41! 



< KANMUK, THOMAS. 



CKANMKK, THOMAS. 



of the Scripture*, the councils, and tho fathers ; and that the popo 

 liad no power to giro a dispensation for that which WAS contrary to 

 Ui<- wonl of God. Cranmer havim: profeosed hU willingness to 

 iii.inU.in th-re po-itioiu in the presence of the pope, wa acquainted 

 nilh tha kin-;'* intention immediately to aend him to Home. Paint 

 were taken to make thu judgment known. Cranmer hiicm-li ,h- 

 poted npon it at i'aml>i iiUe, and brought several over to hi< opinion. 

 He then return. d to hif attendance upon the court ; and having beeu 

 appointed chaplain to the king, an I presented to a benefice and the 

 archdeaconry of Tanntoo, joined the others who were associated with 

 him in UM embassr, and travellc 1 to Home about the close of 152!). 

 The ambassadors, finding all arguments unavailing to persuade 



at to favour the divorce, quickly returned to England. Cran- 

 mar alone remained in Italy. At length even his patience was 

 exhausted by continued refusals to allow him to maintain in public 

 the judgment* of the English and foreign universities, which went 

 for the mod part favourable to the kind's cause. The |>ope con- 

 ferred on him, for the sake of conciliation, the empty title of ' Supreme 



itiary,' an. I toon afterwards pl:x!ly saw him turn his hack upon 

 Italy (1630). In prosecution of the aame business, Cranmer now 

 wrut to Franco, and also to the Emperor of Germany an expedition 

 which, altlion.-h it produced no decisive public result, led to an event 

 of great private consequence to himself. Hegardleia of the Romish 

 injunction for clerical celibacy, during thu residence abroad he married 

 (153:-) a second time ; the object of his choice being the niece of hia 

 friend Osiaoder, the paatorof Nurcmburg. This imprudent act, which 

 be could not avow, exposed him eventually to many unworthy evasions. 

 It was not long after they were united, before Cranmer received news 

 of ArchbUhop Wai ham's death (August 1532), and.of Henry's intention 

 to raise him to the see of Canterbury. He suffered four months to 

 elapse, in the hope that the king might change his mind, and then 

 unwillingly accepted this promotion, which the neccnary oaths respect- 

 ing celibacy acd obrdicnce to the pope rendered unacceptable : he 

 was consecrated on the SOth of March 1533, making a public protesta- 

 tion, at the time when he swore submission to the pope, " That he 

 did not intend by this oath to restrain himself from anything that he 

 waa bound to either by hi* duty to God, or the king, or the country." 

 " By this," says Buraet (' Hi-t. Reformation,' vol. i), "if he did Hot 

 wholly aave his integrity, yet it was plain be intended no cheat, but 

 to act fairly and above board." Afraid of a rupture with England, 

 the pop* accepted leas than the usual fee. 



Crantner, coon after bis appointment, discussed the king's cause in 

 convocation ; and having travelled to 1 >untable, to which town the 

 commuaion adjourned in order to be near Queen Catharine's residence 

 at Ai.ii.thill, ho there (23rd of May 1533) declared the marridge null 

 and void. Five dnvi afterwards he publicly married the king to Anne 

 Boloyn, a private marriage having taken place in the January previous. 

 He also officiated at their coronation on the 1st of June, and stood 

 posMor to the Princess Elizabeth, who was born in the following 

 September. 1 he business of hia office and parliamentary duty now 

 occupied his time. With his assistance wero passed several statutes, 

 by which the power of the pope in England was materially diminished ; 

 the convocation and univtnitice assented to these statute*, pronouncing 

 that " the bi-hop of Home has not any greater jurisdiction conferred 

 on bun in this realm of England than any other foreign bishop." 



In 1534, when Sir Thomas More and Fisher, bishop of Rochester, 

 refused the oath of supremacy, Cranmer' s best endeavours wero used 

 in rain, Ant to overcome tha scruples of the recusants, and after- 

 wards to diaeu-ide the king from executing the sentence that had 

 "been pronounced upon them. In this year, with the consent of the 

 convocation, be Mt on foot a translation of the Bible, by diu.lim; 

 Tyodale'e venioa of the New Teataiumt into nine or ten parU, whii-h 

 b* required the most learned bishops to revise ; the translation waa 

 eotnpbted and ultimately printed at Paris. In 1535 Cranmer asaisted 

 in the correction of a fecund edition of the King's Primer,' a book 

 containing doctrine* bordering upon Protentautliiu), of which it linn 

 been asserted that the archbishop was originally the compiler. Ilia 

 continual study of the Bible, and the nates that he had collected 

 npon all beads of religion, both from pUces in scripture, and nncient 

 fathers and doctors, fitted him most fully for the undertaking. In 

 Aofnat be wrote a curious letter (Strype) to the king, respecting the 

 publication of hi* supremacy by the clergy, mid urged him to tha 

 sappresiioa of the monasteries, which ho considered inconsistent with 

 true and full reformation. Cromwell was now raised by the kin:; to 

 be bead of his eetbsjasUcal aflairs, under the title of Vicar-general, 

 ad Creamer ooturcrated Latiraer and Sfaaxton to the sees of Worcester 

 and Salisbury. In 15SO died Catharine the divorced queen; and 

 Henry being now tired and jealous of Anne Boleyn, soon got rid of 

 ber. Craamrr wu forbidden the court, lest his presence might impedu 

 the proceedings against the queen, from whom ho received uniform 

 kindness. In virtue of bis office he pronounced her marriage void 

 (1536). aod on the day after her execution the king was united to 

 Jane Seymour. In June the archbishop opened the convocation, 

 where Cromwell presided as vicar-general ; the record of the late 



' divorce wat sanctioned without the opposition of Crnn 

 any other member. After much viulent and useless discusnou, tin; 

 nyood proceeded to debate npon the sacraments. Cranmer spoke at 

 ' ooatidsrabU length, and article! wero afterwards framed by him, and 



others of the ' new learning,' as the doctrines of the reformers 

 then called, by which considerable innovation* were effected. The 

 pope, who was watchful uf the proceedings of England, threatened to 

 assemble a synod, for the sake of passing censure* upon !! 

