Cranmer Readings: 10/19/2022

LATE 1548-EARLY 1549. Ridley, Jaspar. Thomas Cranmer. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1962. (284-289). We hear of the mish-mash-ups between the trads and the Reformed on the Eucharist. Cranmer and Ridley give a full-throated defense of the Reformed view in 14-18 Dec 1548 in the House of Lords. Prof. Ridley notes Somerset, Dorset, Warwick and Northampton had, in the same context, denounced the Romanist Mass and that the political context may have given Cranmer collateral fire support. Also, the BCP is discussed by divines at Windsor Castle and Chertsey with even the trads agreeing to a vernacular Book. But trouble was in the air with the new calendar and especially some details about Holy Communion (although Gardiner would say even he could use the 1549 BCP with his own interpretation). But, up and down the country, the “vernacular” was the objection. People wanted their Latin Mass back. Tensions were high amongst the population, not to mention the trads and Bishops. Soon enough, we'll hear of the Devonshire uprising. MARCH-APRIL 1543. Diarmaid MacCulloch’s Thomas Cranmer. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1996.(305-307). As noted last time, the Prebendaries’ Plot is failing due to decisive and coordinated action. Small-ball players are scooped up, but Cranmer is the target. Wily Winchester said he’d give 6K pounds to any bringing down Cranmer. Just so charitable of Winchester’s Bishop. Dr. London, Dr. Willoughby and others finally get a set of articles up to the Privy Council and King Henry—articles assembling data points from 1541 to this Passion Week of 1543. Henry now knew who was the greatest heretic in Kent. Stay tuned for the reversal theme effected by the Tudor.