In 1544 Cranmer successfully exerted himself in parliament to carry a bill to mitigate the severity of the statute of the Six Articles. He also assisted in compiling an improved English Litany, essentially similar to that which is now in use. Difficulties however were in creasing around him, and he had the dissatisfaction of seeing the seals, which were now resigned by Lord Audley, his personal and political friend, conferred upon Lord Wriothesley, an adherent of the Roman Catholic party. By this appointment, as well as by the death of the Duke of Suffolk, it was expected that the kiug's favour towards the reformers might be weakened. Nor indeed was it long after Suffolk was in his grave before Cranmer, who, with three others, had been associated with the queen in the government of England during Henry's temporary absence in France, had reason to feel his lose The Duke of Norfolk and other members of the privy council accused him of spreading heresies through the land, and prayed the king that, for the safety of his dominions, the archbishop might immediately be com mitted to the Tower. Henry, on the same night that the accusation was received, caused Sir Anthony Denny to carry a message to Crammer, who rose from his bed to attend upon the king at Whitehall. The council aessmbled on the following morning, and summoned before them the primate, who had been insultingly kept for an hour in a servants' waiting-room. At length sentence of imprisonment was passed upon him, but, to their surprise and confusion, he produced the signet of the king, from whose hands he had received it the night before. The council did not venture to proceed any further in the case.
After a peace had been concluded with France (1548), Anhault, the French admiral, came to England. A resolution was made by him, and sanctioned by the king, that the Reformation should be proceeded with, and that in both countries the mass should be changed into a communion, the form of which Cranmer was ordered forthwith to draw up. This was the last year of Henry's reign.
The king, who of late had grown so corpulent and unwieldy that he was raised up and let down the stairs by a machine, after an illness of some weeks sank under his disease on the 27th of January, 1547. Cranmer was named one of the executors of his will, and one of the regents of the kingdom.
On the accession of Edward, who had not yet completed his tenth year, and the better to establish his supremacy, the bishops received anew their bishoprics at his hands. The first public act of the primate was the coronation of the new king (February 20, 1547), and the delivery of a short address which he then substituted for the cus tomary sermon. No one that heard the expressions of the archbishop could hope for the restoration of papal supremacy ; all things indeed betokened a still further extension of the Reformation. An inquiry into the state of religion, by means of a visitation of the whole king dom, was immediately set on foot : twelve homilies, four of which are ascribed to Cranmer, were drawn up, and ordered to be placed in every church, with the translation of Erasmus's paraphrase of the New Testament, for the instruction of the people. It is true that theso measures, though they had many supporters, met with frequent oppo sition. Gardiner continued to argue, both in person and in writing, against the homilies and the paraphrase, which the Bishop of London also proclaimed to be heretical. Nevertheless Craamer's influence prevailed ; and when he produced in convocation an ordinance that the laity as well as the clergy should receive the sacrament in both kinds, the proposition passed unanimously, and soon after obtained the sanction of the legislature. By the same parliament tho Act of the
Six Articles and other severe statutes were repealed.
During this winter session of parliament it was proposed to confer upon the king such chapels, chantries. and colleges as had escaped his father's grasp. There were few subjects upon which Crsnmer's opinion coincided with that of the Roman Catholic party, but in this case he joined their ranks, and voted in opposition to the hill. He now (1548) revived the proposal for substituting a communion office for the mass, and a service was framed in time to be circulated to the clergy for their two at the following Easter.
The more considerable labours which occupied the Protestants at this time still remain to be told. An English translation of a cate chism which had been written In German and in Latin by one Justin Jonas, was published by the archbishop, entitled Creamer's Cate chism.' In the month of May a commission of twelve divines, with Cranmer at their head, was appointed for the compilation of au English liturgy. Nor were these the only additions to the ordinary duties of the primate : he took charge of a bill, which was passed, permitting marriage among the clergy. By the end of November the Prayer-Book was finished, and on the 15th of January, 1549, legal sanction was given to it. Great opposition was made to these changes in different parts of England, in Wiltshire, Somersetshire, Norfolk, and especially in the west, where at the instigation of their religious teachers, the people took such weapons as they could procure, and mustered in con siderable force. The legislature, anxious to quell this disturbance, desired Cranmer to draw up an answer to fifteen articles of remon strauce which had been framed by the insurgents. A very masterly reply (Strype's 'Cranmer,' Appendix 40) was written, but not com pleted before the leaders of the insurrection were apprehended and executed, and the rebels bad dispersed. It would have been more to the honour of the archbishop if the spirit that pervaded his reply had been carried into a commission at which he presided for the suppression of certain heresies, for he would then have escaped the stain of having condemned two persons to the stake ; but however amiable and for bearing was his general disposition, no excuse can be offered for him or for his friends Ridley and Goodrich, who, with others, were impli cated in this affair. Upon the condemnation of Lord Seymour (1549) Creamer signed the warrant for his execution, notwithstanding the canon law set forth that no churchman should meddle is matters of blood. Whatever may have been the primate's conduct towards Seymour, towards his brother the Protector Somerset it was unexcep tionable : from the time that his distresses commenced till his execu tion was effected by the enemies whom the weakness of his character and elevated station had created, he retained Creamer's firm and invariable friendship. Bonner, the bishop of London, was now degraded by commissioners, of whom Cranmer was one. When this commission was dissolved, an ordinance was signed by the primate, the chancellor, and four others of the council, for the abolition of Roman Catholic books of devotion; an addition was also made at this time to the ritual that had been substituted for them, in the shape of a formulary for ordination; and other steps were taken by the primate in order to diffuse a better knowledge of the creed of the Protestants. At Lambeth he received the most eminent foreign divines, Martin Bucer, Fagius, Peter 3lartyr, and several more.