View source for Thomas Cromwell

{{Short description|English statesman and politician (1485–1540)}}
{{about|the minister of King Henry VIII of England}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder|
| name                = Thomas Cromwell<!-- Cromwell died a commoner. All of his titles and honours were stripped from him. Do not add Rt Hon or KG. -->
| image               = Cromwell,Thomas(1EEssex)01.jpg
| caption             = ''[[Portrait of Thomas Cromwell]]'',<br />[[Hans Holbein the Younger]] (1532–1533)
| office              = [[Lord Great Chamberlain]]
| term_start          = 17 April 1540
| term_end            = 10 June 1540
| monarch             = [[Henry VIII]]
| predecessor         = [[John de Vere, 15th Earl of Oxford|John de Vere]]
| successor           = [[Robert Radcliffe, 1st Earl of Sussex|Robert Radcliffe]]
| office1             = [[Governor of the Isle of Wight]]
| term_start1         = 2 November 1538
| term_end1           = 10 June 1540
| monarch1            = Henry VIII
| predecessor1        = James Worsley
| successor1          = Richard Worsley
| office2             = [[Lord Privy Seal]]
| term_start2         = 2 July 1536
| term_end2           = 10 June 1540
| monarch2            = Henry VIII
| predecessor2        = [[Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire|Thomas Boleyn]]
| successor2          = [[William Fitzwilliam, 1st Earl of Southampton|William Fitzwilliam]]
| office3             = [[Master of the Rolls]]
| term_start3         = 8 October 1534
| term_end3           = 10 July 1536
| monarch3            = Henry VIII
| predecessor3        = [[John Taylor (Master of the Rolls)|John Taylor]]
| successor3          = [[Christopher Hales]]
| office4             = [[Secretary of State (England)|Principal Secretary]]
| term_start4         = April 1534
| term_end4           = April 1540
| monarch4            = Henry VIII
| predecessor4        = [[Stephen Gardiner]]
| successor4          = [[Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton|Thomas Wriothesley]]
| office5             = [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]]
| term_start5         = 12 April 1533
| term_end5           = 10 June 1540
| monarch5            = Henry VIII
| predecessor5        = [[John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners|John Bourchier]]
| successor5          = [[John Baker (English statesman)|John Baker]]
| birth_date          = {{c.|{{birth date text|1485}}}}
| birth_place         = [[Putney]], [[Kingdom of England]]
| death_date          = {{death date and age|df=y|1540|07|28|1485}}
| death_place         = [[Tower Hill]], London, Kingdom of England
| death_cause         = [[Beheading|Execution by beheading]]
| resting_place       = [[St. Peter ad Vincula (London)|Chapel Royal of St. Peter ad Vincula]], [[Tower of London]], London, United Kingdom
| restingplacecoordinates = {{Coord|51.508611|-0.076944|type:landmark_region:GB |display=inline}}
| spouse              = [[Elizabeth Wyckes]]
| children            = [[Gregory Cromwell, 1st Baron Cromwell]]<br/>Anne Cromwell<br/>Grace Cromwell<br/>Jane Cromwell (ill.)
| relatives           = [[Cromwell family]]
}}
'''Thomas Cromwell''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|r|ɒ|m|w|əl|,_|-|w|ɛ|l}};<ref>{{cite web |title=Cromwell |work=[[Collins English Dictionary]] |url=http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/cromwell |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] |access-date=18 December 2013}}</ref>{{efn|Contemporary native speakers of [[History of English#Early Modern English|English]] most often wrote the surname as ''Crumwell'', suggesting that this [[Early Modern English#Orthography|spelling]] was an attempt to represent a [[Usage (language)|commonly used]] pronunciation.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2018|pp=5−6}} Based on the phonetic challenges to native speakers posed by this and other variants of the frequent ''Cromwell'' spelling (e.g. ''Cromuello'') adopted by correspondents, [[Diarmaid MacCulloch]] proposes common usage of pronunciations missing the ''[[semivowel|w]]'' and shifting to "a short 'o' sound", as reflected in spellings such as ''Crummle'' or ''Cromell'' (that used by the King when he stripped Cromwell of all his titles).{{sfn|MacCulloch|2018|pp=5−6}}}} {{circa|1485}} – 28 July 1540) was an English statesman and lawyer who served as [[List of English chief ministers|chief minister]] to King [[Henry VIII]] from 1534 to 1540, when he was beheaded on orders of the King, who later blamed false charges for the execution.

Cromwell was one of the most powerful proponents of the [[English Reformation]]. As the King's chief secretary, he instituted new administrative procedures that transformed the workings of government. He helped to engineer an [[annulment]] of the King's marriage to [[Catherine of Aragon]] so that Henry could lawfully marry [[Anne Boleyn]].{{sfn|Bucholz|Key|2004|p=[https://archive.org/details/earlymodernengla0000buch/page/68/mode/1up?ref=ol&view=theater&q=cromwell 68]}} Henry failed to obtain the approval of [[Pope Clement VII]] for the annulment in 1533, so Parliament endorsed the King's claim to be [[Supreme Head of the Church of England]], giving him the authority to annul his own marriage. Cromwell subsequently charted an [[Lutheranism|evangelical]] and reformist course for the [[Church of England]] from the unique posts of [[Vicegerent]] in Spirituals and [[Vicar-general]] (the two titles refer to the same position).<ref>{{cite journal|author1=F. Donald Logan|title=Thomas Cromwell and the Vicegerency in Spirituals: A Revisitation|journal=The English Historical Review|date=July 1988|volume=103|issue=408|pages=658–667|jstor=572696}}</ref>{{rp|658, fn. 2}}

During his rise to power, becoming [[Baron Cromwell]], he made many enemies, including Anne Boleyn, with his fresh ideas and lack of inherited nobility. He played a prominent role in her downfall.<ref>{{cite book|author=Peter C. Herman|title=A Short History of Early Modern England: British Literature in Context|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XimmPRO1sQUC&pg=PA82|year=2011|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|page=82|isbn=9781444394993}}</ref> He fell from power in 1540, despite being created [[Earl of Essex]] that year, after arranging the King's marriage to the German princess [[Anne of Cleves]]. The marriage was a disaster for Cromwell, ending in an annulment six months later. Cromwell was arraigned under an [[act of attainder]] ([[32 Hen. 8]]. c. ''62'') and was executed for [[treason]] and [[heresy]] on [[Tower Hill]] on 28 July 1540. The King later expressed regret at the loss of his chief minister, and his reign never recovered from the incident.

