Biography of thomas cromwell biography

There I am, he said, take it or leave it. As an American I was mainly interested in American history until I started watching the Tudors about 10 years ago. That got me interested in knowing fact from fiction and since then i have been obsessed with English history. Looking froward to visiting England this fall! Looking forward to reading this!

My copy just came in. If this book is anywhere near as good — which it seems to be — I am in for a treat. Thank you Jess — I am very grateful for your support. The book is not concise it has to be said — but is really good. Would it have been an option for Cromwell to have resigned at some point? I think a quick look around Medieval Europe in the Early Modern period should convince you that the will of monarchs was seen as paramount.

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Featured Tudors Tudors: Early. In April , Henry confirmed Cromwell as his principal secretary and chief minister, a position which he had held for some time in all but name. Before the members of both houses returned home on 30 March, they were required to swear an oath accepting the Act of Succession: all the King's subjects were now required to swear to the legitimacy of the marriage and, by implication, to accept the King's new powers and the break from Rome.

On 13 April, the London clergy accepted the oath. More was taken into custody on the same day and was moved to the Tower of London on 17 April. Fisher joined him there four days later. On 7 May Cromwell led a deputation from the commissioners to Fisher and More, to persuade them to accept the Act and save themselves. This failed and, within a month, both prisoners were executed.

On 18 April, an order was issued that all citizens of London were to swear their acceptance of the Oath of Succession. Similar orders were issued throughout the country. When Parliament reconvened in November, Cromwell brought in the most significant revision of the treason laws since , making it treasonous to speak rebellious words against the Royal Family, to deny their titles, or to call the King a heretic, tyrant, infidel, or usurper.

The Act of Supremacy 26 Hen. Cromwell also strengthened his own control over the Church. During November , another provision of the Act of Succession was in preparation: the appointment of three vicegerentes to supervise all ecclesiastical institutions. When the measure was put into effect on 21 January , [ ] however, only one name remained: that of Cromwell.

Neville Williams explains that as Vicegerent in spiritual affairs, Cromwell held sway over church doctrine and religious policy, while from the Vicar General title, he drew his authority over monasteries and other church institutions. He never declared that this visitation was ever complete, so he retained its extensive powers in his own hands.

A lasting achievement of Cromwell's vicegerency was his direction of Autumn that every parish in the country should securely maintain a record of all christenings, marriages and burials. Although intended as a means to identify Anabaptists dissenting religious refugees from the Low Countries and elsewhere who did not practise infant baptism the measure proved to be of great benefit to the posterity of English historians.

The final session of the Reformation Parliament began on 4 February Anne instructed her chaplains to preach against the Vicegerent, and in a blistering sermon on Passion Sunday, 2 April , her almoner , John Skypp , denounced Cromwell and his fellow Privy Councillors before the entire court. Skypp's diatribe was intended to persuade courtiers and Privy Councillors to change the advice they had been giving the King and to reject the temptation of personal gain.

Skypp was called before the council and accused of malice, slander, presumption, lack of charity, sedition, treason, disobedience to the gospel, attacking "the great posts, pillars and columns sustaining and holding up the commonwealth" and inviting anarchy. Anne, who had many enemies at court, had never been popular with the people and had so far failed to produce a male heir.

The King was becoming impatient, now enamoured of the young Jane Seymour and being encouraged by Anne's enemies, particularly Sir Nicholas Carew and the Seymours. In circumstances that have divided historians, Anne was accused of adultery with: Mark Smeaton , a musician of the royal household; Sir Henry Norris , the King's groom of the stool and one of his closest friends; Sir Francis Weston ; Sir William Brereton ; and her brother, George Boleyn, 2nd Viscount Rochford.

He set himself to devise and conspire the said affair. Regardless of the role Cromwell played in Anne Boleyn's fall, and his confessed animosity to her, Chapuys's letter states that Cromwell claimed that he was acting with the King's authority. Some historians, such as Alison Weir and Susan Bordo , are convinced that her fall and execution were engineered by Cromwell, [ ] [ ] while others, such as Diarmaid MacCulloch and John Schofield, accept that the King instigated the process.

Biography of thomas cromwell biography

The Queen and her brother stood trial on Monday 15 May, while the four others accused with them were condemned on the Friday beforehand. The men were executed on 17 May and, on the same day, Cranmer declared Henry's marriage to Anne invalid, a ruling that illegitimised their daughter, Princess Elizabeth. Two days later, Anne herself was executed.

