Reconsideration of Cranmer: 1520-1524, White Horse Inn, & Lutheranism
A reconsideration of early Cranmer, to wit, he may well have been in the thick-of-it-early-on-with-the Lutheran tangoes at Cambridge. I have been hesitant to put him in the White Horse Inn. That is being reconsidered. Elton makes this claim: “From about 1520 he belonged to a group of scholars who met regularly to discuss the theological problems raised by Martin Luther’s revolt; known to be inclined to the new way of thinking, they were dubbed `Little Germany.' Among the group that was to lead the English Reformation were William Tyndale, Robert Barnes, Thomas Bilney, and, above all, Cranmer, who by 1525 included among his prayers one for the abolition of papal power in England.” (Elton, http://www.britannica.com/EBche…/topic/141839/Thomas-Cranmer .) Fair enough, but the evidence? (The LORD only knows how many have followed Elton here.) However, a reconsidered point in Elton's direction, circumstantially: 1511. After re-election to Jesus in 1511 and after Joan Black d...