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__NOTOC__{{Infobox_Contents |topic_name =[[Thomas Cranmer]] [[Image:Cranmer.jpg|thumb|center|200px]] |subtopics =Synopsis=[[Book of Common Prayer]] |opinion_pieces ={{short_opinions}} }}

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.

{{topics}}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 [[Book of Common PrayerNottingham]]. 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. In the matter of the annulment, the embassy failed. No progress seemed possible. Anne and her allies wished simply to ignore the Pope; but in October 1530 a meeting of clergy and lawyers advised that Parliament could not empower the archbishop to act against the Pope's prohibition. Henry was determined to bully the bishops. The king finally resolved to charge the whole English clergy with praemunire in order to secure their agreement to his annulment. Praemunire, which forbade obedience to the authority of foreign rulers had been around since the 1392 Statute of Praemunire, and had been used against individuals in the ordinary course of court proceedings. Now Henry, having first charged the Queen's supporters, bishops John Fisher, John Clerk, Nicholas West and Henry Standish and archdeacon of Exeter Adam Travers, then decided to proceed against the whole clergy. Soon after, the Convocation of 1531 voted £100,000 to the king in order to avoid the penalties of praemunire, and accepted Henry as Supreme Head of the church with the saving clause "so far as the law of Christ allows." While all this was going on, Cranmer was removed from the annulment controversy and sent to the continent. In the summer of 1531 the king sent Cranmer to the Holy Roman Empire as sole ambassador to the Emperor. He was also to obtain the removal of some restrictions on English trade. At Nuremberg he became acquainted with Lutheran scholar Andreas Osiander. Both men were convinced that a true reform of the Church needed to take place, but neither knew what the new Church should look like. The bond between these two men was strengthened when Cranmer again married, this time in secret. His bride, Margaret, was Osiander's niece. Cranmer accompanied the Emperor on his crusade against the Turks. In August of 1532, archbishop William Warham died, and King Henry arranged for Cranmer to become the next Archbishop of Canterbury. The new Archbishop had been selected solely because the king felt Cranmer could provide legitimation of Anne Boleyn's expected child. By January 1533 King Henry found out that Anne was pregnant. This added urgency to the matter of the King's annulment and they were married by the end of the month. On March 30, 1533, Cranmer was appointed archbishop of Canterbury. Cranmer held no major position in the Church at the time of this elevation and he had no desire to accept the position. Never-the-less, the papal bulls of confirmation were dated February and March 1533, and the consecration took place on the 30 March of that year. Cranmer brought his wife Margarete, with him when he became Archbishop but kept her presence secret, even from the king, so as not to be seen breaking the rules on clerical celibacy. In May, Cranmer declared the marriage of Henry to Catherine of Aragon void and Anne Boleyn his lawful wife. Anne was then crowned in Westminster Abbey by Cranmer. Pope Clement VII responded to the marriage by excommunicating both Henry and Cranmer from the Roman Catholic Church. In September, the new queen gave birth to Henry's second daughter Princess Elizabeth, Cranmer was made her godfather. The birth of the Church of England continued, as well. Consequently, also in 1533, the Act of First Fruits and Tenths transferred the taxes on ecclesiastical income from the Pope to the Crown. The Peter's Pence Act outlawed the annual payment by landowners of one penny to the Pope. This Act also reiterated that England had "no superior under God, but only your Grace" and that Henry's "imperial crown" had been diminished by "the unreasonable and uncharitable usurpations and exactions" of the Pope. In case any of this should be resisted the Reformation Parliament passed the Treasons Act 1534 which made it high treason punishable by death to deny Royal Supremacy. Finally in 1536 Parliament passed the Act against the Pope's Authority which removed the last part of papal authority still legal; this was Rome's power in England to decide disputes concerning Scripture.

Thomas Cranmer (July 2: The bishop of Chichester, 1489 – March 21, 1556) was driven in one direction by the bishop of London and in the opposite by the archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of the English kings Henry VIII , was much embarrassed, and Edward VIdid not know which way to turn. [1] He His decision was also an influential theologian who is arguably for (the co-founder (with Richard Hooker and Matthew Parkerbishop of London) . The...Doctors at this period...felt it incumbent upon them to cross all Europe for the purpose of Anglican theological thought.finding in the Turkish empire the Greek rite, which was for them the Gospel

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 The German doctors had nothing more to propose and finally King Henry, Thomas Cranmer became a key figure in unwilling to break with Catholic practices, dissolved the regency government of King Edward VIconference.

