Wikipedia:Today's featured article/requests/Thomas Cranmer

Portrait of Thomas Cranmer in 1545

Thomas Cranmer was a leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury. He helped build the case for the annulment of Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon, a cause of the separation of the English Church from the Holy See. He established the first doctrinal and liturgical structures of the Church of England and published the Exhortation and Litany. When Edward VI was king, Cranmer published the Book of Common Prayer, changed doctrine or discipline in several areas, and promulgated the new doctrines through the Homilies. Upon the accession Mary I, Cranmer was put on trial for treason and heresy. While imprisoned he made several recantations and reconciled himself with the Catholic Church. Mary wanted him executed, so he was burned at the stake and withdrew his recantations. Cranmer's death was immortalised in Foxe's Book of Martyrs and his legacy continues through the Book of Common Prayer and the Thirty-Nine Articles. (Full article...)