2-490-875 - Historisk Bildbyrå/Mustang media/Heritage Images

Title page of Thomas Cranmer's Book of Common Prayer, 1549. Cranmer (1489-1556) was the Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of the English kings Henry VIII and Edward VI. He declared the marriage of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon void in 1533, paving the way for the king to marry Anne Boleyn. Cranmer was instrumental in pushing through Henry's reforms to the Church and wrote the first two editions of the Book of Common Prayer, the first of which was published in 1549 during the reign of Edward VI.