Crome may have been born in Worcestershire. He was educated at Cambridge, taking the degrees of
BA in 1503,
MA in 1507, and
DD in 1526. He was a fellow of
Gonville Hall. In 1516 Crome was the university preacher. He was at Cambridge until he attracted Henry VIII's notice by his approval of
Thomas Cranmer's book demonstrating the nullity of the king's marriage with
Catherine of Aragon. By his action Crome was one of the delegates appointed by the university, 4 February 1530, to discuss and decide the same question proposed by the king. During the following Lent he was three times commanded to preach before the king, and shortly after (24 May) was one of the representatives of his university who, together with the same number from Oxford, assisted the Archbishop of Canterbury and Bishop of Durham in drawing up a condemnation of certain doctrinal views. These were expressed in certain English religious books, such as
The Wicked Mammon and
The Obedience of a Christian Man, which assailed the Catholic doctrines of
purgatory, the merit derived from good works, invocation of saints, confession, and others. During the reign of Edward VI, Crome appears to have lived quietly. After
Queen Mary's accession he was again arrested for preaching without licence and committed to the
Fleet Prison (13 January 1554), but a year elapsed before he was brought up for trial. In January 1555 many of his friends were examined and condemned. Hooper, Rogers, Bishop Ferrars of St. David's, and others were burnt. Crome was given time to answer, and having had some practice in the art of recantation made sufficient compliance to save himself from the stake. It was proposed that he, Rogers, and Bradford should be sent to Cambridge to discuss with orthodox scholars, as Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer had done at Oxford, but they refused, not expecting fair play. Their reasons were published in a paper which was printed by
John Foxe. How long Crome was kept in prison is unclear. He died between 20 and 26 June 1562, and was buried in his own church, St.Mary Aldermary, on the 29th. ==References==