Thomas Cranmer

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Thomas Cranmer (2 July 1489 – 21 March 1556) was an English theologian who was a leader of the English Reformation and served as Archbishop of Canterbury from 1533 to 1555, during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a short time, Mary I. He is honoured as a martyr in the Church of England. Cranmer was ordained a Catholic priest and served on the theology faculty at the University of Cambridge. At the behest of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, he later served Henry VIII as a diplomat in Europe. Cranmer helped to build the case for the annulment of Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon, which was one of the causes of the separation of the English Church from union with the Holy See. Along with Thomas Cromwell, he supported the principle of royal supremacy, in which the king was considered sovereign over the Church within his realm and protector of his people from the abuses of Rome. During Cranmer's tenure as Archbishop of Canterbury, he established the first doctrinal and liturgical structures...

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