18. Thomas Cranmer
Explanatory Notes
176 that they received . . . only grace added thereto: with this response, Green denies the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation.
177 in a strange tongue . . . in both kinds: Green rejects celebration of the Mass in the Latin language and reservation of wine for priests, who only administered Eucharistic bread to members of the laity.
with the rest above named: Green underwent interrogation with prisoners named Thomas Whittle, John Tudson, John Went, Thomas Brown,
Isabel Foster, and Joan Lashford.
178 Chrysostom: St. John Chrysostom, a fourth-century Father of the Church.
'Ask . . . opened unto you': Matthew 7: 7.
180 shamefast: self-effacing.
181 pitiful: sympathetic.
18. THOMAS CRANMER
182 state: personal condition.
ancient parentage . . . to be deducted: descended from ancestry that may be traced back to the Norman Conquest.
it chanced him . . . fellowship there: he was forced to resign his fellowship because he failed to meet the requirement of celibacy.
Buckingham College: a forerunner of Magdalene College of Cambridge University.
183 lecture: a lecturer?
whereof certain friars . . . rejected by him: Cranmer rejected the qualifications for degrees in theology of members of religious orders who were knowledgeable in Scholastic authorities, but not the Bible.
a white friar: a Carmelite Friar.
184 Cardinal Wolsey's college in Oxford: Cardinal College, later refounded as Henry VIII's College, and then as Christ Church.
Lady Catherine Dowager of Spain: Catherine of Aragon, first wife of Henry VIII and mother of Mary Tudor.
canonists, civilians: canonists were experts in canon law; civilians experts in civil law.
Waltham Abbey: a town between Cambridge and London, which takes its name from a monastery at this location.
Cardinal Campeius: Lorenzo Campeggi (Campeggio), cardinal, papal legate, Protector of England, and Bishop of Salisbury.
commission from the pope . . . pretended wife: Pope Clement VII appointed Cardinals Campeggi and Wolsey to adjudicate Henry VIII's petition for a divorce from Catherine of Aragon.
Explanatory Notes
184 Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk: the pre-eminent nobles, Thomas Howard and Charles Brandon.
185 Greenwich: site of a favoured royal palace downriver from London.
harbingers: individuals who precede a royal party in order to arrange lodging for its members.
Doctor Stephens secretary: Stephen Gardiner, Secretary to Henry VIII (FBMO, n. on p. 1860).
It were better . . . word of God: Cranmer's advocacy of deciding the divorce question on the basis of scriptural authority, rather than papal prerogative, reflects Henry VIII's interpretation of Leviticus 18: 16 as a prohibition against his marriage to the widow of his late brother, Arthur.
frustratory: producing defeat.
unbolted out by: unsubstantiated with.
186 colourable: having the semblance of truth.
hath the sow by the right ear: is on the right track.
188 Earl of Wiltshire: Thomas Boleyn, father of Anne Boleyn.
the Bishop of . . . the scripture: scriptural authority nullifies that of the pope.
ambassage: ambassadorship.
189 his foot to be . . . that idolatry: Foxe and his fellow Protestants regarded kissing the pope's foot as an idolatrous act of fealty.
a prognosticate of . . . See of Rome: a foreshadowing of England's schism from the Church of Rome in 1534.
smiling in their sleeves: experiencing inward amusement.
to be defended: to advocate.
Jure divino: Latin for 'by divine law'.
190 penitentiaryship: appointment as an official charged with considering ecclesiastical cases related to penance.
Emperor: Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, nephew of Catherine of Aragon, cousin to Mary Tudor and father of Philip of Spain.
Cornelius Agrippa: Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, a German scholar who served as the historiographer of Charles V.
Agrippa fell into such displeasure . . . as it was reported: in actual fact, Agrippa died at Grenoble after being released from imprisonment for his criticism of Louise of Savoy, the mother of Francis I, King of France.
Bishop Warham: William Warham, appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by Henry VII in 1503, whose death in 1532 opened the way to Cranmer's appointment as primate of the Church of England.
191 love of this world is hatred against God: 1 John 2: 15.
192 'It is hard for a rich man . . . the kingdom of heaven': Matthew 19: 23.
'He that hath the substance . . . loveth God': 1 John 3: 17.