CRAN'MER, TIIOMAS (1.1S9-1556). Re former of the English Church, and the first Prot estant Archbishop of Canterbury. Be was born at Aslaeton, In the county of Nottingham, on July 2, 1489. In his fourteenth year he went to Jesus College, Cambridge, of which he was elect ed a fellow in 1510, but lost his position tein porarily by marriage, being reelected on his wife's death. In 1523 he took his degree of D-D.. and was appointed lecturer on theology. In 1529, during the prevalence of the sweating sickness in Cambridge, he retired with two pupils to Waltham Abbey; and Henry VIII., in company with Gardiner and Fox, afterwards bishops of Winchester and Hereford. happening to be in the neighborhood, the event proved a turning-point in the life of Cranmer. The King was then taking steps to secure his divorce from Catharine of Aragon, and, in conversation on the subject with Gardiner and Fox, Cranmer suggested that if the universities could be in duced to declare that, in their opinion, the first marriage was unlawful, the King would be free to marry again. Henry was greatly pleased with this idea, and "swore by the 31other of God, that man bath the right sow by the ear." Cranmer was asked to reduce his suggestion to writing, and to have it submitted to the European uni versities. After this he was appointed Arch deacon of Taunton, and one of the royal chap lains. He was also sent to Rome on a special embassy in the matter of the divorce, but met with little success. Subsequently he was dis patched to the Emperor Charles V. on the same errand; mid while in Germany he married a second time, a niece of the German divine (islander. Shortly afterwards, on the death of Archbishop Warham, he was recalled to fill the vacant see of Canterbury. lie was consecrated archbishop March 30. 1533. Under his auspices Henry's divorce was speedily carried through the Archbishop's Court at Dun stable, and on May 28 be announced the legal ity of the King's marriage to .Anne Boleyn, which had taken place four months before. In Anne's subsequent disgrace, and again in the affair of Anne of Cleves, the Archbishop took a part not very creditable to him. His position was no doubt a difficult one: hut his character was naturally pliable and timid, rather than re solved and consistent. The same spirit char acterizes the measures of religious reform which were promoted by him. On the one hand he joined actively with Henry in restricting the power of the Pope. though he seems to have had less to do with suppressing the monasteries; but, on the other hand. lie was no less active in persecuting men like Frith, Forrest, and others, who, on matters of religious faith, were disposed to advance further than himself or the King.
Ile did what be could, however, to resist the re actionary movement which took place in 1539, and which is known by the institution of the six articles. Hi; was also instrumental in promot ing the translation and circulation of the Scrip tures. On Henry death Cranmer was appointed one of the regents of the kingdom. and, along with Latimer and others, largely con tributed to the advance of the Protestant cause during the reign of Edward VI. He assisted in the compilation of the service-book and the articles of religion. The latter are said to have been chiefly composed by him. lie was also the author of four of the homilies.
On the accession of Mary he was committed to the Tower, together with Latimer and Ridley. In March, 1554, they were removed to Oxford. and confined there in the common prison, called the Bocardo. Latimer and Ridley bore their cruel fate with magnanimous courage: but the spirit and principles of Cranmer temporarily' gave way under the severity of his sufferings. He was induced to sign no fewer than seven re cantations, though there is no ground for sup posing that a hope of pardon was held out to him. On March 21, 1559, be suffered martyr dom, as his fellow-reformers had done, opposite Balliol College. Ills courage returned at the end, and he showed an unexpected fortitude in the midst of the flames.
Cranmer's principal writings have been edited by Jenkyns. Remains of Archbishop Crammer (Oxford, 1833) , and by Cox, for the Parker So ciety, the titles Writings and Disputa tions Relative to the Lord's Supper (Cambridge, 1844) and Miscellaneous Writings and Letters (Cambridge, 1846). Additional material is to be found in the appendix of Strype, Memorials of Thomas (Oxford, 1848-54), and his Ecele.siast ical Memorials ( Oxford, 1822) ; in Nichols, Varratires of the Reformation, Camden Society, from the papers of John Foxe (London, 1859) ; but above all in Brewer and Gairdner, Calendars of Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII. 1862-80). Among older works, consult: Foxe, Acts and Monuments (London, 1877) ; Burnet, History of the Reformation (New York, 1S42) ; and the Lives by Todd (London, 1861) and Le Bas (London, 1833). More recent works are: Dean Hook, "Thomas Crammer," in his Lives of the ..lrehbishops, New Series (London, 186S) ; Green, History of the English People, vol. ii. (New York, 1879) ; Lingard, History of Eng land, vol. v. ( London, 1854) : and Fronde, His tory of England, vols. i.-vi. (New York, 1870).