By Dr. John Hill
Thomas Cranmer was born July 2, 1489, in Aslockton in Nottinghamshire, England. He was the youngest son of Thomas and Agnes (Hatfield) Cranmer. The Cranmers were modestly wealthy with a lengthy pedigree of English noblemen and women.
Biographers indicate that very little is known about Cranmer’s education, but records indicate that, at 14, he transferred to Jesus College at the University of Cambridge. While at Cambridge, he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in classical literature and philosophy. He continued his work at Cambridge to complete his Master of Arts degree and began as an academic fellow at Jesus College shortly thereafter.
Following his educational pursuits, Cranmer married Joan and left his fellowship position at the college. Joan died during childbirth, and Cranmer returned to his fellowship position. During this time, Cranmer began his study of the Holy Bible and theology. He applied his training as a logician and reader of classical literature to the scriptures. He fell in love with the study, was ordained, and began preaching regularly in chapel services at the university. He completed his Doctor of Divinity degree in 1526.
During his private study, his views moved farther away from the traditional Roman Catholic views to a more humanistic viewpoint, only to morph again into a position much like the Lutheran theology that was still in its infancy. However, none of his protestant views were made public on the penalty of public execution for treason and heresy. Despite these private views, he began his work as a religious scholar, emissary, and diplomat throughout Europe.
Before continuing in this short biography, we must recreate the world in which he is now serving. Henry VIII is not yet King, and his oldest brother, Arthur, is married to Cathrine of Aragon. Arthur dies, reportedly before he and Cathrine consummated their marriage. The current King, Henry VII, gives Cathrine to Henry VIII with the noble intention of being a “kinsman redeemer,” much like the biblical Boaz and Ruth. [However, it is more likely the King did not want to repay the 200,000 ducat dowery. The couple marries (Jule 11, 1509), and after multiple miscarriages, suspicions begin to circulate that this was because of the biblical prohibition of a man marrying his brother’s wife (Lev 18 and 20). However, though no male heir was produced from the marriage, they had a daughter, Mary, who was born in 1516. Henry believed the absence of a male heir was a curse from God and demanded an annulment from the Pope. The Pope, Clement VII, who was sympathetic to the Spanish King, refused to grant the annulment partly because Catherine was the aunt to the Spanish King Charles V (also Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire). This brief sketch is an oversimplification of a very complex period.
Henry VIII charged Cardinal Thomas Worsley with arguing the case against the Pope and demanding an annulment. Worsley commissioned Cranmer to assist in the process. He traveled throughout England collecting general opinions on the annulment process and, in some way, garnering support for the annulment from among decenters. Cranmer was later appointed as ambassador to the court of Charles V, as mentioned above.
During this appointment, Cranmer traveled widely throughout Europe and met many protestant theologians. He traveled to Nuremberg, Germany, the center of the Lutheran Reformation. There, he witnessed the religious revival-style movement occurring throughout Germany. He befriended one protestant reformer, Andreas Osiander, and later married his niece, Margarete. Cranmer began to move theologically and more publicly toward his Lutheran faith.
The annulment case for Henry VIII and Cathrine failed to garner sufficient support from Pope Clement VII or Emperor Charles V. Henry VIII later, in very short order, dissolved England’s relationship with the Catholic Church and established himself as the head of the Church of England (aka, Anglican Church). As head of the Church, he granted himself an annulment and sent Cathrine into exile to More Castle, Hertfordshire.
Before the annulment could take place, there had to be a trial. So, on May 23, 1533, Cranmer was summoned to England and appointed Archbishop of Canterbury in 1532. He would sit in judgment during the annulment trial. The decision was already prearranged, although public sentiments supported Cathrine. The annulment was granted, Catherine was out, and Anne Boleyn, the King’s mistress, moved in. Cardinal Thomas Worsley, the King’s chief advisor, died of dysentery (or suicide) after failing to procure the annulment. Cranmer replaced Worsley as advisor to the King and officiated the marriage of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn.
Henry VIII was a dastardly and colorful fellow. Anne was accused of infidelity, arrested, and imprisoned in the Tower of London to await execution. Cranmer supported Anne and wrote letters to the King admonishing him that the allegation was false. His efforts fell on deaf ears, and the marriage ended in divorce. Cranmer was sent to the Tower to hear Anne’s last confessional before she was led away to be beheaded. Cranmer publicly mourned her death and advocated her innocence to others for the remainder of his life.
During the formation of the new English Church, Cranmer competed for (termed) moderate views over the traditional Catholic views. In the document named the Ten Articles, the doctrines of the Church were outlined. Cranmer procured his views for three sacraments: baptism, eucharist (Lord’s supper), and penance for sin. He lost on doctrines such as the role of icons (for worship), saints, various ceremonies, and purgatory. However, these doctrines cause the ire of many faithful Catholics, specifically in Northern England.
In 1536, faithful Catholics rebelled against Henry’s actions, the doctrines, and the closure of Catholic monasteries across England. The revolt was known as the “Pilgrimage of Grace.” Cranmer was one of the many targets of the movement. The revolt met a bloody end but secured Henry’s church and further galvanized the doctrinal positions. Cranmer kept a low profile, knowing that his views were far more protestant than they were Anglican or Catholic. Cranmer sought to soften the Ten Articles to accommodate the wide variety of views—including his own and those like him in hiding. The resulting document was the Institution of a Christian Man, or Bishops’ Book.
