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Four hundred and fifty years ago today, Thomas Cranmer, then the Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury was burnt at the stake for heresy. He served under three English Monarchs, the last of them Queen Mary Tutor. In 1556 she ordered, as the Roman Catholic Queen, that he be executed on a burning pyre. Many consider Cranmer the founder of the Church of England, having penned the famous Book of Common Prayer.

Studying divinity at Jesus College, Cambridge, he was famed for his dedication and interest in unorthodox philosophy. He was expelled for four years for marrying despite the requirement that students remain celebrate, but was readmitted after she died during childbirth. Later, in Essex, he came to the attention of Henry VIII, who found him a willing advocate for his divorce from Catherine of Aragon, for which he was appointed as a researcher. Sent to Rome as part of the embassy, he later became ambassador to the Roman Emperor Charles V.

In January 1533, the King discovered that the woman he wanted as his wife – Anne Boleyn – was pregnant. The annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon therefore became a matter of urgency. He was wed in secret to Anne Boleyn at the end of January. On 30 March the same year, Cranmer was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury. Henry chose him, believing that he would offer wise counsel and support his policies. Some historians argue that this appointment illustrates that the King did not believe that he would obtain consent for his annulment from Rome. When he became Archbishop, Cranmer brought his wife with him, whom he had met in Nuremburg; the rules of clerical celibacy, however, meant that he had to keep her presence secret. In May he announced that the King’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon was void and declared that Anne Boleyn was now his lawful wife; in so doing, he contradicted the Pope’s command.

Gradually under the reign of Henry VIII, Cranmer pushed through his reforms leading to the reform of the Church of England. He opposed the King’s Six Articles which reaffirmed clerical celibacy. He also denied that that Christ became physically present in the bread and wine of the Eucharist, although he later changed his mind. As a result of the Dissolution of the Monasteries he was given the former Cluniac Nunnery at Arthington. Cranmer was a huge admirer of the King, despite his impious life, and expressed great sorrow upon his death in 1547.

Henry VIII’s successor was the Protestant boy King Edward VI. Cranmer had started work on producing a prayer book of Protestant character in English during Henry’s reign and he now completed it. It was influenced by European theologians including Peter Martyr, Hermann of Wied and Martin Bucer. He produced two versions. Flowing with Cranmer’s famous prose, it was nevertheless quite conservative in contrast to the second version three years later. The second edition did not contain any prayers for the dead, had lost the sacrificial elements in the Eucharist and abolished several traditional ceremonies. In addition, Cranmer said that images should be destroyed. He wrote a book of homilies to promote better preaching and literacy amongst the clergy, and produced forty-two articles that summarised the Anglican doctrine, leading the Church of England down a Protestant path.

On Edward’s death in 1553, the Roman Catholic relationship would be restored however. The daughter of Catherine of Aragon had been brought up as a Roman Catholic and was now due to reign as Queen. Once upon the throne the counter-reformation began. Cranmer was removed from office on 14 February 1556 and was charged with treason as a Protestant. The Queen was not unaware of his role in the removal of her mother. Although he was tried and sentenced to death, the Queen spared his life at the last moment. It was a brief reprieve however. He was later tried for heresy and was found guilty. To avoid execution, he made a number of recantations which the Queen’s Heresy Act stated would absolve his sins, but Cranmer was still sentenced to death by burning. On 21 March 1556, he was taken to St. Mary’s Church in Oxford to make a public statement reaffirming his recantation. Cranmer, however, stood at the pulpit and withdrew it, denouncing instead Roman Catholic doctrine and the Pope. Immediately afterwards he was taken away to be stood alive on a burning wood-fuelled fire.

To this day, his life is celebrated by the clerical element of the Church of England, who still uphold thirty-nine of his articles when they enter the priesthood. One contemporary Canon writes about Cranmer and two other church men burnt at the stake: “Their heresy was proclaiming freedom of religion in England, affirming the Book of Common Prayer and teaching the reformed faith.” For Radio 4′s Thought for the Day this morning, the Bishop of Liverpool, James Jones, recalled the life of Thomas Cranmer. His piece appeared to be a dig at the secularists who chant on and on about freedom of speech and lament the growing resurgence of religious expression in society. Such people, he seemed to be saying, would do well to recognise the impact of Cranmer’s work on the society in which we find ourselves today.

It may be so, but there are other lessons from that period of history to be learned as well. Discuss…