==Family background and early life==
===Putney===
Thomas Cromwell is thought to have been born by or around 1485{{sfn|Leithead|2008}}{{sfn|MacCulloch|2018|p=9}}{{sfn|Loades|2013|p=13}} in [[Putney]],{{efn|In 1878, his presumed birthplace was still of note: <blockquote>The site of Cromwell's birthplace is still pointed out by tradition and is in some measure confirmed by the survey of Wimbledon Manor{{nbsp}}... for it describes on that spot 'an ancient cottage called the smith's shop, lying west of the highway from [[Richmond, London|Richmond]] to [[Wandsworth]], being the sign of the Anchor'.{{sfn|Walford|1878|pp=489–503}}</blockquote> The Anchor, the family hostelry, was situated in modern-day Brewhouse Lane, near to the [[Thames]] in Putney.{{sfn|Borman|2014|pp=8−9}} Another tradition places the cottage higher on Putney Hill, at the edge of Putney Heath.{{sfn|Borman|2014|pp=8–9}}}} then a village in [[Surrey]] providing a ferry service across the Thames upstream from [[Tudor London|London]].{{sfn|Borman|2014|pp=402−403}} His grandfather, John, had moved to the area from [[Nottinghamshire]]{{efn|A well-informed but anonymous contemporary chronicler wrote that the Cromwell family was of Irish ancestry, but the nineteenth-century scholar [[James Gairdner]] traced the family roots to [[Norwell, Nottinghamshire|Norwell]] in Nottinghamshire.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2018|p=16}}<ref name=Gairdner>{{cite DNB |wstitle=Cromwell, Thomas (1485?-1540)|last=Gairdner|first= James|author-link=James Gairdner|volume=13}}</ref>}} to run a [[fulling]] mill (for wool processing) leased to him by the Archbishop of Canterbury,{{sfn|Loades|2013|p=11}} who had a mansion further upstream [[Mortlake#History|at Mortlake]] and was lord of the local [[Wimbledon Manor House#Early history|manor of Wimbledon]].{{sfn|MacCulloch|2018|p=15}} His father, Walter ({{circa|1450|1514}}{{sfn|Angus|2022|p=2, p. 23}}), was an ambitious [[yeoman]] landowner who plied various trades, operating as a sheep farmer and wool processor ("fuller" and "[[Nap (fabric)|shearman]]"),{{sfn|Loades|2013|pp=11–12}} while also running a [[tavern]] and a [[History of beer#Early modern Europe|brewery]].{{sfn|Coby|2009|p=45}} A popular tradition that he was also a [[blacksmith]] is plausible, although the association could have arisen from his use of the alternative surname of ''Smith''<ref name=jb>{{cite book |last1=Blomfield |first1=Jackson |title=Putney Past and Present |date=1882 |publisher=Charles Cull |place=London|oclc=1257968294 |pages=10–11|quotation=the father ... is indifferently described as Walter Cromwell or Walter Smith}}</ref> (as in "Cromwell alias Smyth"{{sfn|Loades|2013|p=11}}).{{sfn|MacCulloch|2018|p=10}} As a successful tradesman, Cromwell's father was regularly called upon for [[Juries in England and Wales#History|jury service]] and was elected [[Parish constable#Functions of parish constables|Constable]] of Putney in 1495.{{sfn|Leithead|2008}} He had frequent brushes with the law himself in the local [[manorial court]], often on relatively minor matters,{{efn|MacCulloch largely dismisses as "Victorian fantasy" popular accounts that Walter was a violent man, unscrupulous in his business dealings, contending that such notions are based on a mistaken understanding of Putney manorial court records, where civil disagreements are not easily distinguished from criminal proceedings, or fines for breaching ale quality standards from "a routine manorial system of licensing ale-selling".{{sfn|MacCulloch|2018|p=15}}}} but also for assault and, ultimately, in 1514, for "falsely and fraudulently"{{sfn|Loades|2013|p=12}} removing evidence from the [[court roll]] regarding his manorial tenancy, a judgement that led to confiscation of all his accumulated lands.{{sfn|Borman|2014|pp=26−27}}

Little is known about Cromwell's mother, even though she came from a recognised [[Landed gentry|gentry]] family, the Meverells of [[Staffordshire]].{{sfn|MacCulloch|2018|p=16}} Generally referred to as "Katherine Meverell", her first name is uncertain.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2018|p=16}} She married Cromwell's father in 1474 while living in Putney in the house of a local [[Attorney at law#Previous usage in Ireland and Britain|attorney]], John Welbeck.{{sfn|Leithead|2008}}{{sfn|Loades|2013|p=13}}

