"Uncovers one of the most remarkable lives in the tumultuous English Reformation" Thomas Cranmer (1489 1556) was the first Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, the author of the Book of Common Prayer, and a central figure in the English Protestant Reformation. Few theologians have led such an eventful life: Cranmer helped HenryVIII break with the pope, pressed his vision of the Reformation through the reign of EdwardVI, was forced to recant under Queen Mary, and then dramatically withdrew his recantations before being burned alive. This gripping biography by Leslie Winfield Williams narrates Cranmer s life from the beginning, through his education and history with the monarchy, to his ecclesiastical trials and eventual martyrdom. She portrays Cranmer s ongoing struggle to reconcile his two central beliefs loyalty to the crown and loyalty to the Reformation faith as she tells his fascinating life story. "