Friday, June 01, 2007

Cranmer - Reform

One of the things I've got out of this term so far is an even bigger respect for Thomas Cranmer.

To private subjects, it appertaineth not to reform things, but quietly to suffer what they cannot ammend.

For Cranmer, "quietly to suffer what they cannot ammend" meant quietly suffering the execution of his sponsor (Anne Bolyen) on trumped-up charges of adultery, seeing close friends and allies of his executed (Thomas Cromwell) or burnt at the stake (Latimer and Ridley) and in the end his own burning at the stake. Serious respect.

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