On 30 May, the King married Jane Seymour. Cromwell's position was now stronger than ever. On 8 July , he was raised to the peerage as Baron Cromwell of Wimbledon. Cromwell orchestrated the Dissolution of the Monasteries and visitations to the universities and colleges in , which had strong links to the church. This resulted in the dispersal and destruction of many books deemed "popish" and "superstitious".

This has been described as "easily the greatest single disaster in English literary history". Oxford University was left without a library collection until Sir Thomas Bodley 's donation in In July , the first attempt was made to clarify religious doctrine after the break with Rome. Bishop Edward Foxe tabled proposals in Convocation, with strong backing from Cromwell and Cranmer, which the King later endorsed as the Ten Articles and which were printed in August Cromwell circulated injunctions for their enforcement that went beyond the Articles themselves, provoking opposition in September and October in Lincolnshire and then throughout the six northern counties.

These widespread popular uprisings of the laity , [ ] collectively known as the Pilgrimage of Grace , found support among the gentry and even the nobility. The rebels' grievances were wide-ranging, but the most significant was the suppression of the monasteries, blamed on the King's "evil counsellors", principally Cromwell and Cranmer.

One of the leaders of the rebellion was Thomas Darcy, 1st Baron Darcy of Darcy , who gave Cromwell the prophetic warning during his interrogation in the Tower: "[…] men who have been in cases like with their prince as ye be now have come at the last to the same end that ye would now bring me unto. In February , Cromwell convened a vicegerential synod of bishops and academics.

The synod was co-ordinated by Cranmer and Foxe, and they prepared a draft document by July: The Institution of a Christian Man , more commonly known as the Bishops' Book. However, Cromwell's success in Church politics was offset by the fact that his political influence had been weakened by the emergence of a Privy Council , a body of nobles and office-holders that first came together to suppress the Pilgrimage of Grace.

The King confirmed his support of Cromwell by appointing him to the Order of the Garter on 5 August , but Cromwell was nonetheless forced to accept the existence of an executive body dominated by his conservative opponents. In January , Cromwell pursued an extensive campaign against what the opponents of the old religion termed "idolatry"; statues, rood screens , and images were attacked, culminating in September with the dismantling of the shrine of St.

Thomas Becket at Canterbury. Early in September, Cromwell also completed a new set of vicegerential injunctions declaring open war on "pilgrimages, feigned relics or images, or any such superstitions" and commanding that "one book of the whole Bible in English" be set up in every church. Moreover, following the "voluntary" surrender of the remaining smaller monasteries during the previous year, the larger monasteries were now also "invited" to surrender throughout , a process legitimised in the session of Parliament and completed in the following year.

The King was becoming increasingly unhappy about the extent of religious changes, and the conservative faction was gaining strength at court. Cromwell took the initiative against his enemies. Sir Geoffrey, "broken in spirit", was pardoned but the others were executed. Then, Cromwell persuaded the King of France to release the unfinished books so that printing could continue in England.

The first edition was finally available in April The publication of the Great Bible was one of Cromwell's principal achievements, being the first authoritative version in English. The King, however, continued to resist further Reformation measures. A Parliamentary committee was established to examine doctrine, and the Duke of Norfolk presented six questions on 16 May for the House to consider, which were duly passed as the Act of Six Articles shortly before the session ended on 28 June.

The Six Articles reaffirmed a traditional view of the Mass, the Sacraments, and the priesthood. Henry's third wife, Jane, died in , less than two weeks after the birth of her only child, the future Edward VI. On 27 December, Anne of Cleves arrived at Dover. On New Year's Day , the King met her at Rochester and was immediately repelled by her physically: "I like her not!

The wedding ceremony, Archbishop Cranmer officiating, took place on 6 January in the Queen's Closet at Greenwich Palace , but the marriage was not consummated. The King's anger at being manoeuvered into marrying Anne of Cleves was the opportunity Cromwell's conservative opponents, most notably the Duke of Norfolk, had been hoping for. During Cromwell had proved himself an agile political survivor.

The gradual movement towards Protestantism at home and the King's ill-fated marriage to Anne of Cleves , which Cromwell engineered in January , proved costly. Some historians believe that Hans Holbein the Younger was partly responsible for Cromwell's downfall because he had shown the King a flattering portrait of Anne, which may have deceived him.

When Henry finally met her, the King was reportedly shocked by her plain appearance. Back home at Austin Friars , and uncertain how to deal with this new problem, Cromwell also told Thomas Wriothesley, his principal secretary who also served the King in various important positions. Wriothesley, the bishop, and the Lord Admiral were erstwhile friends of Cromwell and their self-serving disloyalty indicated that the minister's position was already known to be weakening.