Cromwell is assumed to have been the youngest of three children.{{sfn|Loades|2013|p=11}}{{efn|In the single surviving mention of his mother, Cromwell made the improbable assertion that she was 52 years old at the time of his birth.{{sfn|Borman|2014|p=8}}}} He had two sisters: the elder, Katherine, married Morgan Williams, a Welsh lawyer's son who came to Putney as a follower of King [[Henry VII of England|Henry VII]] when he established himself in the nearby [[Richmond Palace]];<ref name=jb/> the younger, Elizabeth, married William Wellyfed, a sheep farmer.{{sfn|Borman|2014|pp=26−27}} Katherine and Morgan's son, [[Richard Williams (alias Cromwell)|Richard]], was employed in his uncle's service and by the autumn of 1529 had changed his name to Cromwell.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2018|p=38|ps=:"Richard seems to have taken up his new surname in autumn 1529, for in mid-December he was already referred to as 'Richard Cromwell'."}}<ref>{{cite book|last=Noble |first=Mark |author-link=Mark Noble (biographer) |year=1787 |edition=3|title=Memoirs of the Protectorate-house of Cromwell: Deduced from an Early Period, and Continued Down to the Present Time,...|volume=1 |location=London|publisher=C. G. J. and J. Robinson |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=SFkUAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA5 5]–20}}</ref> Richard was the great-grandfather of [[Oliver Cromwell]].{{sfn|Leithead|2008}}

No record survives of Cromwell's childhood days in Putney, and it is unknown whether he was ever sent to [[Latin school|school]] or had to serve an [[Apprenticeships in the United Kingdom#Early history|apprenticeship]].{{sfn|Borman|2014|p=13}} Various people from Putney crop up in his adult life, and he maintained close relations with his two sisters and their extended families.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2018|pp=18; 20}}

===Early life===
====France, Italy and the Low Countries====
Cromwell acknowledged to [[Thomas Cranmer]], the Archbishop of Canterbury, that he had been a "ruffian ... in his young days".{{sfn|Leithead|2008}} Around the start of the 16th century, for reasons which remain unclear, he left his family in Putney and crossed the Channel to continental Europe, allegedly{{efn|The claim that he spent time in prison was made by [[Eustace Chapuys]].{{sfn|MacCulloch|2018|p=22}}}} after spending some time in prison.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2018|p=22}} Accounts of his activities in [[Kingdom of France#Renaissance and Reformation|France]], [[History of early modern Italy#16th to 18th centuries|Italy]] and the [[Habsburg Netherlands|Low Countries]] are problematic.{{sfn|Leithead|2008}} The tradition that he quickly became a [[Mercenary#15th and 16th centuries|mercenary]] and marched with the French army to Italy, where in 1503 he fought in the [[Battle of Garigliano (1503)|Battle of Garigliano]], stems from a [[novella]] by the contemporary Italian writer [[Matteo Bandello]] in which Cromwell is portrayed as a page to a foot-soldier, carrying his pike and helmet.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Payne |editor1-first=John |title=The Novels of Matteo Bandello Bishop of Agen |date=1890 |publisher=Villon Society |location=London |oclc=4476645 |page=107 |volume=4|editor1-link=John Payne (poet)}}</ref> This account was treated as fact by many later writers, including [[John Foxe]] in his ''[[Foxe's Book of Martyrs|Actes and Monuments]]'' of 1563.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Foxe |first1=John |author-link1=John Foxe |editor1-last=Cattley |editor1-first=Stephen Reed |title=The Acts and Monuments of John Foxe |volume=V|date=1563 |oclc=1073899544 |page=392 |edition=1838|publisher=R.B. Seeley and W. Burnside|location=London}}</ref> Despite the obvious exaggerations contained in Bandello's novella, MacCulloch points out that the "[[picaresque]]" narrative provides the best available clues to shine some light on the obscurity of Cromwell's first Italian trip.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2018|pp=22–23}}

While in Italy, Cromwell seems to have entered service in the household of the [[Frescobaldi]] family of [[Republic of Florence|Florentine]] bankers (Bandello has an implausibly young Francesco Frescobaldi graciously saving him from starvation on the streets of Florence).{{sfn|MacCulloch|2018|pp=22–23}} It appears that he later worked as a [[cloth merchant]] in the Low Countries, where his frequentation of English [[Company of Merchant Adventurers of London|Merchant Adventurers]]{{sfn|Coby|2009|p=46}} allowed him to develop useful contacts and gain familiarity with several languages.{{sfn|Leithead|2008}} Cromwell, who was known to have a prodigious memory,{{sfn|Coby|2009|p=47}} was probably already fluent in [[French language|French]] and [[Italian language|Italian]], as well as being proficient in [[Latin]], with some knowledge also of [[Ancient Greek]].{{sfn|Bindoff|1982}}

====Return to Italy====
At some point Cromwell returned to Italy: the records of the English Hospital in Rome indicate that he stayed there in June 1514,{{sfn|Leithead|2008}} while documents in the [[Vatican Secret Archives|Vatican Archives]] suggest that he was an agent for the [[Archbishop of York]], [[Cardinal (Catholic Church)|Cardinal]] [[Christopher Bainbridge]], and handled English ecclesiastical issues before the [[Roman Rota]].{{sfn|Kinney|2001|p=172}}

In 1517–1518, he travelled to Rome again, this time to gain [[Pope Leo X]]'s approval for plenary [[indulgence]]s to be sold by the [[Boston Guildhall#History|St Mary's Guild, Boston]]{{sfn|Leithead|2008}} as part of a thriving trade.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Alford |first1=Stephen |author-link=Stephen Alford |title=A Man It Would Be Unwise to Cross |magazine=London Review of Books |date=8 November 2018 |volume=40 |issue=21 |url=https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v40/n21/stephen-alford/a-man-it-would-be-unwise-to-cross |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240301012441/https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v40/n21/stephen-alford/a-man-it-would-be-unwise-to-cross |archive-date=1 March 2024 |url-status=live |language=en |issn=0260-9592}}</ref> During this lengthy trip, Cromwell studied in detail [[Erasmus]]'s new [[Works of Erasmus#Latin and Greek New Testaments|edition of the gospels]].{{sfn|Bindoff|1982}} His reading made him, for the first time, doubt the legitimacy of the practice he was advocating.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2018|p=34}}{{sfn|Angus|2022|pp=27–29}} [[Tracy Borman]] has suggested that it was at this point Cromwell developed his contempt for the papacy, because of the ease with which he had been able to manipulate the Pope into granting the Boston petition without due consideration.{{sfn|Borman|2014|p=38}}