 anticipation of which, Cranmer an'l others signed a declaration that 

 the kiug need not obey their decisions, in cue such an assembly wa 

 convened. With the assistance of many eminent divines, Crsnmrr 

 arranged a compilation calUd the ' Bishop's Book,' inculcating the 

 doctrines of tho reformers as expressed in the articles of the pre- 

 ceding year. The king, to whom this book wan submitted, hiranelf 

 inserted some corrections, from which the Archbishop was bold enough 

 to dissent. However ill Henry's temper might have brooked such 

 contradiction from another, ho bore it patiently from the archbishop, 

 who bod been his uio-t useful friend, and we find that in the October 

 of this year, when the queen gave birth to Prince Ed wan I, th-i 

 primate and the Duke of Norfolk stood sponsors at hU baptism. 



The destruction of the greater abbeys was now rapidly proceeding ; 

 and the funds which arose from them wero lavished by !! ir 

 unworthy favourites, until Cranmer, who had hoped tn apply them t 

 the promotion of religion and education, remonstrated against their 

 improper application. A nu;n of money was obtained for tho founda- 

 tion of some new bishopric?, hut tho king's prodigality could be 

 checked no further. In the autumn of 1533 the primate ci 

 London to meet an embassy of German Protestant divines, for whom 

 hi strove to procure a conference with the lingli-h ecclesiastic*. To 

 the great disappointment bath of the ambassador* and t'io reformer*, 

 the king opposed their wishes, and directed Tonstul, a bishop opposed 

 to the ' new learning,' to draw up an answer to the disscr 

 which had been compiled by the German divine". 



On tho 5th of May 153S, Cranmer and others were appointed com- 

 missioners "to inquire" (Le Ban. vol. i. -01) "into the debited doc- 

 trines, and to prepare such article:) as would pacify the spirit oC 

 controversy." At the end of eleven days the labours of tha cotnmi^- 

 aioners coming to no result, the Duke of Norfolk offered six :i 

 (I'urnet, vol. t) for tho consideration of tho House of Lords, ('in. 

 tiler's opinion agreed only with ono of these articles. Being desired 

 by the king to explain himself in writing, he composed a treati--n 

 upon the case, which, with hia secretary, to whom it was intrusted, 

 became the subject of a singular adventure. (Btirnet, vol. i.) In 

 parliament he argued for three days with considerable leirnin 

 eloquence, until the king, who favoured tho articles, angrily desired 

 him not to appear a^oin in that hou-e until they became law. Crnn- 

 inor, obedient to Henry in most points, in this respectfully resisted 

 the kind's commands; but although ho continued present, he was 

 unable either to throw out the Duke of Norfolk's measure or to alter 

 the sanguinary penalties which it contained. As soon as this act WHS 

 passed, Latimer aud Shaxton resigned their bishoprics, an example 

 ivhich, contrary to expectation, the archbishop did not think it liis 

 duty to follow. He retained his see, and lived in retirement with his 

 wife, who however was noon compelled to retreat to Germany. 



In July 1540 the primate presided nt tlie convocation which pro- 

 nounced the unjustifiable sentence of dissolution of the marriage 

 which liod bceu solemnised between Henry and Anno of Cloves, Thin 

 ceremony was quickly followed by the execution of Cromwell. Tha 

 misconduct of Catherine Howard, whom Henry had man 

 soon as he had put away hi* former queen, coming to the knowledge 

 of the archbishop, ho undertook to report her profligacy to the king 

 (1541). After an investigation, the proofs of her crimes were held to 

 bi conclusive : she was condemned, and after a delay of aomo weeks, 

 duiiir,' v.hich time Henry, through a message, of which Cranmor was 

 the bearer, promised to spare her life, she was executed. 



Tho maintenance of the ground that the Reformation had g.Vmc I, 

 and the extension of it where possible, now (1642) became the solo 

 occupation of Cranmer, who had transferred to the universities tho 

 task of revising a new edition of the Bible published the yc.tr before. 

 This revision it had been proposed to apportion among tho bishops, 

 requiring an English version of a part from each, whatever might 

 be his opinions. This was considered a step gained, as it certain' 

 tho preferable method ; and notwithstanding the reformers did not 

 in nil things prevail (for a prohibition against Tyndale's Bible was 

 secured by their opponents), they had still further success in procuring 

 an order that tho scriptures should be read in English by the in 

 in the church service. lu a iniuor degree Cranmer' a attenti > 

 occupied in reproving the excesses of luxury in which some ecclesias- 

 tical establishments a> well as the bishops hid indulged. 



In May 1543 appeared tho ' King's Book,' which was in fact little 

 more than a new edition of the 'Institution,' altered iu some points 

 by the papal party : it received its name from the preface, which was 

 written in Henry's name. The clergy being hostile to this book, 

 Cranmer, at a visitation of bis diocese, in submission to the king's 

 supremacy, forbade them from preaching against any portions of it, 

 however they or ho himself might dissent from them. The exertions 

 which ho had used for the correction of his diocese, in which religions 

 variance was at a great height, were watched and examined by his 

 political adversaries, who hoped to found on them such accusations as 

 , would cusura his ruin. The prebendaries of Canterbury ami soim 

 | magistrates i;i Kn 4 , encouraged by Gardiner, after holding a uc- 

 oc-ai'jn of meeting', finally drew up articles accusing Cranmor of 



