Why did Thomas Cranmer support Lady Jane Grey’s claim to the English throne?

Thomas Cranmer’s support for Lady Jane Grey’s claim to the throne was primarily motivated by a desire to protect the English Reformation and prevent the accession of Mary I, a staunch Roman Catholic.12

As Edward VI lay dying in July 1553, the duke of Northumberland devised a plan to alter the succession, declaring both Mary and Elizabeth illegitimate to ensure the crown passed to Lady Jane Grey, who was Northumberland’s daughter-in-law. Cranmer, who had been a central figure in shaping the Church of England into a Protestant institution, feared that Mary’s reign would destroy the religious reforms he had championed.123

Despite his initial resistance, Cranmer was eventually pressured by the dying king to subscribe to the document that bypassed the will of Henry VIII and established the new order of succession. This political involvement ultimately failed, leading to the collapse of the plot, Cranmer’s conviction for treason, and his eventual execution for heresy under Mary’s government.124