there
offered preferment by the pope. He married the niece of Osiander, who had
himself written on the subject of the divorce. On Warham's death he
succeeded him in the primacy, and returned to England. As archbishop,
Cranmer pronounced the divorce against Catherine and crowned Anne Boleyn,
and was sponsor to the Princess Elizabeth, whom he baptized. After Anne
Boleyn's trial he pronounced her marriage void, and acted as her confessor
in the Tower. Throughout his primacy Cranmer actively supported the
reforming party. In 1539 he was one of the commissioners for inspecting
into the matter of religion. In 1545 he was accused of heresy by the
opposite party led by Gardiner, and would have fallen but for the support
of the king, who befriended Cranmer throughout his life, and sent for him
to attend his death-bed. Great changes had occurred at Canterbury.
Becket's shrine had been destroyed, and a dean and twelve canons were
established in place of the old monastery of Christ Church, which was
dissolved. Under Henry's will Cranmer was appointed one of the Regents of
the Kingdom and Executors of the Will, and it was he who crowned Edward
VI. who, like Elizabeth, was his godchild. Throughout the reign of Edward,
Cranmer earnestly supported the cause of the Reformation. The Six Articles
were repealed and the first Book of Common Prayer was issued. On the
death-bed of Edward, Cranmer signed the king's will, in which he appointed
Lady Jane Grey his successor. On the accession of Queen Mary he was at
once ordered to appear before the council and within a month was committed
to the Tower. In November, 1553, he was pronounced guilty of high treason,
but was pardoned on this count, and it was decided to proceed against him
as a heretic. In 1554 he was sent to Oxford, with Latimer and Ridley,
where he remained two years in prison and was condemned as a heretic by
two successive commissions. After the death of Latimer and Ridley, Cranmer
was degraded and deprived. It was after this that, in the hopes of saving
his life, he made his famous recantation. He was brought into St. Mary's,
and in his address to the people withdrew his recantation and declared
that his right hand which had signed it should be the first to burn. He
was hurried to the place of execution opposite Balliol College, and, when
the pyre was lighted, held his right hand in the flames till it was
consumed, and died, calling on the Lord Jesus to receive his spirit.

#Regin