Today in 1555 Archbishop Thomas Cranmer went on trial for heresy. He was one of the architects of Henry VIII’s divorce from Catherine of Aragon, and as such when Mary Tudor came to power, Catherine’s daughter, he was one of the main people that she had a grudge against. And so today, at the University Church of St Mary the Virgin at Oxford, Cranmer entered the court, having been accused of denying papal authority, and denying transubstantiation. Transubstantiation was the belief that the bread and wine literally turned to Christ’s body and blood in Communion, and a main tenant of Protestant belief was that it was symbolic of the bond people had with Christ rather than being literal.
The Bishop of Gloucester represented the Pope in the trial, as it was under Papal jurisdiction since Cranmer was archbishop of Canterbury and had been appointed by the pope. But Cranmer didn’t show any deference to Gloucester, and when he was asked why he responded that he had once taken a vow never to let any papal authority into England, and he wasn’t about to turn back on that now.
The Pope duly stripped him of his titles, and turned him over to the secular authorities to administer their sentence to him – which would be burning at the stake.
That’s your Tudor Minute for today. Remember you can dive deeper into life in 16th century England through the Renaissance English History Podcast at englandcast.com.
Suggested links:
Episode 010: A Tale of Two Thomases Part 2 (Cromwell & Cranmer)
October is Reformation Month!
From the Shop:
Cromwell “Coffee. Because Reformation-ing is hard,” mug
Ps. All products are made on-demand and can take a few weeks to ship.
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Heather Teysko is the creator, writer, and producer of The Renaissance English History Podcast,  the original Tudor history podcast, started in 2009. She's been writing about history online for over 25 years, since her first site on Colonial American history became number one in history on Yahoo in 1998. In 2019 she created Tudorcon, which is now a yearly event, in addition to writing books, and running TudorFair.com - a whimsical Tudor Merch shop. She has been passionate about Tudor England since she first read Alison Weir's The Six Wives of Henry VIII 20 years ago, and subsequently moved to London after college to spend her time immersed in Tudor history.