page_title: Martin Bucer
section_title: Exile in England (1549–1551)
hierarchical_section_title: Martin Bucer / Exile in England (1549–1551)
caption_attribution_description: This is part of a set of images gathered by User:Dcoetzee from the National Portrait Gallery, London website using a special tool. All images in this batch have a known author, and have been manually examined for strong evidence that the author was dead before 1939, such as approximate death dates, birth dates, floruit dates, and publication dates.
context_page_description: Martin Bucer was a German Protestant reformer in the Reformed tradition based in Strasbourg who influenced Lutheran, Calvinist, and Anglican doctrines and practices. Bucer was originally a member of the Dominican Order, but after meeting and being influenced by Martin Luther in 1518 he arranged for his monastic vows to be annulled. He then began to work for the Reformation, with the support of Franz von Sickingen.
  Bucer's efforts to reform the church in Wissembourg resulted in his excommunication from the Roman Catholic Church, and he was forced to flee to Strasbourg. There he joined a team of reformers which included Matthew Zell, Wolfgang Capito, and Caspar Hedio. He acted as a mediator between the two leading reformers, Martin Luther and Huldrych Zwingli, who differed on the doctrine of the eucharist. Later, Bucer sought agreement on common articles of faith such as the Tetrapolitan Confession and the Wittenberg Concord, working closely with Philipp Melanchthon on the latter.
  Bucer believed that the Catholics in the Holy Roman Empire could be convinced to join the Reformation.
context_section_description: Bucer received several offers of sanctuary, including Melanchthon's from Wittenberg and Calvin's from Geneva. He accepted Archbishop Thomas Cranmer's invitation to come to England; from his correspondence with several notable Englishmen, he believed that the English Reformation had advanced with some success.  On 25 April 1549 Bucer, Fagius, and others arrived in London, where Cranmer received them with full honours.  A few days later, Bucer and Fagius were introduced to Edward VI and his court.  Bucer's wife Wibrandis and his stepdaughter Agnes Capito (daughter of Wolfgang Capito) joined him in September. The following year, Wibrandis arranged for the rest of her children and her elderly mother to come to England.
  Bucer took the position of Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge.  In June he entered a controversy when Peter Martyr Vermigli, another refugee who had taken the equivalent Regius Professor position at Oxford University, debated with Catholic colleagues over the issue of the Lord's Supper. Martyr asked Bucer for his support, but Bucer did not totally agree with Martyr's position and thought that exposure of differences would not assist the cause of reform.  Unwilling to see the eucharist conflict repeat itself in England, he told Martyr he did not take sides, Catholic, Lutheran, or Zwinglian. He said, "We must aspire with the utmost zeal to edify as many people as we possibly can in faith and in the love of Christ—and to offend no one."
  In 1550, another conflict arose when John Hooper, the new bishop of Gloucester, refused to don the traditional vestments for his consecration. The vestments controversy pitted Cranmer, who supported the wearing of clerical garments, against Hooper, Martyr and Jan Laski, the pastor of the Stranger church in London. As it was known that Bucer had reformed the church services in Strasbourg to emulate the simplicity of the early church, Hooper expected Bucer's support.  However, Bucer tried to stay out of the fray, arguing that there were more important issues to deal with—lack of pastors and pastoral care, the need for catechismal instruction, and the implementation of church discipline. Hooper refused to be swayed, and was imprisoned in the Tower of London until he accepted Cranmer's demand.
  Bucer had ambitious goals in diffusing the Reformation throughout England. He was disappointed, therefore, when those in power failed to consult him in bringing about change. On learning about the custom of presenting a memorandum to the king every new year, he worked on a major treatise which he gave as a draft to his friend John Cheke on 21 October 1550. The De Regno Christi [On the Kingdom of Christ] was the culmination of Bucer's many years of experience, a summary of his thought and theology that he described as his legacy. In it he urged Edward VI to take control of the English Reformation, and proposed that Parliament introduce fourteen laws of reform, covering both ecclesiastical and civil matters.  In his view the Reformation was not only concerned with the church, but in all areas of life. Noting the difficult social conditions in England, he promoted the role of deacons to care for the poor and needy.  He described marriage as a social contract rather than a sacrament, hence he permitted divorce, a modern idea that was considered too advanced for its time.  He advocated the restructuring of economic and administrative systems with suggestions for improving industry, agriculture, and education.  His ideal society was distinctively authoritarian, with a strong emphasis on Christian discipline.  The De Regno Christi was never to be the charter of the English Reformation that Bucer intended: it was finally printed not in England but in Basel, in 1557.
  Bucer's last major contribution to the English Reformation was a treatise on the original 1549 edition of the Book of Common Prayer. Cranmer had requested his opinion on how the book should be revised, and Bucer submitted his response on 5 January 1551.  He called for the simplification of the liturgy, noting non-ess
caption: Thomas Cranmer gave Martin Bucer refuge in England, where he lived his final years.
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