==Marriage and issue==
At one point during these years, Cromwell returned to England, where around 1515 he married [[Elizabeth Wyckes]] (d. 1529).<ref name="Fitzgerald and MacCulloch 2016 591">{{harvnb|Fitzgerald|MacCulloch|2016|p=591}}: "Elizabeth's death is likely to have been in February or early March 1529".</ref> She was the widow of Thomas Williams, a [[Yeoman of the Guard]], and the daughter of a Putney [[wiktionary:shearman|shearman]], Henry Wyckes, who had later served as a [[Gentleman Usher]] to King [[Henry VII of England|Henry VII]].<ref>{{harvnb|Leithead|2008}}</ref>{{sfn|Angus|2022|pp=24, 25:"[…]a Wandsworth local who had lost her husband Thomas Williams, a Welsh yeoman of the Guard."}}{{sfn|MacCulloch|2018|pp=35–36}} 
The couple had three children:{{sfn|Schofield|2011|pp=16, 23, 33}}
* [[Gregory Cromwell, 1st Baron Cromwell]] ({{Circa|1520}}–1551), who became [[Elizabeth Seymour, Baroness Cromwell|Elizabeth Seymour]]'s second husband.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2018|pp=425, 552}}<ref>{{harvnb|Angus|2022|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=1PeBEAAAQBAJ&q=%2212+march%22 29]}}: "Cromwell's late sister Katherine also had a son named Gregory; perhaps the boys were both born in spring, around the time of [[Pope Gregory I|Saint Gregory]]'s feast day of 12 March." See also {{harvnb|MacCulloch|2018|pp=36–38}}</ref>
* Anne Cromwell ({{circa|1522|lk=no}} – October 1529){{sfn|Angus|2022 |p=61}}
* Grace Cromwell ({{circa|1527|lk=no}} – October 1529){{sfn|Angus|2022 |p=61}}

Cromwell's wife died in 1529 and his daughters, Anne and Grace, are believed to have died not long after their mother.<ref name="Fitzgerald and MacCulloch 2016 591"/> Their deaths may have been caused by the [[sweating sickness]]. Provisions made for Anne and Grace in Cromwell's will, dated 12 July 1529, were crossed out at some later date.{{sfn|Schofield|2011|p=33}}{{sfn|Merriman I|1902|pp=[https://archive.org/stream/lifelettersoftho01merruoft#page/58/mode/2up 59, 60]}} Gregory outlived his father by only 11 years, succumbing to sweating sickness in 1551.{{sfn|Cokayne III|1913|pp=557–559}}{{sfn|Strype II(I)|1822|pp=[https://archive.org/stream/ecclesiasticalme0201stry#page/492/mode/2up 493–494]}}{{sfn|Hawkyard|1982}}{{sfn|Hoby|1902|p=73}}{{sfn|Winchester|1955|p=270}}

Cromwell also had an illegitimate daughter, Jane ({{Circa|1530|lk=no}}–1580{{sfn|Fitzgerald|MacCulloch|2016|p=591}}{{sfn|MacCulloch|2018|p=398}}{{sfn|Beazley|1908|p=82|ps=: Jane Hough was buried 3 November 1580 at [[Neston]].}}), whose early life is a complete mystery. According to novelist [[Hilary Mantel]], "Cromwell had an illegitimate daughter, and beyond the fact that she existed, we know very little about her. She comes briefly into the records, in an incredibly obscure way—she's in the archives of the county of Chester."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Miller |first=George |title=Hilary Mantel interview revisited |url=https://podularity.com/2010/09/03/hilary-mantel-interview-revisited |access-date=26 November 2013 |publisher=Podularity.com}}</ref>{{sfn|Bindoff|1982}}{{sfn|Glover|1882|pp=127–128}}{{sfn|Edwards|1982}} Jane was born to an unknown mother during the time Cromwell was mourning the loss of his wife and daughters. Jane presumably was educated and resided in Cromwell's homes, but in 1539, Margaret Vernon, the worldly prioress of [[Little Marlow Priory]] (who had also helped to raise Gregory Cromwell)<ref>{{Cite ODNB|title=Vernon, Margaret (d. in or after 1546), abbess of Malling and friend of Thomas Cromwell}}</ref> suggested she take Jane to begin her education away from home.{{sfn|Angus|2022 |p=191}} In that same year Jane's half-brother Gregory (at age nineteen) and his wife Elizabeth moved into [[Leeds Castle]], Kent, in preparation for Gregory's election as a [[knight of the shire]] (Member of Parliament) for the county. Jane, then nine years of age, accompanied him.<ref>{{cite web |title=CROMWELL, Gregory (by 1516–51), of Lewes, Suss.; Leeds Castle, Kent and Launde, Leics. {{!}} History of Parliament Online |url=https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/cromwell-gregory-1516-51 |website=www.historyofparliamentonline.org |publisher=[[History of Parliament Trust]] |access-date=3 May 2023}}</ref>{{sfn|Angus|2022 |p=191}} Cromwell's records show him paying Elizabeth for clothing and expenses for Jane.{{sfn|Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII|loc=14(2), [https://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=75908 782]|ps=: Cromwell's accounts note a payment of £12 14s. 4d. for 'apparel for [mistress] Jane' on 23 May 1539.}}{{sfn|MacCulloch|2018|p=102}} It is unknown what became of Jane's mother, though historian Caroline Angus argues that Jane's mother was Elizabeth Gregory, a former household servant who was left a surprisingly large amount of money and items in Cromwell's will.{{sfn|Angus|2022 |p=59}} Elizabeth Gregory was listed among family members in the will, despite not being any relation to the Cromwell, Williams, Wyckes or Williamson families. Cromwell was known to be one of the few men at court without mistresses and tried to keep this indiscretion secret.{{sfn|Borman|2014 |p=111}}

