine and identity. Protestantism is...
be associated to the teachings of theologians such as Martin Bucer, ThomasCranmer and Heinrich Bullinger who advocated a religious solution in which secular...
reforms were understood by one of those most responsible for them, ThomasCranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and others as navigating a middle way...
revision which was more Reformed but from the same editorial hand, that of ThomasCranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury. It was used only for a few months, as after...
English liturgy to replace the old Latin rites. Written by Archbishop ThomasCranmer, the 1549 Book of Common Prayer implicitly taught justification by faith...
Thomas Becket (/ˈbɛkɪt/), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December...
the church, and with it the right to appoint bishops. Henry appointed ThomasCranmer as the first Protestant archbishop of Canterbury in 1533, who would...
son Edward VI (1547–1553) largely along lines laid down by Archbishop ThomasCranmer. Under Mary I (1553–1558), Roman Catholicism was briefly restored. The...
was 45, Henry was 40. He ordered ThomasCranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, to convene a court. On 23 May 1533, Cranmer ruled the marriage to Catherine...
VIII (1970, in four episodes) as Archbishop ThomasCranmer Elizabeth R (1971) as Archbishop ThomasCranmer Omnibus: Paradise Restored (1971) as Oliver...
of this spectrum, with most Anglicans falling somewhere in between. ThomasCranmer compiled the original Book of Common Prayer, which forms the basis of...
commissioners were sent out to remove all symbols of Catholicism, in line with ThomasCranmer's religious policies favouring Protestantism ever more. In Cornwall,...
Canterbury Cathedral. He was succeeded as archbishop by his rival, ThomasCranmer. Warham Guild was named after him. Waad-Warwright Pages 1550-1577 Alumni...
been repealed under Henry VIII and Edward VI. On 13 November 1555, ThomasCranmer was officially deprived of the See of Canterbury. The Pope promoted...
1532. On 23 May 1533, the newly appointed Archbishop of Canterbury ThomasCranmer declared Henry and Catherine's marriage null and void; five days later...
taught on the Old Testament of the Bible under Bucer. English reformer ThomasCranmer invited him to take an influential post at Oxford University where he...
Reformers, including John Wycliffe, Martin Luther, John Calvin, ThomasCranmer, John Thomas, John Knox, Roger Williams, Cotton Mather, and John Wesley, as...
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