23 April 1533 A.D. Dr. Thomas Cranmer declares Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon “null and void”

23 April 1533 A.D. Dr. Thomas Cranmer declares Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon “null and void”

Watch the timeline below carefully.

Bromiley, G.W. Thomas Cranmer: Archbishop and Martyr. London: Church Book Room Press, 1956.

Cranmer, Thomas. The Works of Thomas Cranmer, Vol. 1-3 (ed. Parker Society. No location: Hardpress Publishing, 2012. Available at: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Cranmer-Edited-…/…/ref=sr_1_11… A few online resources are available at: Cranmer, Thomas. Writings and Disputations, vol. 1 (1844) PDF Cranmer, Thomas. Writings and Disputations, vol. 2 (1844) PDF [Internet Archive]

Pollard, A.F. Thomas Cranmer and the English Reformation, 1489-1556. London: G.P. Putnam’s Son, 1906 

Timeline 

25 January 1533. Henry VIII, according to Cranmer, married Ann Boleyn “about St. Paul’s last” (Bromiley, 25; Cranmer, II, 246). This was Wednesday, 25 Jan 1533.

23 April 1533. On Sunday, Dr. Cramer declares Henry’s existing marriage to Catherine “null and void.” This is Sunday, 23 Apr 1533. Henry could rely on Dr. Cranmer's foregone conclusion. 

28 April 1533. 5 days later on a Friday, 23 Apr 1533, Dr. Cranmer announces Henry’s marriage to Anne Boleyn “valid” (Bromiley, 25).  Well, that didn't take too long.  

1 June 1553. On a Thursday, a 6-months pregnant Ann Boleyn is crowned at Westminster Abbey, London. Witnesses notice the obvious pregnancy. 

7 Sept 1533. On Thursday, Lady Elizabeth is born to Henry and Anne. Typically, newborns were baptized three days later. 

10 Sept 1533. On Sunday, Dr. Cranmer stands as a sponsor at Lady Elizabeth’s baptism into the covenant.  

Prof. Pollard: “It accorded well with the fitness of things that the first Metropolitan of the Reformed Church of England stood as godfather to the infant under whose guidance the cause of the Reformation finally triumphed” (Pollard, 60).  

19 May 1536. Friday, Anne Boleyn’s head would be lopped off on Tower Hill, leaving Lady Elizabeth motherless.

Bromiley (25) would claim Dr. Cranmer “could not withstand the royal verdict.” Dr. Cranmer: “I am in such a perplexity, that my mind is clean amazed; for I never had a better opinion in woman, that I had in her; which maketh me to think that she should not be culpable” (Cranmer, PS, II, 324). In a letter to Henry, Dr. Cranmer again: “And again, I think your highness would not have gone so far except she had surely been culpable.”  

Between 19 May and 30 May 1536. Dr. Cranmer officially and conveniently declares Henry’s and Ann’s marriage “null and void” (Brom, 25). Grounds of nullification: Henry had an adulterous relationship with Ann’s sister. Although, the meetings on the issue were tightly controlled with Cranmer being excluded and Cranmer being told "what" was pertinent. Cranmer issues the nullification. 

30 May 1536. Henry marries Jane Seymour. Well, ain't all that pretty convenient now?

All the dates quite convenient in the “auto-nullification” program of Henry as facilitated by Dr. Cranmer.