George Cromer

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George Cromer († March 16, 1542/43) was Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of all Ireland under King Henry VIII from 1522 . During his tenure, the English Church split from Rome.

Born in England, Cromer succeeded John Kite at the turn of the year 1521/22 , who moved to the Diocese of Carlisle in mid-1521 . He first allied himself with the Lord Deputy (Viceroy) Gerald FitzGerald, Earl of Kildare , against Archbishop John Alen of Dublin and Lord Chancellor Cardinal Wolsey . After Wolsey's fall and death in 1530, Alen also fell, so that Cromer could take over his position as Lord Chancellor of Ireland in 1532 . Two years later, Alen was finally murdered by Gerald's son Thomas , which Cromer strongly condemned, so that he escaped the subsequent break-up of the FitzGerald faction.

At the end of the same year (1534) King Henry VIII finally broke with the Pope by enacting the Supreme Act . Cromer firmly rejected the Supreme Act, arguing that it could not apply to Ireland. He organized among the clergy of his diocese and the suffragan bishops subordinate to him resistance against the new loyal Dublin Archbishop George Browne , who had been commissioned by Cromwell with the implementation of the Reformation in Ireland. As a result, Cromer was immediately revoked from the Irish lord chancellorship; but he was able to hold out as archbishop. Since his intrigues - among other things he tried to ally himself with the Duke of Norfolk - but led to nothing, he seems to have surprisingly come to an agreement with the royal supremacy. Pope Paul III In any case, he had him suspended on July 23, 1539 for heresy and appointed the Scottish theologian Robert Wauchope as his successor , who, however, never became a bishopric. Cromer ruled Armagh with the benevolence of the king until his death in 1542 or 1543. His Anglican successor was George Dowdall , who would later switch to the papacy.

literature

personal data
SURNAME Cromer, George
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Archbishop of Armagh during the Reformation
DATE OF BIRTH 15th century
DATE OF DEATH March 16, 1542 or March 16, 1543