Jane married William Hough ({{Circa|1527|lk=no}}–1585), of Leighton in the [[Wirral Hundred#Villages|Wirral Hundred]], around 1550.{{sfn|Fitzgerald|MacCulloch|2016|p=591}} William Hough was the son of [[Richard Hough (MP)|Richard Hough]] (1505–1574) who was Cromwell's agent in Chester from 1534 to 1540.{{sfn|Glover|1882|pp=127–128}}{{sfn|Noble II|1787|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=oaRCAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA5 5]}}{{sfn|Ormerod|1819|p=304}}{{sfn|Edwards|1982}}  Jane and her husband remained staunch Roman Catholics, who, together with their daughter, Alice, her husband, William Whitmore, and their children, all came to the attention of the authorities as [[Recusancy|recusants]] during the reign of [[Elizabeth I]].{{sfn|Wark|1971|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=RQ8NAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA153 153], [https://books.google.com/books?id=RQ8NAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA168 168]}}

==Lawyer, Member of Parliament, adviser to Wolsey==
[[File:Cardinal Thomas Wolsey.jpg|thumb|[[Thomas Wolsey|Cardinal Thomas Wolsey]]]]
By 1520, Cromwell was firmly established in London mercantile and legal circles.{{sfn|Leithead|2008}} In 1529, he obtained a seat in the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] as a [[Burgess (title)|burgess]],{{Sfn|Everett|2015|p=44}} though the constituency he represented has not been identified with certainty.{{sfn|Leithead|2008}} He prepared a daring speech against King Henry's declared intention of leading an invasion of France, although it was expressed tactfully in terms of concern for the King's safety while on campaign and fear of the costs such an overbold policy would entail; it was the latter point that embodied Cromwell's true concern. There is no record of when Cromwell actually delivered the speech in the chamber and some modern historians, including Michael Everett and Robert Woods, have suggested that the whole episode was no more than a ploy, sanctioned by Henry himself, to allow him to withdraw graciously from his rash threat of war.<ref name=Gairdner/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Woods |first1=Robert L. |title=Politics and Precedent: Wolsey's Parliament of 1523 |journal=Huntington Library Quarterly |date=August 1977 |volume=40 |issue=4 |pages=297–312 |doi=10.2307/3817353 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania|jstor=3817353 }}</ref>{{sfn|Everett|2015|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=tWzbBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA155 155]}}

After Parliament had been dissolved, Cromwell wrote a letter to a friend, jesting about the session's lack of productivity:<blockquote>I amongst other have indured a parlyament which contenwid by the space of xvii hole wekes wher we communyd of warre pease Stryffe contencyon debatte murmure grudge Riches poverte penurye trowth falshode Justyce equyte dicayte [deceit] opprescyon Magnanymyte actyvyte foce [force] attempraunce [moderation] Treason murder Felonye consyli... [conciliation] and also how a commune welth myght be ediffyed and a[lso] contenewid within our Realme. Howbeyt in conclusyon we have d[one] as our predecessors have been wont to doo that ys to say, as well we myght and lefte wher we begann.{{sfn|Leithead|2008}}</blockquote>

For a short while early in 1523 Cromwell became an adviser to [[Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset]], drafting a parliamentary bill to relieve his sponsor of taxation on some property in [[Cumberland]]. Although the bill was not introduced in the 1523 session of Parliament, this may indicate that the unidentified seat for which Cromwell was returned in that year was [[Carlisle (UK Parliament constituency)|Carlisle]], Cumberland, to present the Marquess's bill.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2018|p=50}} Early in 1524 he became a member of the household of [[Lord Chancellor]] Cardinal [[Thomas Wolsey]] although, initially, he maintained his private legal practice; in that year he was elected a member of [[Gray's Inn]], a lawyers' guild.{{sfn|Leithead|2008}}{{sfn|MacCulloch|2018|pp=71; 79; 81}}  Cromwell assisted in the dissolution of nearly thirty monasteries to raise funds for Wolsey to found [[Ipswich School|The King's School, Ipswich]] (1528), and [[Christ Church, Oxford|Cardinal College]], in Oxford (1529).{{sfn|Leithead|2008}} In 1527 Wolsey appointed Cromwell a member of his personal council, as one of his most senior and trusted advisers.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2018|p=56}} By the end of October of that year, however, Wolsey had fallen from power.{{sfn|Leithead|2008}} Cromwell had made enemies by aiding Wolsey to suppress the monasteries, but was determined not to fall with his master, as he told [[George Cavendish (writer)|George Cavendish]], then a Gentleman Usher and later Wolsey's biographer:<blockquote>I do entend (god wyllyng) this after none, whan my lord hathe dyned to ride to london and so to the Court, where I wyll other make or marre, or ere [before] I come agayn, I wyll put my self in the prese [press] to se what any man is Able to lay to my charge of ontrouthe or mysdemeanor.{{sfn|Leithead|2008}}</blockquote>

Cavendish acknowledges that Cromwell's moves to mend the situation were by means of engaging himself in an energetic defence of Wolsey ("There could nothing be spoken against my lord{{nbsp}}... but he [Cromwell] would answer it incontinent[ly]")<ref name=Cavendish>{{cite book |last1=Cavendish |first1=George |author-link1=George Cavendish (writer) |editor1-last=Singer |editor1-first=Samuel Weller |editor1-link=Samuel Weller Singer |title=The Life of Cardinal Wolsey |date=1641 |publisher=Harding and Lepard |location=London |oclc=78945163 |edition=1825|volume=1|page=274}}</ref> rather than by distancing himself from his old master's actions, and this display of "authentic loyalty" only enhanced his reputation, not least in the mind of the King.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2018|pp=98; 102}}

