Diaramid MacCulloch, Ph.D.: "Thomas Cranmer," Ch. 3--Campaign to end a m...

3. Campaign to end a marriage: 1527-1533, 41-78. “Gilbert Burnet wearily called his own heroic effort to describe Henry VIII’s struggle to end his first marriage ‘an account of a tedious negotiation with the subtlest and most refined court of Christendom in all the art of human policy’” (41; Burnet.1.1., 281). 23 European universities and 160 contemporary scholars were involved in “the astonishing continent-wide scale of the business,” “a lucrative source of consultancy fees for academics: (41). Leviticus 18 and 20 were on the table, but Henry did not want to hear of Dt. 25.5 and levirate law. An ecclesiastical dispensation from Rome from the canonical prohibition was sought by Henry VII and Ferdinand when Arthur died in 1502 and Catherine was redeployed to Henry VIII. Apparently, Henry genuinely viewed his childless (in terms of a son and male heir) as a divine judgment—in a deeply personal way viewing it as a judgment on the Tudor dynasty if not fixed. Cranmer has a minor ambassadorial role to Spain in 1527, perhaps as a Wolsey agent part-time while tending to the Cambridge pasturage. Cardinal Campeggio arrives in London in Oct 1528 on this issue and the Legate and Wolsey open up discussions at Blackfriars, London, on 28 May 1529 but, “in an act of deliberate procedural sabotage,” is closed on 30 July 1529 (44). Wolsey’s credibility is shot. The Roman Pontiff “had suffered a blow which would likewise prove fatal” (44). Fox and Gardiner are at the Cressy House in Waltham, Essex, in the summer of 1529, the last days of the Blackfriars meeting. Cranmer is lodging at the Cressy House with two Cressy students in avoidance of a summer plague. On 2 Aug 1529, Cranmer, Fox and Gardiner, three old Cambridge friends, discuss Henry’s conscience and problem. After Wolsey fell, Gardiner was Henry’s new secretary. Cranmer’s suggestion of getting university reviews was not novel. The University of Paris in Oct 1528 took a straight vote—a bare majority ruling in Henry’s favor. Cranmer met More in/around 25 Oct 1529 as one of Henry’s “theological trouble-shooters.” Cranmer has penned a volume at this point (46-47). We would add that this volume seems to get little play in the biographies? One writer indicates that the volume was a significant aid at OXBRIDGE, but also was presented to the Curia on his first trip to Rome in 1530. A scholar's notes and arguments, as it were.