12 September 1555 – Archbishop Cranmer tried at Oxford

On Thursday12th September 1555, the trial of Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, began in the University Church of St Mary the Virgin at Oxford. He was accused of two offences, or doctrinal errors: repudiating papal authority and denying transubstantiation.

Cranmer had served Kings Henry VIII and Edward VI as archbishop, but now it was the reign of the Catholic Mary I and his ideas and the reforms he’d help make were seen as heresy.

Click here to read more about his trial.

If you want to know more about Cranmer then I’d recommend two books: Beth von Staats’s Thomas Cranmer: In a Nutshell and Diarmaid MacCulloch’s Thomas Cranmer: A Life.

Picture: University Church of St Mary the Virgin, Oxford, © Copyright Mat Fascione and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence. http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4528963