Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556), the first Protestant archbishop of Canterbury, was born in Nottinghamshire, England, and studied at Jesus College, Cambridge for eight years. In 1523 he became a university preacher. When the issue of Henry’s divorce from Catherine arose, he was appointed archbishop after making the case that it was a matter that should be decided by theologians rather than by Rome. As archbishop, he annulled the marriage and validated the crowning of Anne Boleyn. He instituted Protestant reforms, including the introduction of a Bible in the common vernacular, known as “Cranmer’s Bible.” After Henry’s death, and during the reign of Edward VI, he did much to firmly establish the Church of England by writing or commissioning the First and Second Prayer Books and the Forty-two Articles (later the Thirty-nine Articles). When the Catholic Mary became queen in 1153, he was arrested and thrown into the tower in London. He was burned at the stake after first recanting but then later affirming his Protestant views. He was the chief architect of the Church of England, a cornerstone for many Protestant denominations.
