Diarmaid MacCulloch, Ph.D.: "Thomas Cranmer," Ch. 6: A “Reformed” Church...

Chapter 6. A “Reformed” Church? 1535-1539. Pages 173-178. Until the mid-1530s, Lutheranism had been a reformist influence in England. Cromwell held his cards close to the chest. German and Scandinavian influences for the Schmalkaldic League competed for Henry’s interests with France and the Imperialists. A new and potential realignments was sown in 1531 through Grynaeus’s connection with Cranmer, to wit, the upper Rhineland and northern Switzerland. The Eucharist issues was alive. There was an east-west chain across central Europe—Strassburg on the West with Bucer, Sturm, and Capito through Grynaeus in Basel to Bullinger of Zurich and Vadianus of St. Gall. Calvin is not on the scene. The Grynaeus-Cranmer contact brought Bucer—with his multi-facetted plan of alliance between central Europe and England. Of note, Gardiner’s De Vera Obedentia wins praise for its anti-papal propaganda—the Strassburg edition had a gushing preface by Capito, Hedio and Bucer, of all things. Eyes are on Cranmer. Bucer in March 1536, with predictable flattery, dedicates his “blockbuster publishing venture” on Paul’s epistles to Cranmer, specifically the commentary on Romans. We ask: Impact on Dr. Cranmer in 1536? Bucer sees a potential ally in combatting Rome and Anabaptism. Efforts at doctrinal flexibility by Bucer in the issue of the Schmalkaldic League was sniffed out by the Swiss—again, the Eucharistic issue. Also, Bullinger of Zurich sets about to woo Cranmer in 1536, to pull him into Bullinger’s “spider web.” Grynaeus is Bullinger’s agent. Three, then seven, English students study at Zurich in Aug 1536 who are further agents. Rudolph Gualter, a young Zuricher, goes to England, and returns with now 7 Englishmen—all with fruitful exchanges of letter between Bullinger and Cranmer by Jun 1537. Cranmer seeks Bullinger’s view of the Pilgrimage of Grace, a northern uprising—he blames three sources: ignorant priests and monks, an illiterate populace, and a history of inter-tribalist conflicts. As it were, Bucer and Bullinger are now in widening contacts with Dr. Cranmer.