homas Cranmer was the Archbishop of Canterbury and known most famously as an adviser to Henry VIII. He was born in 1489 at Aslockton in Nottinghamshire. His father, also called Thomas, was a gentleman who could trace his family tree back to an ancestor who arrived in England with William the Conqueror. Young Thomas most likely attended the parish grammar school and two years after his father's death was sent to study at Cambridge by his mother in 1503. He studied hard for several years, learning latin and studying logic and philosophy. He became a fellow of Jesus College and received a Master of Arts degree. When Thomas married he had to leave the college and found work at Buckingham College to support his wife who was expecting a child. Sadly both mother and child died in childbirth and Thomas was allowed to return as a fellow to Jesus College.Thomas became involved in the matter of the marriage between King Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon in around 1527. The King wanted the marriage annulled on the grounds that it was illegal for him to marry his brother's wife and in so doing allowing him to marry Anne Boleyn. Several experts from Cambridge and Oxford were chosen to rule on this and Thomas was one of the experts chosen. Several years later Thomas met Stephen Gardiner and Edward Fox, two men with links to Henry VIII. The three men discussed the marriage issue and Thomas suggested putting the question to the educational houses of Europe. When Henry found out about this idea he summonsed Thomas to court.