A long-mooted Franco-Imperial alliance contrary to England's interests had failed to materialise. This changed the balance of power in England's favour and demonstrated that Cromwell's earlier foreign policy of wooing support from the Duchy of Cleves had unnecessarily caused his king's conjugal difficulty. Early in Cromwell's religiously conservative, aristocratic enemies, headed by the Duke of Norfolk and supported by Stephen Gardiner , Bishop of Winchester given the nickname "Wily Winchester" by polemical historian John Foxe for his mischievous counsels to the King [ ] decided that the country's trend towards "doctrinal radicalism" in religion, as expressed in a series of parliamentary debates held throughout that spring, had gone too far.

They saw in Catherine Howard , Norfolk's niece, "considerately put in the King's way by that pander , her uncle of Norfolk", an opportunity to displace their foe. Cromwell was arrested at a Council meeting at Westminster on 10 June and accused of various charges. A bill of attainder containing a long list of indictments, including supporting Anabaptists , corrupt practices, [ l ] leniency in matters of justice, acting for personal gain, protecting Protestants accused of heresy and thus failing to enforce the Act of Six Articles , and plotting to marry King Henry's daughter Mary , was introduced into the House of Lords a week later.

It was augmented with a further charge of sacramentarianism , for which the Six Articles allowed only the death penalty, two days after that. All Cromwell's honours were forfeited and it was publicly proclaimed that he could be called only "Thomas Cromwell, cloth carder". Hoping for clemency, Cromwell wrote in support of the annulment, in his last personal address to the King.

Cromwell was condemned to death without trial, lost all his titles and property and was publicly beheaded on Tower Hill on 28 July , on the same day as the King's marriage to Catherine Howard. This was a necessary disavowal, to protect his family. Many lamented but more rejoiced, and specially such as either had been religious men, or favoured religious persons; for they banqueted and triumphed together that night, many wishing that that day had been seven years before; and some fearing lest he should escape, although he were imprisoned, could not be merry.

Others who knew nothing but truth by him both lamented him and heartily prayed for him. Tell me honestly, am I a traitor? I have always faithfully served His Majesty! But if this is how I am treated, I renounce any hope of mercy. I only ask the king to spare me a long imprisonment. He was brought there on a barge through Traitor's Gate, wearing torn clothes and with bruises on his face.

The endless interrogations began, but his answers were of no interest to the interrogators. They were merely carrying out the king's will — the once all-powerful minister had to be executed. To make Cromwell confess, they even resorted to torture, but he did not admit his guilt. During this time, Archbishop Cranmer tried to obtain mercy from the king, but his efforts were in vain.

Henry consented only to replace the stake with the axe. He confessed and prayed, philosophically referring to himself as "an eternal wanderer in this world," but when he addressed the crowd, he did not declare his innocence. Instead, he tried to secure the position of his only son, Gregory Cromwell. And he succeeded. However, the end for Thomas was not easy.

Deliberately or by coincidence, the organizers of the execution invited an inexperienced young executioner. He failed to cut off Cromwell's long hair before swinging the axe, resulting in it getting caught in the blade. It took two more blows to end this cruel affair. But it was a slow process. If you just look at a sequence of big headline events, the calling of the Parliament, the resignation of Thomas More, the declaration of the royal supremacy, the execution of More and John Fisher, the Boleyn marriage, the Pilgrimage of Grace, the various shifts in doctrinal position, it is hard to understand why these things happened when they did and why.

The engine that drove all of these events was the legislative programme of Parliament. This book really helps one understand the constitutional mechanisms and innovations that were used to push through the Reformation in England by looking at the work of the Reformation Parliament from beginning to end, rather than in a thematic way.

It shows how the machinery of Court, Council, Church and Parliament actually interacted and drove the political drama. Why this book? This is a brilliant book. Guy is excellent on both the political and religious origins of the Reformation. But, perhaps above all, he is brilliant on the high politics of the reign, both domestic and international, crucial threads to the story.

Dreadfully, in my opinion, although the book is absolutely not a hatchet job. This book provides a very convincing picture that that assessment is woefully at odds with the reality. Henry emerges as a politician quite incapable of thinking strategically, but blown hither and thither by events. He left a country completely divided religiously and never managed to make up his mind about what he wanted the English Church to look like.

He wanted to be a great martial prince-hero like Henry V, but his early military expeditions to France were a complete farce. In the s he wanted a papal title and wrote works against Luther, praising the papal supremacy. Thomas More suggested he tone down his papalism, but he refused.