Thomas Cranmer

Article by Tom Duffy. Edited by Harriet di Francesco. Additional Research by Lauren Puckey. 

As one who enjoys discovering the motivations behind the actions of significant people in history, the world of Thomas Cranmer appealed to me. Cranmer drove Protestant reform in England as the Archbishop of Canterbury under the Tudor Kings Henry VIII and Edward VI and was very influential; so much so it has led to Jasper Ridley claiming that “…few characters have aroused as much controversy as Thomas Cranmer”. While many Protestant historians see him as a martyr, Catholic historians have seen him not merely as a heretic but as a careerist liable to change his professed beliefs. 

In his early life, Cranmer was influenced solely by religion, with politics playing no significant role. He studied Divinity both before and after his ordination as a priest, sometime between 1516 and 1520. However, Cranmer’s reformist views began to form around 1526, while his publication Censurael Determinations of 1531, produced for Henry VIIII’s case of divorce from Catherine of Aragon, appealed for individual conscience in marriage. He became a Lutheran, or at the very least, a Lutheran sympathiser, when he visited Germany in 1532. In July of that year, he married the niece of a Lutheran minister, even though such a marriage would have been prohibited by the vow of celibacy he had taken as a Catholic priest. 

Cranmer had the desire to put his reformist ideas in to practice, but realised he could not act on them until he acquired a more influential position. Cranmer’s relationship with Anne Boleyn and her family is seen as the starting point for his political motivations. As the Boleyn family’s chaplain, Cranmer suggested to them that if Papal authority was ended, Anne could marry Henry and become Queen of England, replacing Catherine of Aragon. Henry claimed that he could marry Anne as his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, the wife of Henry’s deceased brother, was illegitimate. Thomas Cranmer was subsequently appointed Archbishop of Canterbury in March 1533. This caused a great deal of surprise, particularly as there were better qualified candidates. As Cranmer was in Austria at the time and unable to stake his claim for the position, some powerful influence must have been working on his behalf at Court. The oaths that Cranmer took when he was consecrated as Archbishop of Canterbury demonstrated his political and religious motivations. He declared that he did not intend any oath to the Pope which he took at his consecration to be binding if it was against the law of God, or “…against our illustrious King of England or the Commonwealth”. By prioritising his political leader (the King) over the religious leader (the Pope), Cranmer hoped to implement his Protestant reforms. He had bided his time during Henry’s reign so as not to upset his conservative king who did not wish to move too far from Rome. This restricted Cranmer’s ability to promote religious reform. 

Cranmer was just as unfortunate when, following the death of Henry in 1547, the succession of a Protestant (Edward VI) only lasted until 1553. However, Cranmer quickly set about reforming the English Church, with reform reaching a peak in 1552. The 1549 Book of Prayer was Cranmer’s work, although modified in a conservative direction by Parliament. However, the 1552 Book of Prayer marked the official arrival of Protestantism in England. Mass was said in English, rather than Latin. 

Following Edward’s death on 6 July 1553, Lady Jane Grey was proclaimed Queen, as Edward had left the throne to her, instead of the Catholic Mary. However, Grey lasted a week, with Mary winning back the throne. This put Cranmer in an awkward position. Not only did his religion differ from Mary’s but he had already backed her rival for the throne, by signing a document, prepared by Edward before he died, that he would support Lady Jane Grey. Cranmer remained in England, even though many Protestants fled abroad. This proved a costly mistake. He may have misjudged the deep and personal grudge that Mary held against him for enabling Henry to divorce her mother, and, in a desperate attempt to save his life, Cranmer recanted his Protestantism at his trial for heresy, believing that Mary would honour Church law which stated that a repentant heretic should be pardoned. However, when Cranmer was subsequently sentenced to be executed at Oxford in 1556, he knew he was going to die. He had nothing left to lose and took back his recantation, shouting a final denunciation of the Pope as the Antichrist. As the flames rose around him at his execution in March 1556, Cranmer dramatically stretched out his right hand, the one that had signed the recantation, and pushed it deep in to the heart of the fire – “forasmuch as my hand offended, writing contrary to my hear, my hand shall first be punished there-for”.

Cranmer’s motives were, for most of his career, a delicate balancing act between religion and politics. There is no doubt that he was a religious man and when appointed Archbishop of Canterbury in 1533, he saw the opportunity to promote his religious beliefs – although he quickly realised that, with (in all but name) a Catholic King, he could not allow his desire for religious change to outrun the monarch’s appetite for reform. However, during Edward’s reign, he was able to accelerate change. In contrast, in Mary’s reign, neither his political influence nor his religious beliefs were welcome. By staying in England after Mary Tudor became queen, he showed that he was prepared to die for his Protestant beliefs. By thrusting the arm that signed the recantation deep in to the fire, he graphically demonstrated his rejection of Catholicism and highlighted how Protestantism had influenced his whole life.

← Back to Volume 1

← Back to Issue 6