==Royal favourite==
Cromwell successfully overcame the shadow cast over his career by Wolsey's downfall.<ref name=Cavendish/> By November 1529, he had secured a seat in Parliament as a member for [[Taunton (UK Parliament constituency)|Taunton]] and was reported to be in favour with the King.{{sfn|Leithead|2008}} Early in this short session of Parliament (November to December 1529) Cromwell involved himself with legislation to restrict absentee clergy from collecting stipends from multiple parishes ("clerical farming") and to abolish the power of Rome to award dispensations for the practice.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2018|p=94}}<ref>21 Henry VIII cap 13 ("Clergy Act")</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Perry |first1=George Gresley |author-link1=George Perry (priest) |title=A History of the Church of England: From the Accession of Henry VIII, to the Silencing of Convocation in the Eighteenth Century |date=1879 |publisher=Harper |location=New York|page=69}}</ref>

At some point during the closing weeks of 1530,  the King appointed him to the [[Privy Council of England|Privy Council]].{{sfn|Leithead|2008}}{{Sfn|Loades|2013|p=43}} Cromwell held numerous offices during his career in the King's service, including:
[[File:Thomas Cromwell, portrait miniature with fur collar, after Hans Holbein the Younger.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Thomas Cromwell, {{circa}} 1532–33, attributed to [[Hans Holbein the Younger]]]]
* Commissioner for the Subsidy, London 1524, Kent 1534, for printing of the Bible 1539, for sale of crown lands 1539, 1540
* [[Master of the Jewel Office|Master of the King's Jewel House]], jointly with Sir John Williams 14 April 1532, {{Circa|1533}}–1540
* Clerk of the [[Hanaper]] 16 July 1532, jointly with [[Ralph Sadler]] April 1535 – 1540
* [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]], 12 April 1533 – 1540
* Recorder, Bristol, 1533–1540
* Steward, [[Westminster Abbey]], 12 September 1533, jointly with Robert Wroth 14 February 1534 – May 1535
* Lordships of Edmonton and Sayesbery, Middlesex May 1535, of Havering-atte-Bower, Essex December 1537 manor of Writtle, Essex, June 1536 
* Steward of the [[Honour (England)|Honour]] of Rayleigh, Essex, September 1539<ref>{{cite book |last1=Burrows |first1=John William |title=Southend-on-Sea and district: historical notes |date=1909 |publisher=J. H. Burrows |oclc=651916194}}</ref>
* Surveyor of the King's Woods, jointly with Sir [[William Paulet, 1st Marquess of Winchester|William Paulet]] by 1533
* [[Secretary of State (United Kingdom)|Principal Secretary]], {{circa}} April 1534–April 1540
* [[Master of the Rolls]], 8 October 1534 – 10 July 1536
* Constable jointly with [[Richard Williams (alias Cromwell)]] of Hertford Castle, Hertfordshire, 1534–1540, [[Berkeley Castle]], Gloucestershire 1535–{{abbr|d.|died}}, sole, [[Leeds Castle]], Kent, 4 January 1539 – 1540
* Visitor-General of the Monasteries and [[Vicar general|Vicar General]], 21 January 1535{{sfn|Williams |1975|p=193}}
* Steward, [[Duchy of Lancaster]], Essex, [[Hertfordshire]] and [[Middlesex]], 12 May 1535 – 1540
* Steward of Savoy Manor, May 1535 – 1540
* Chancellor, High Steward and Visitor, [[Cambridge University]] 1535–1540
* Commissioner for the Peace, [[Bristol]], Kent, [[Middlesex]], Surrey 1535–1540, [[Essex]] 1536–1540, [[Derbyshire]], [[Westmorland]] 1537–1540, all counties 1538–1540
* [[Prebendary]] of [[Salisbury]], May 1536 – 1540
* Receiver of Petitions in the [[House of Lords|Lords]], parliament of 1536
* Trier, Parliament of 1539{{efn|A ''trier'' was the official first to receive and scrutinise petitions to the King.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Richardson |first1=H. G. |last2=Sayles |first2=George |title=The King's Ministers in Parliament, 1272–1377 |journal=The English Historical Review |date=1932 |volume=47 |issue=186 |page=542 |jstor=553361 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/553361 |issn=0013-8266}}</ref>}}
* [[Lord Privy Seal]], 2 July 1536 – 1540
* [[Vicegerent]] of the King in Spirituals, 18 July 1536
* [[Dean of Wells]], 1537–1540
* Warden and Chief [[Justice in Eyre]], North of Trent, 30 December 1537 – 1540
* [[List of Governors of the Isle of Wight|Governor of the Isle of Wight]], 2 November 1538 – 1540
* [[Lord Great Chamberlain]], 17 April 1540

Cromwell also possessed numerous other minor offices.{{sfn|Bindoff|1982}}{{sfn|Hutchinson|2008|pp=271–276}}

===Anne Boleyn===
From 1527, Henry VIII sought to have his marriage to Queen [[Catherine of Aragon]] annulled, so that he could lawfully marry [[Anne Boleyn]].{{sfn|Bucholz|Key|2004|p=65}} At the centre of the campaign to secure the annulment was the emerging doctrine of royal supremacy over the church. By the autumn of 1531, Cromwell had taken control of the supervision of the King's legal and parliamentary affairs, working closely with [[Thomas Audley, 1st Baron Audley of Walden|Thomas Audley]], and had joined the inner circle of the council. By the following spring, he had begun to exert influence over elections to the House of Commons.{{sfn|Leithead|2008}}

