The Cathedral Church of Canterbury [2nd ed.]: A Description of Its Fabric and a Brief History of the Archiepiscopal SeeWithers, Hartley
History
The Cathedral Church of Canterbury [2nd ed.]: A Description of Its Fabric and a Brief History of the Archiepiscopal See
Withers, Hartley
Canterbury Cathedral
On the accession of Queen Mary he was at
once ordered to appear before the council and within a month was committed
to the Tower. In November, 1553, he was pronounced guilty of high treason,
but was pardoned on this count, and it was decided to proceed against him
as a heretic. In 1554 he was sent to Oxford, with Latimer and Ridley,
where he remained two years in prison and was condemned as a heretic by
two successive commissions. After the death of Latimer and Ridley, Cranmer
was degraded and deprived. It was after this that, in the hopes of saving
his life, he made his famous recantation. He was brought into St. Mary's,
and in his address to the people withdrew his recantation and declared
that his right hand which had signed it should be the first to burn. He
was hurried to the place of execution opposite Balliol College, and, when
the pyre was lighted, held his right hand in the flames till it was
consumed, and died, calling on the Lord Jesus to receive his spirit.
#Reginald Pole# (1556-1558) a near connection of Henry VIII. then
succeeded. He was born in Worcestershire and was educated by the
Carthusians at Shene and at Magdalen College, Oxford. He was early
advanced to the Deanery of Exeter and other preferments. On leaving Oxford
he visited the universities of France and Italy and returned to England in
1525. Henry attempted in vain to secure Pole's support on the divorce
question, and on the appearance of his book, "Pro Unitate Ecclesiastica,"
he was sent for by the king, and when he refused to come, an act of
attainder was passed against him. In 1537 Pole was induced to accept a
cardinal's hat. It is said that he was most unwilling to do so on the
ground that he contemplated marrying the Princess Mary and seating himself
on the English throne. He took an active part in promoting the Pilgrimage
of Grace and the second rising in 1541. He remained in Italy until the
death of Edward VI. On the accession of Mary he returned to England as
papal legate after the question of his marriage with Mary had been again
discussed and set aside through the influence of the Emperor Charles V. On
Cranmer's execution Pole was consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury. As
legate he absolved the Parliament and made a solemn entry into London. For
the next three years Pole was in sole management of the ecclesiastical
affairs of England, and was consenting to the persecutions which disgraced
the reign of Mary. He was at one time deprived of his legatine authority by
Pope Paul IV. who had wished for the elevation of Gardiner to the primacy.
The archbishop submitted to the pope and was again appointed legate shortly
before his death which occurred about the same time as that of Mary. He
was buried in the corona at Canterbury, where his tomb yet remains. He was
the last Archbishop of Canterbury to be buried in his own cathedral, until
the recent interment of Dr. Benson.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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