Diarmaid MacCulloch, Ph.D.: Thomas Cranmer"--Ch. 4: Queen Anne, 102ff.

LAST HALF OF 1533. Frith was burned on 4 Jul. Prof. MacCulloch thinks Cranmer cannot be blamed, not knowing he would change his mind 13 years later, or, 1546 (102). This scribe disagrees; Dr. Cranmer was guilty as a principal, a co-conspirator, an aider and abetter, of first degree, aggravated homocide. Someone realized he is using a 20th-21st century hermeneutic and that the 16th century hermeneutic allowed murders on religious grounds, especially the Papists of the Imperium. On another front, by way of background, in this time frame, Latimer is creating a theological ruckus in Bristol with the backing from area leaders. Latimer is on the cutting edge, even if the "silent" Cranmer may be "rigged for ultra quiet." Over in Canterbury, the Maid of Kent story is detailed including her interrogation, confession and and execution (102-103). The Warham partisans lose credibility in the conflict, advantaging Dr. Cranmer. Dr. Cranmer is also party to this homocide--the killing of one human by another human. More widely, Prof. MacCulloch also notes the Papal response by the end of 1533 as well as Dr. Cranmer’s challenge of restaffing an ecclesiastical structure stuffed with Warham-partisans installed over his 30-year regnancy. Also, Bloody Bonner is in Marseille, France is telling Clement face-to-face that if the Pope does not act decently, bye, bye England. As for Canterbury, Dr. Cranmer had to create his own new fiefdom with his own clique. As for Barton, Henry and Anne are not amused with this Pentecostal visionary claiming divine inspiration, authority, infallibility and inerrancy...and having wide acceptance and popularity.

And the story of the "conflicts of interests" goes on. Or, shall we say "collision of interests?" Political, economic, social, legal, and theological.

Meanwhile, avant-garde evangelicals and Bible-men, Tyndale, George Joye and Coverdale are working on the vernacular Bible south of the Channel.