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| Apr 28 2008, 12:35 PM EDT | MsSquirrly | 1 photo added |
| Apr 21 2008, 1:44 AM EDT | MsSquirrly | 7 words added, 1 photo added |
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Thomas Cranmer as played by Hans Matheson
Born July 2nd, 1489 - executed March 21st, 1556
by the order of Queen Mary 1
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| Character's backstory: Cranmer was born in Nottinghamshire, began studying at Cambridge in 1503, and married upon graduating. When his wife died within a year, however, he returned to Cambridge and was ordained priest. In 1520 he began meeting with other Cambridge scholars whom Lutheran winds blowing across the North Sea informed and invigorated. "Little Germany", as the group was called, had within it many who would subsequently become leaders in the English Reformation -- and pay dearly for it. For two years King Henry VIII had wanted to divorce Queen Katherine of Aragon on account of her "failure" to provide him with a male heir. Cranmer was consulted. He concluded that scripture, the church fathers, and church councils concurred that Henry was unlawfully married. (Katherine was a relative through her marriage to Henry's brother.) By January, 1533, Henry was desperate for a divorce, if only because the woman he wanted to marry next, Anne Boleyn, was already pregnant. Since the Archbishop had died, Henry appointed Cranmer, assuming Cranmer to be a supporter. Cranmer pronounced Henry's marriage to Catherine void and that to Anne (they had meanwhile been married secretly) valid. Gentility: Lesser Gentry Position: Archdeacon of Taunton, First Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury Personality type: His native brilliance and his unrelenting diligence saw him acclaimed a theologian of immense learning. He was deeply religious but not psychologically resilient. Signature look: clerical robes Endearing trait(s): although considered to be somewhat of a ditherer, he was a heroic defender of the reformed Christian faith. He helped translate and reform the faith and worship of the English speaking world, recalling it to a simpler more direct proclamation of Christ and the Gospel. Annoying trait(s): concerned almost entirely with his own self-interest and self-preservation; is willing to break with principles or betray friends to stay alive or in power. |  |
CHARACTER CONNECTIONSFamily members: Romance(s):Sent to Germany to confer with Lutheran princes on the King's secret Matter, Cranmer met and loved Margaret, niece of Andreas Osiander, a prominent Lutheran theologian. They married clandestinely. While as a priest Cranmer had already taken a vow of celibacy, his reading of scripture (especially his noting that apostles had married) convinced him that marriage was permitted the clergy and to be esteemed among them. For years, however, Cranmer dissembled and kept his marriage secret. Friends: Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex Sir Thomas Boleyn, Earl of Wiltshire George Boleyn Anne Boleyn - When Anne was arrested he wrote to King Henry VIII - 'If it be true that is openly reported of the Queen's Grace... I am in such perplexity that my mind is clean amazed; for I never had better opinion in woman than I had in her; which maketh me to think that she should not be culpable... Next to Your Grace, I was most bound to her of all creatures living... I wish and pray for her that she may declare herself inculpable and innocent... I loved her not a little for the love which I judged her to bear towards God and His Gospel.' Enemies: The Catholic faction |
UNFORGETTABLE CHARACTER QUOTES
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DEFINING EPISODES | MEMORABLE SCENES
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PHOTOS
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 |  in later years |
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 |  Thomas brings his secret wife from germany |
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  Left : Stained glass of the martyrdom of Thomas Cranmer, Nicolas Ridley, and Hugh Latimer who were burned at Oxford during the Marian Persecutions. (they were not however, all burned at the same time. Ridley and Latimer burned six months earlier) Top right: statue of Cranmer from Oxford's Matrys Memorial | Thomas Cranmer & the break from Rome by historian David Starkey |
