Thomas Cranmer on Martin Luther: "It is he who is insane!... oh, the arrogance of a most wicked man!"

Rome's defenders fail again to go deep into history. In a recent video attack against Martin Luther, a defender of Rome argues Martin Luther was a "delusional narcissist," and even the allies of Luther thought so. The proof presented comes in the form of harsh comment made by Protestant Reformer Thomas Cranmer. Rome's defender states,

That basically everybody besides Luther was either stupid or ignorant or evil. And they often don’t realize that this view of the world comes largely from Martin Luther himself, who is by all appearances from his own writings, something of a delusional narcissist. Now, look, that’s a big claim. So let me back it up. By even appealing to his allies, even people like Thomas Cranmer who would go on to lead the Church of England, into schism from the Catholic Church, Cranmer responded upon reading Martin Luther’s writings, "Luther Wantonly attacks and raves against the pontiff..." That’s the Pope. "He accuses a whole counsel of madness; It is he who is insane!... oh, the arrogance of a most wicked man!" And so it wasn’t just that Luther thought that the pope was the antichrist or that he lightly dismissed, ecumenical counsel is that throughout so many of his writings, we come away with this idea that he thinks everyone besides him is evil and wrong."

The quote from Thomas Cranmer caught my attention because the screen shot of the text used in the video goes on to say, "Yet thirty-three years later, this man went through the martyr’s flames for his Protestant faith, embracing Luther’s doctrine of justification by faith alone. The man was Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556)." This sentence, though presented in the video screenshot at around 8:07, was not mentioned by the narrating defender of Rome. This provoked my curiosity: how it that fellow Reformer Thomas Cranmer thought Luther was "insane" and "wicked" and later was burned at the stake for believing the same thing Luther did? Why would another Reformer be against negative statements about the authority of the popes and councils? Something doesn't add up. 

I'll demonstrate below that Thomas Cranmer wasn't "reading Martin Luther’s writings" when he made these comments, nor was he Luther's ally. Once again, Rome's defenders are playing fast and loose with the facts of church history!

Documentation
Given that material presented comes from a video meant to provoke "hits" and "likes," I fully realize that documentation suffers in visual presentations like these. Fortunately, from the screen shot presented, it looks like this is the webpage being utilized: The Legacy of Thomas Cranmer. The webpage is actually an edited version of this article: Factitive or Forensic? Thomas Cranmer and the Doctrine of Justification. 

From this article we find the source for the quote: Diarmaid MacCulloch, Thomas Cranmer (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1996), 27. It is in this book we discover the quote from Cranmer come from a comment he scribbled in the margin of a book: John Fisher's Assertionis Lutheraneae Confutatio (1523). This book is an attack on Luther written by a Roman Catholic (not a book from Luther!). According to the analysis of Diarmaid MacCulloch, there is not a precise dating of Cranmer's marginal notes. Obviously they cannot be earlier than 1523, but the author says they cannot be later than 1532. Says the author, "these are no emotional jottings of a youth, but the thoughts of a man who is at least thirty-four and more probably in his late thirties."

Conclusion

Lest someone think I explore bibliographic tedium for the sake of nitpicking, when these marginal notes were written is the key to explaining the Cranmer quote from the video. The dating explains why Cranmer was reading a Roman Catholic book against Luther and scribbled down that Luther was "insane" and "wicked" about popes and councils.  After mentioning these negative comments about Luther from Cranmer, Diarmaid MacCulloch writes, "So here is Cranmer, the papalist." The reason why Cranmer wrote so negatively about Luther was.. he was still a Roman Catholic when he wrote those words!

General historical inquiries will explain that Cranmer was originally critical of Luther and only later came to embrace distinctively Protestant doctrines. Rome's defender though completely neglected this important historical nuance in his video. Why? Only he can answer this question. The lesson to learn is ALWAYS look up the references Roman Catholic apologists use.