1489-1556. English cleric, archbishop of
Canterbury from 1533. A Protestant convert,
under Edward VI he helped to shape the
doctrines of the Church of England. Condemned
for heresy under the Catholic Mary Tudor, he
at first recanted, but when his life was not
spared, resumed his position and was burned
at the stake, first holding to the fire the
hand which had signed his recantation. He was
responsible for the issue of the Prayer Books
of 1549 and 1552, and supported the
succession of Lady Jane Grey. Cranmer
suggested in 1529 that the question of Henry
VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon should
be referred to the universities of Europe
rather than to the Pope, and in 1533 he
declared it null and void.