Thomas Cranmer- 21 March 1556

 On the twenty-first day of March in 1556, Thomas Cranmer died at the stake in Oxford, England. Despite his human weaknesses, he died as a martyr for his understanding of the Christian Faith. Although no one person founded Anglicanism, Cranmer left an enduring legacy in the Book of Common Prayer, the general content of the Thirty-Nine Articles, and four of the Anglican Homilies. Some details of his evolving personal theologies would not be acceptable to many later Anglicans; yet in his theological and liturgical writings, Cranmer did express the Anglican perennial respect for both Scripture and the ancient Church Fathers. He was also a master of the English language. Furthermore, he had a great personal influence on both Elizabeth I and his Elizabethan successor, Archbishop Matthew Parker. This all means that the Elizabethan Settlement and later Anglicanism owe much of their content to Cranmer.

Medieval English Sources for Common Prayer

There is much that can be said about the Anglican Prayer Book tradition. Many Anglicans view Thomas Cranmer as a literary genius responsible for developing the language of prayer in English. Anglican historians often mention ancient and medieval Latin service books (especially Sarum variations), Renaissance proposals, and  German Reformation developments. They maintain that Cranmer studied these sources and transformed them into beautiful English. No doubt, there is much truth in such views.

However,  there are other sources for the tradition of English prayer. From the Anglo-Saxon period through Middle English and up through the early sixteenth century, there is a tradition of vernacular Christian prayer. Most Anglican sources fail to devote much attention to this tradition. Sometimes, a long history is dismissed by a brief reference to the Primer of 1545. In fact, the 1545 Primer is the last in a long series of medieval English devotions. In many English parishes, people learned to say basic texts in Latin or English. Some people memorized English versions of the Invocation of the Trinity, the Apostles' Creed, the Our Father, the Gloria Patri, and the Hail Mary. By at least 1400, there were Primers that included such basic English texts along with some Psalms and other prayers. Surely, this long tradition of popular devotions in English must be considered alongside official medieval liturgies. Cranmer's editorial and creative contributions were significant, but, he was also heir of a long tradition of Christian prayer in English.