Diarmaid MacCulloch, Ph.D.: "Thomas Cranmer:" Ch. 4--Anne Boleyn, 130ff.

1534-1536. The obstructionism and out-maneuvering of Dr. Cranmer continues from Stokesley, Nix, Veysey, and Longland. Thomas Crumwell will become Henry’s answer—Crumwell will command, virtually, the entire CoE. A Layman will run the CoE as Henry's Vice-gerent. And that’s that. Prof. MacCulloch claims that Cranmer had no hand at all in the dissolution of monasteries (which Crumwell had learned from Wolsey, the idea of which had been around elsewhere, e.g., Switzerland). Crumwell has the seat of pre-eminence in the House of Lords and in Convocation. Well, that won’t go over well with those fearing the “evangelical programme of reform.” Prof. MacCulloch uses the word “evangelical” in this chapter, again without any bullet-points of definition. Our multiple readings and marginal notes attest to previous frustrations including the closing of the chapter. Where did Anne go? Poof. We'll wait for the next chapter, but this was largely about politics. But, the Prof. closes it brilliantly in another way—Cranmer: a “popular and successful diplomat,” “an exception researcher,” and a “deviser of texts for a complex and difficult problem.” But, Cranmer was “no politician” and he “lacked the political ruthlessness or deviousness to outface even clerical politicians, like Stokesley and Gardiner, let alone the hard-faced nobleman on the King’s Council” (135). That was for Crumwell. Crumwell and Cranmer knew each other skills and worked well together.