The King did not fully support the revision, but it was taken with other matters. After the beheading of Anne Boleyn, Henry married Jane Seymore, likely the only woman he truly married. Jane produced a male heir, Edward, but Jane died shortly after the birth due to sepsis. After Jane’s burial and period of National mourning, Henry began to edit the Bishops’ Book to his liking personally. Cranmer, emboldened by his deepening faith, confronted the King on many issues, specifically the Lutheran/protestant views of justification by faith and predestination. His efforts were in vain; Henry authorized the King’s Book in 1543.
While Jane Seymour was queen, she had been a closeted Protestant. She had certain influences on Henry, and some of those theological positions are visible in the edits of the King’s Book. Protestantism began to establish a place at the table among religious views in England during the time of King Edward VI (a child king)—it was a very small place, but a place nonetheless. With this gap, Cranmer was increasingly emboldened to live into his Protestant faith. He began openly preaching his views of justification by faith and wrote four of the twelve sermons published in a well-circulated book, Homilies.
Cranmer preached against Catholic doctrines and monasticism. His views on the eucharist (Lord’s Supper) moved away from the traditional Catholic and Anglican view of transubstantiation—the transition of bread and wine to the literal body and blood of Christ—to the symbolic view held by many Christians today.
The need for a more unified liturgy was evident as the English language replaced the traditional Latin used in Catholic worship. Cranmer was heavily involved in creating the Book of Common Prayer (1549 version), although it is unclear how much of the work was authored by Cranmer. Nonetheless, Cranmer is credited with editorship of the work.
This work was not welcomed when it was assigned for use in the churches. It met with a revolt, styled the Prayer Book Rebellion. The traditionalists called for its abolition and insisted on more Catholic views: the use of consecrated bread in worship (transubstantiation), prayers for souls in purgatory, and the reestablishment of abbeys (monasticism.)
We must fast forward a little more than a decade to the time of the illness of Boy King Edward VI. Edward became very sick, and doctors were certain of his impending death. Without any other male heirs to the Tudor throne, legal and religious experts began looking for the next legal monarch. Cranmer and others sought to crown Lady Jane Grey (Dudley) as regent mainly because of her strong protestant views. Jane was the grand-niece of Henry VIII. However, there were closer relatives to the line of succession. Mary I, the daughter of the divorced Cathrine of Aragon, later called Bloody Mary, was a staunch Roman Catholic. Jane Grey was crowned queen but was disposed in nine days for Mary I. Jane was later executed at Mary’s order; she was only 16 or 17 years old.
Cranmer performed the funerals for many in Jane’s family according to the King’s Book and advised many of the protestant faith to flee England; however, Cranmer insisted he would not flee and continued to proclaim protestant doctrine. Cranmer stated in a worship service, “All the (protestant) doctrine and religion by our sovereign lord king Edward VI is more pure and according to God’s word than any that hath been used in England these thousand years.” His words were taken as treason to Mary’s throne, and he was arrested on September 14, 1553.
On November 13, 1553, Cranmer was brought to trial for high treason, convicted, and sentenced to death. Witnesses for the prosecution testified that Cranmer was encouraged heresy and had written heretical works and sermons. Cranmer was transferred to Oxford to await a second trial regarding his (protestant) heresies. While there, he wrote a letter to one of his colleagues saying, “I pay that God may grant that [I] may endure to the end.” He remained in prison until September 12, 1555. The trial occurred in England but under the renewed jurisdiction of the Catholic Church established by Mary I.
Cranmer admitted every accusation but denied any treason or heresy. He was found guilty but remained in the prison tower. He later recanted some of his positions, and his sentence was relaxed. He recanted that he submitted himself to the King and Queen and recognized the authority of the Pope. It is possible these recantations were the result of torture.
Later, in a public service at the University Church at Oxford, Cranmer recanted his recantations and proclaimed his protestant faith. He exhorted to obey the King and Queen, but as for the Pope, “I refuse him, as Christ’s enemy, and Antichrist with all his false doctrine.” He was snatched from the pulpit and taken to the place where he would be burnt alive at the stake. As the flames engulfed him, his words were recorded, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit; I see the heavens open and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.”
Cranmer’s family was scattered across Europe during Mary’s reign. His wife, Margarete, remarried and remained in Germany until Mary’s death, and Elizabeth I (Anne Boleyn’s daughter) came to power in 1558. With Elizabeth’s coronation, the Church of England was established, and England broke with Rome for the final time. Elizabeth authorized a new Book of Common Prayer (aka Elizabethan Prayer Book) based on Cranmer’s previous work.
Thomas Cranmer’s commitment to his views is his most outstanding achievement. He believed in the sovereignty of the King or Queen but also in his reformed protestant theology. He tried valiantly to work from within to secure protestant doctrine and generally succeeded in that task. The Church of England (Anglican) celebrates Cranmer as a martyr on the anniversary of his death, March 21.
References:
Ridley, Jasper Godwin. Thomas Cranmer. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1962. Available online at: https://archive.org/details/thomascranmer0000ridl/page/n7/mode/2up
MacCulloch, Diarmaid. Thomas Cranmer: A Life. Yale University Press: New Haven, CT. 1996. Available online at https://archive.org/details/thomascranmerlif0000macc
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