LS in French, signed “V[ot]re bon amy, Henry R,” one page, 17 x 12.25, October 1, 1532. Important letter to the "trescher et tresgrand amy Le seig[eu]r de Granvele premier maistre des Requestes et Conseill[e]r de L'emperor," the master of requests for the Emperor, thanking him for welcoming his earlier ambassadors and agents and for helping to maintain good relations between England and the Empire. He announces that he is sending Nicholas Hawkins, Archdeacon of Ely, as ambassador in place of Thomas Cranmer. King Henry VII thanks him affectionately and asks him to give credence to everything that Dr. Hawkins would say on Henry's behalf. Addressed on the reverse, which retains its papered seal embossed with royal arms. In fine condition, with a faint stain touching the signature.
Thomas Cranmer, called 'the Father of the English Church,' was to return to England to become the Archbishop of Canterbury, installed on December 3, 1533. In that role, he was a leader of the English Reformation and helped build the case for the annulment of Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon, which was one of the causes of the separation of the English Church from union with the Holy See. Along with Thomas Cromwell, he supported the principle of royal supremacy, in which the king was considered sovereign over the Church within his realm. Cranmer put the English Bible in parish churches, drew up the Book of Common Prayer, and composed a litany that remains in use today. Denounced for promoting Protestantism by the Catholic Mary I, he was convicted of heresy and burned at the stake in 1556.
Past sales history: Sotheby's, December 14, 1989.
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