The third session of what is now known as the [[English Reformation Parliament|Reformation Parliament]] had been scheduled for October 1531, but was postponed until 15 January 1532 because of Henry's indecision as to the best way to proceed towards his annulment. Cromwell favoured the assertion of royal supremacy over the recalcitrant Church, and he manipulated support in the House of Commons for the measure by resurrecting anti-clerical grievances, the "supplication against the [[Ordination|ordinaries]]" expressed earlier, in the session of 1529.{{Sfn|Borman|2014|p=133}} Once he achieved his goal of managing affairs in Parliament, he never relinquished it.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2018|p=156}} In March 1532, speaking without royal permission,{{sfn|MacCulloch|2018|p=162 |ps= &nbsp;"Cromwell['s][…]preoccupations[…]were not a perfect fit with the concerns of his royal employer."}}{{sfn|Bucholz|Key|2004|pp=74–75}} he urged the House of Commons to draw up a list of clerical abuses in need of reform. On 18 March 1532, the Commons delivered a supplication to the King, denouncing clerical abuses and the power of the ecclesiastical courts, and describing Henry as "the only head, sovereign lord, protector and defender" of the Church. On 14 May 1532, Parliament was [[prorogation|prorogued]]. Two days later, Sir [[Thomas More]] resigned as [[Lord Chancellor]], realising that the battle to save the King's marriage to Catherine was lost. More's resignation from the Council represented a triumph for Cromwell and the pro-Reformation faction at court.{{sfn|Leithead|2008}}
 
The King's gratitude to Cromwell was expressed in a grant of the [[Lord of the manor|lordship of the manor]] of [[Rumney, Cardiff|Romney]] in the [[Welsh Marches]] (recently confiscated from the family of the executed [[Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Robertson |first1=Mary L. |title=Profit and Purpose in the Development of Thomas Cromwell's Landed Estates |journal=Journal of British Studies |date=1990 |volume=29 |issue=4 |pages=317–346 |doi=10.1086/385964 |jstor=175406 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/175406 |issn=0021-9371|url-access=subscription }}</ref>) and appointment to three relatively minor offices: [[Master of the Jewel Office|Master of the Jewels]] on 14 April 1532, [[Hanaper#Clerk of the Hanaper|Clerk of the Hanaper]] on 16 July, and [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]] on 12 April 1533.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2018|pp=210–212}} None of these offices afforded much income, but the appointments were an indication of royal favour, and gave Cromwell a position in three major institutions of government: the royal household, the [[Court of Chancery|Chancery]], and the [[Exchequer]].{{sfn|Leithead|2008}}
[[file:AnneBoleynHever.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Queen [[Anne Boleyn]]]]

Henry and Anne married on 25 January 1533, after a secret marriage on 14 November 1532 that may have taken place in Calais.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2018|p=220}}

On 26 January 1533, Audley was appointed Lord Chancellor and his replacement as [[Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom)#Early history|Speaker of the House of Commons]] was Cromwell's old friend (and former lawyer to Cardinal Wolsey) [[Humphrey Wingfield]]. Cromwell further increased his control over parliament through his management of by-elections: since the previous summer, assisted by [[Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton|Thomas Wriothesley]], then [[Clerk of the Signet]], he had prepared a list of suitably amenable "burgesses, knights and citizens" for the vacant parliamentary seats.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2018|p=214}}

The parliamentary session began on 4 February 1533, and Cromwell introduced a new bill restricting the right to make appeals to Rome, reasserting the long-standing contention that England was an "empire" and thus not subject to external jurisdiction.{{efn|At this time an ''empire'' was considered to be "an extensive territory under the control of a supreme ruler", an alternative meaning to its modern usage of "an extensive group of subject territories".<ref>{{OED|empire 1.2.a.}}</ref>}}{{sfn|Scarisbrick|2008|p=314}}<ref>[[24 Hen. 8]]. c. 12: ''An Act that the appeals in such cases as have been used to be pursued to the see of Rome shall not be from henceforth had nor used but within this realm''.</ref> On 30 March, [[Thomas Cranmer]] was consecrated as Archbishop of Canterbury and the [[Convocation of the English Clergy|Convocation]] immediately declared the King's marriage to Catherine unlawful. In the first week of April 1533, Parliament passed Cromwell's bill into law, as the [[Ecclesiastical Appeals Act 1532]] ([[24 Hen. 8]]. c. 12), ensuring that any adjudication concerning the King's marriage could not be challenged in Rome.{{sfn|Bucholz|Key|2004|pp=74–75}} On 11 April, Archbishop Cranmer sent the King formal notice that the validity of his marriage to Catherine was to be the subject of an ecclesiastical court hearing. The trial began on 10 May 1533 at [[Dunstable Priory]] (near to where Catherine was staying at [[Ampthill#Ampthill Castle|Ampthill Castle]]) and on 23 May the Archbishop pronounced the court's verdict, declaring the marriage "null and invalid...contrary to the law of God". Five days later he pronounced the King's marriage to Anne to be lawful, and on 1 June, she was crowned queen.{{sfn|Leithead|2008}}{{sfn|Froude|1856|pp=426–428}}

In December, the King authorised Cromwell to discredit the papacy. The minister organised a campaign throughout the nation, attacking the Pope in sermons, pamphlets and plays mounted in parish churches.{{sfn|Leithead|2008}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Beushausen |first1=Katrin |title=Theatre and the English public from Reformation to Revolution |date=2018 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, United Kingdom |isbn=978-1-107-18145-8 |page=33}}</ref> In 1534 a new Parliament was summoned, again under Cromwell's supervision, to enact the legislation necessary to make a formal break of England's remaining ties with Rome. Archbishop Cranmer's verdict took statutory form as the [[Succession to the Crown Act 1533]] ([[25 Hen. 8]]. c. 22), the [[Ecclesiastical Licences Act 1533]] ([[25 Hen. 8]]. c. 21) reiterated royal supremacy and the [[Submission of the Clergy Act 1533]] ([[25 Hen. 8]]. c. 19) incorporated into law the clergy's surrender in 1532. On 30 March 1534, Audley gave royal assent to the legislation in the presence of the King.{{sfn|Leithead|2008}}

==King's chief minister==
[[File:Arms of Thomas Cromwell, Baron Cromwell.svg|thumb|Cromwell's coat of arms from 1532 to 1537{{sfn|MacCulloch|2018|pp=38–39, note 81}}]]

In April 1534, Henry confirmed Cromwell as his principal secretary and chief minister, a position which he had held for some time in all but name.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2018|pp=247; 518}} Cromwell immediately took steps to enforce the legislation just passed by Parliament. 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. On the same day, the commissioners offered it to Sir Thomas More and [[John Fisher]], Bishop of Rochester, both of whom refused it. 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.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2018|p=333}}

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 1352, 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 1534]] ([[26 Hen. 8]]. c. 1) also clarified the King's position as Head of the Church and the [[First Fruits and Tenths Act 1534]] ([[26 Hen. 8]]. c. 3) substantially increased clerical taxes. Cromwell also strengthened his own control over the Church.

