were to replace them. Rochester Cathedral is to the right.Bishop Ridley would assist Thomas Cranmer in the revision of The Book of Common Prayer, 1549, a book that Martin Bucer would critique and help revise (1552). Bishop Bonner of London, however, throwing sand in Cranmer’s eyes, would oppose the 1549 Book noting that he and any other Romanist could use it; there was truth in Bonner’s jibe, then as now.
Archbishop Cranmer in his policy of “gradualism” transferred Ridley from the Rochester Diocese to the see of London, 1550, during King Edward’s times. Crowds were attracted by Ridley’s preaching; he was known to be witty, well-educated and a capable preacher. 
The picture to right is the Cathedral Church of St. Paul’s, London—as it is today, rebuilt after the London fire of 1666.
Upon assumption of office in London in 1550, as was done at Rochester in 1547, Ridley similarly ordered all altars be replaced by Communion Tables; this would appear to go beyond the Lutheran reformation; this appears to have been radically reversed in the days of the High Arminian, William Laud; 1928 Book of Common Prayer, reflecting Anglo-Catholic influences, maintains the language of altar and adds the “eastward position,” something Ridley and Cranmer opposed.
Bishop Bonner was Ridley’s Episcopal predecessor in London (and will be his successor following Mary’s accession…and executioner) and will soon come under Ridley’s oversight.
During Edward VI’s regency, Ridley was appointed to investigate both Bishops Gardiner
(Winchester) and Bonner (London). A quid pro quo will result, one turn deserving another as it were. Ridley concurred with the findings for deprivation and removal Gardiner and Bonner, Winchester and London respectively. These were high level deprivations and the players were playing for keeps. The Winchester Cathedral is to the right.
Ridley was known to have a great memory and great wit; also, he was “known for great wit and skill in reducing obstinate Papists” from their views. Both Gardiner and Bonner had a “history;” in time, the tables will be turned.
We pause for a review of the two men whom Ridley judged, Bishops Gardiner and Bonner.
Bishop Gardiner of Winchester (1531-1551, 1553-1555) had tried to have Cranmer ousted as Cantaur, but Henry VIII was, if nothing else, loyal to a fault with Cranmer. In 1543, Gardiner was involved in the Prebendaries’ Plot. The Six Articles—transubstantiation, communion in one kind, clerical celibacy, vows of chastity, private masses, and necessity of auricular confession—were Gardiner’s whips. He thoroughly opposed to the Reformation. When Edward ascended to the throne, Gardiner was tossed into the famous Tower of where he cooled his heels; there he remained until his release under Mary 1. To the right, you’ll see the Tower, Gardiner’s home for months on end.
However, when restored to Episcopal authority under Mary, you’ll get the point. Gardiner will serve in the trial, deprivation, condemnation, and referral of Bishop Hooper and others to the flames. So much for Gardiner.
The second Romanish Bishop examined by Bishop Ridley was Bonner. Bishop Edmund Bonner, known as “Bloody Bonner,” died as a prisoner under Queen Elizabeth. ut before that, he was the Persecutor-in-Chief. He had an earned Doctorate in Canon Law from Pembroke College, Oxford (1525). He had been brutal while serving the London diocese, enforcing the Six Articles. He opposed the 1549 Book of Common Prayer. In Edward’s time, he ended up in the Marshalsea Prison until 1553. Upon restoration to the London see under Mary, Bonner restored the Mass, persecuted the English Reformers and became the Persecutor-in-Chief. Upon the accession of Elizabeth 1 to the throne, Bonner would return to his earlier home—Marshalsea Prison and would remain there until his death. Bonner, replaced by Ridley in London under Cranmer, examined and tried by Ridley, removed under Cranmer and Ridley from his Episcopal see, would, by the turn, become the persecutor and co-murderer of Cranmer and Ridley.To be continued.
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