English Reformer (c. 1485-1555) and one of the great preachers of the Reformation. Born at Thurcaston in Leicestershire; trained at Christ's College, Cambridge (BA 1510, MA 1514, BD 1524). Converted to Reformation views around 1524 through the influence of Thomas Bilney; emerged as one of the great English preachers of his generation; favored by Henry VIII for his preaching against Catholic abuses; appointed Bishop of Worcester (1535-1539); resigned the see in 1539 over the Act of the Six Articles (Henry VIII's reactionary Catholic settlement reasserting transubstantiation and other Catholic doctrines). Imprisoned briefly under Henry VIII; released and restored to influence at Henry's death (1547). Under Edward VI (1547-1553), Latimer served as chief preacher of the Edwardian Reformation, preaching frequently at Court and at Paul's Cross in London; his sermons (preserved in published collections) are among the great English Reformation pulpit works. Arrested upon the accession of Mary I (1553); imprisoned at Oxford with Cranmer and Ridley; tried at Oxford 1554; condemned and burned at the stake October 16, 1555, in the ditch outside the Bocardo Gate at Oxford. Latimer was bound to the stake alongside Nicholas Ridley; his famous words as the flames were kindled: Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man; we shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out (preserved in Foxe's Acts and Monuments, 1563). Latimer's place in English Reformation memory is substantial.