Cranmer, Thomas (1489–1556)

English cleric, archbishop of Canterbury from 1533. A Protestant convert, he helped to shape the doctrines of the Church of England under Edward VI. He was responsible for the issue of the Prayer Books of 1549 and 1552, and supported the succession of Lady Jane Grey in 1553.

Condemned for heresy under the Catholic Mary I, Cranmer at first recanted, declaring his former opinions to be wrong. However, when his life was not spared, he resumed his position and was burned at the stake, first holding to the fire the hand that had signed his recantation.

The story told by the Protestant martyrologist John Foxe, that Cranmer suggested in 1529 that the question of Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragón should be referred to the universities of Europe rather than to the pope, is almost certainly incorrect. However, it is true that Cranmer rose to prominence because he supported the royal divorce, and in 1533 he declared the marriage null and void.