He is credited with writing Seeing and compiling hearing the first two Books Lutheran doctors on his own soil had given Henry pause. At the end of 1538, a proclamation was issued, among other things, forbidding free discussion of Common Prayer which established the basic structure Sacrament and forbidding clerical marriage, on pain of Anglican liturgy death. Henry personally presided at the trial of John Lambert in November 1538 for over four centuries and influenced denying the English language through its phrases and quotationsreal presence. Cranmer was an important figure At the same time, the king shared in the English Reformation which denied papal authority over drafting of a proclamation giving Anabaptists and sacramentaries ten days to get out of the English Churchcountry.

After Queen Mary reunited The Six Articles of June 1539 was an Act of the Church Parliament of England with which reaffirmed the Roman general national leaning towards Catholicism. The articles reaffirmed six key Catholic Churchdoctrines such as transubstantiation, clerical celibacy and the importance of confession to a priest and prescribed penalties if anyone denied them. Penalties under the act ranged from imprisonment and fine to death. However, he its severity was executed in 1556 reduced by an act of 1540 which retained the death penalty only for heresydenial of transubstantiation, and a further act limited its arbitrariness. The Six Articles were opposed by the secretly married Cranmer was later celebrated as a martyr . The reforming bishops Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Shaxton resigned their sees in Anglican culture, particularly through response to the works of John Foxeact and thereafter spent time in custody. His impact on religion in Many other arrests under the United Kingdom was profound and lastingAct followed. Cranmer, it is said, laid low.

Cranmer The Great Bible of 1539 accomplished that goal. Although called the Great Bible because of its large size, the book was known by several other names as well. It was born in 1489 in Aslactoncalled the Cromwell Bible, now Aslockton, near [[Nottingham]]since Thomas Cromwell directed its publication. Details of It was also termed the Cranmer's early life are scarce. His parentsBible, since Thomas and Agnes (Hatfield) Cranmer, were from wrote the lesser gentry and had only enough wealth and land to support their eldest son upon their death1540 preface. Due Cranmer was also credited as being the man who convinced the king to commission this lack authorized version. The Great Bible would be in use until it was superseded as the authorized version of land, the scholarly Thomas and his younger brother entered Anglican Church in 1568 by the service Bishops' Bible. The last of over 30 editions of the churchGreat Bible would appear in 1569. Cranmer went to Jesus College, Cambridge Cranmer’s preface would also be included in 1510. He lost his fellowship when he married Joan, the daughter front of a local tavern-keeper. Cranmer was able to continue his studies and was ordained in 1523 following his wifethe Bishops'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 divinityBible.

It is often thought that Cromwell had supported King Henry's infatuation with in disposing of Anne Boleyn led him and replacing her with Jane Seymour, who gave birth to seek a way to annul his existing marriagemale heir, Edward VI. However there is good evidence that Henry made His downfall was the haste with which he encouraged the decision king to end his re-marry following Jane's premature death. The marriage with Queen Catherine because she hadn't delivered to Anne of Cleves in 1540, a political alliance which Cranmer and Cromwell had both urged on Henry, was a surviving male heirdisaster. What-ever the reasonCranmer would marry Henry to, Henry and his ministers applied for an annulment then divorce him from the Vatican , Anne of Cleves in short order. Cromwell was arrested in 1527May. Cranmer turned his back on Cromwell almost as quickly as he had on Anne Bolyen. The initial response Cromwell was executed later that year, Cranmer was not favorablespared.

The following year, an outbreak of sweating sickness forced Cranmer When Henry had his marriage to leave Cambridge for Essex. There he came to the attention Anne of the family of Anne BoleynCleves annulled on July 9, 1540, who found Cranmer a willing advocate for the annulment of rumours swirled that Catherine Howard was pregnant with the king's son. Their quick marriage just a few weeks after the divorce from Catherine Anne, on July 28th, 1540, reflected Henry's lifelong urgency to secure the Tudor succession by begetting healthy sons. Henry was rapidly nearing the age of Aragon50 and expanding in girth. Cranmer became involved with The Reformation had cost him much of the case as goodwill of his people and he was then suffering from a researchernumber of ailments. CranmerMatters would grow worse for the king, Bishop Edward Foxeas Catherine found her marital relations unappealing. She was not pregnant upon marriage, and others compiled the Collectanea Satis Copiosa became repulsed by her husband's grotesque body. Still, preparations for any signs of pregnancy (the sufficiently abundant collectionwhich would lead to a coronation) were in 1530place. By late 1541, giving legal and historical precedent of cases such as HenryCatherine's, allowing the king to build an academic case to break with Rome. His work marital indiscretions rapidly became known thanks to the king John Lascelles, a religious reformer whose sister, Mary Hall, was a chambermaid and Cranmer was sent as part witnessed some of Catherine's youthful liaisons. Motivated by the embassy growing threat to Rome in 1530. He was given reform from conservative Catholicism, Lascelles presented the position of Archdeacon of Tauntoninformation to Cranmer.

===Works=Quotes==

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