Born in 1489 at Aslockton, Nottinghamshire, second son of a minor squire, Thomas Cranmer completed a doctorate in divinity at Cambridge. There he acquired a knowledge of Scripture, respect for its authority, and interest in its plain exposition. Luther’s revolt had an impact in the 1520s, and papal resistance to reform convinced Cranmer that correction of abuses demanded elimination of the power of Rome.

In 1529, while discussing the crisis in Henry VIII’s suit for marriage annulment, Cranmer suggested to two of the king’s advisers that European faculties of canon law should make the…