Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556) was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1535 to 1556. Cranmer granted Henry VIII an annulment of his marriage to Katharine of Aragon, and confirmed the validity of Henry's marriage to Anne Boleyn, and stood as godfather to the infant Elizabeth. Cranmer favored Protestant reforms and promoted the English Bible. He was burned by Mary I for heresy on March 21, 1556.