Thomas Cranley

Thomas Cranley DD (a.k.a. Thomas Craule; c.1337–1417) was a leading statesman, judge and cleric in early fifteenth-century Ireland, who held the offices of Chancellor of Oxford University,Archbishop of Dublin and Lord Chancellor of Ireland.

He was born in England about 1337; little seems to be known about his family. He entered the Carmelite order: he is recorded as a Fellow of Merton College, Oxford, in 1366, became Warden of New College in 1389 and Chancellor of the University of Oxford in 1390. He was a Doctor of Divinity and a judge.

In 1397, on the death of Richard Northalis, he was made Archbishop of Dublin and arrived in Ireland the following year. After the accession of King Henry IV, Cranley undertook a diplomatic mission on the King's behalf to Rome , and was made Lord Chancellor of Ireland in 1401. When Henry's son Thomas, Duke of Clarence, was made Lord Deputy of Ireland, Cranley was appointed to his council. A letter which he sent to the King around the end of 1402 painted a grim picture of the state of English rule in Ireland. Cranley assured the King of his absolute loyalty and duty to both the King and his son, but implores the King to send money and aid since "your son is so destitute of money that he has not a penny in the world ... and his soldiers have departed from him, and the people of his household are on the point of leaving." The King, who was generally short of money, is not known to have responded.

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