"Thomas Cranmer:" Jasper Ridley (#17): Ch.4--Archbishop of Canterbury: D...

BREAKING (LOL): Tom's caveat to the consecration oath (not just Henry's idea alone, to wit, the caveat) is, to this scribe, a break-through: to wit, "I'll take this oath of loyalty to the Pope, fellas, insofar as it doesn't violate God's law or Word or violate my reformist ideas." The Papists understand it that way. So does Chapuys, the London ambassador to Charles V. Everybody in London, "those in the know," in courtly circles, know Cranmer is a Lutheran. Chapuys, while a Papist, often gets the court gossip quite right.

Huge caveat by Tom (which he read aloud three times). A naive man? No, absolutely not. Honest? Yes. Crafty? Well, yes, like all the courtiers and Henry. But Tom is NOT like one biographer put it, "As artless as a child." Plundering the Egyptians, as it were? Sort of. Made an Archbishop? Definitely. Plans for reform? Hmmm. GAME ON. But what's next?

We believe Tom had reformist impulses when becoming the Archbishop. This is huge on this end.

Buckle up. 1533 has a lot of BREAKING NEWS! (The consecration oath has been debated now for about 470 years. Honest, perjurious or duplicitous?)