Why was Thomas Cranmer’s marriage unusual for a future church leader in England?

Thomas Cranmer’s marriage was unusual for a future church leader in England because it directly conflicted with the requirement of clerical celibacy enforced by the Roman Catholic Church at the time.12

Cranmer married Margaret Osiander in 1532 while he still held priest’s orders. Because the church mandated that ordained men remain celibate, a wife would have been considered an embarrassment and a barrier to a traditional ecclesiastical career. In fact, Cranmer’s marriage is cited as evidence that he did not expect to rise to the position of archbishop of Canterbury when he did.341

Earlier in his life, Cranmer had briefly married a relative of a local landlady while at Cambridge, which forced him to vacate his fellowship at Jesus College. He was only restored to his position after his first wife died in childbirth. By the time he married Margaret Osiander in 1532, his theological views were shifting toward Reformed opinion, which eventually led to the rejection of mandatory clerical celibacy within the Church of England.531