During November 1534, 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 1535,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ayris |first1=Paul |title=Thomas Cranmer, churchman and scholar |date=1993 |publisher=Boydell Press |location=Rochester, NY |isbn=0-85115-549-9 |page=125}}</ref> however, only one name remained: that of Cromwell.{{efn|The other two under consideration had been [[John Tregonwell]] and [[Thomas Bedyll]]}} The King appointed him Royal Vicegerent and Vicar-General, and issued a warrant to authorise a [[Canonical visitation|visitation]] of all the country's churches, monasteries and clergy. 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.{{sfn|Williams |1975|pp=193, 211–212}} By September 1535 Cromwell had appointed his own officials for church administration, with authority over the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, to oversee all church affairs. He never declared that this visitation was ever complete, so he retained its extensive powers in his own hands.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2018|p=273, 502}} In this capacity, Cromwell conducted a census in 1535 to enable the government to evaluate and tax church property more effectively.{{sfn|Leithead|2008}}

A lasting achievement of Cromwell's vicegerency was his direction of Autumn 1538 that every parish in the country should securely maintain a record of all christenings, marriages and burials. Although intended as a means to identify [[Anabaptist]]s (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.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2018|p=288}}

===Fall of Anne Boleyn===
[[File:Hans Holbein the Younger - Jane Seymour, Queen of England - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|[[Jane Seymour]] by [[Hans Holbein the Younger]]]]
The final session of the Reformation Parliament began on 4 February 1536. By 18 March, the [[Suppression of Religious Houses Act 1535]] ([[27 Hen. 8]]. c. 28), an act for the suppression of the Lesser Monasteries, those with a gross income of less than £200 per annum, had passed both houses.<ref>{{Cite ODNB |title=The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |date=23 September 2004 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/6769 |pages=ref:odnb/6769 |editor-last=Matthew |editor-first=H. C. G. |place=Oxford |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/6769 |access-date=16 February 2023 |editor2-last=Harrison |editor2-first=B.}}</ref> This caused a clash with Anne Boleyn, formerly one of Cromwell's strongest allies, who wanted the proceeds of the dissolution used for educational and charitable purposes, not paid into the King's coffers.{{sfn|Ives|2005|pp=307–310}}

Anne instructed her chaplains to preach against the Vicegerent, and in a blistering sermon on Passion Sunday, 2 April 1536, 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.{{sfn|Ives|2005|pp=307–310}} Cromwell took no action against Skypp beyond the unsympathetic questioning, and he remained as the Queen's almoner, attending her when she was awaiting execution in the Tower of London.{{sfn|Schofield|2011|pp=176–179}}{{sfn|MacCulloch|2018|p=331}}

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 (courtier)|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 (courtier)|Henry Norris]], the King's [[groom of the stool]] and one of his closest friends; Sir [[Francis Weston]]; Sir [[William Brereton (courtier)|William Brereton]]; and her brother, [[George Boleyn, 2nd Viscount Rochford]].{{sfn|Lipscomb|2013|pp=18–24}}{{sfn|Schofield|2011|pp=192–205}} The Imperial Ambassador, [[Eustace Chapuys]], wrote to [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]] that: <blockquote>he himself [Cromwell] has been authorised and commissioned by the King to prosecute and bring to an end the mistress's trial, to do which he had taken considerable trouble... He set himself to devise and conspire the said affair.{{sfn|Lipscomb|2013|p=23}}{{sfn|Calendar of State Papers, Spain|loc=5(2), [https://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/spain/vol5/no2/pp137-162 61], and footnote 1}}{{sfn|Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII|loc=10, [https://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol10/pp440-470 1069]}}</blockquote> 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,{{sfn|Weir|1991|p=69: "[…]Cromwell was ambitiously plotting[…]no less than the removal of the Queen."}}{{sfn|Bordo|2014|p=93: "[…]the plot against Anne was orchestrated by Thomas Cromwell without Henry's instigation or encouragement."}} while others, such as [[Diarmaid MacCulloch]] and John Schofield, accept that the King instigated the process.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2018|p=315:&nbsp;"So Henry put Cromwell and Wriothesley secretly to work […] he needed agents to turn the rumours into a case."}}{{sfn|Schofield|2011|p=170: "Cromwell became involved in the royal marital drama only when Henry ordered him onto the case."}} [[Alexander Alesius]], a theologian and associate of Cromwell, wrote that it had indeed been Cromwell who hinted to Henry of Anne's infidelity, but the King had in turn instructed Cromwell to turn the rumours into proceedings.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2018|p=315}}

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 1536 and, on the same day, Cranmer declared Henry's marriage to Anne invalid, a ruling that illegitimised their daughter, [[Elizabeth I|Princess Elizabeth]]. Two days later, Anne herself was executed. On 30 May, the King married Jane Seymour. On 8 June, a new Parliament passed the [[Second Succession Act]], securing the rights of Queen Jane's heirs to the throne.{{sfn|Leithead|2008}}

===Baron Cromwell and Lord Privy Seal===
[[File:Arms of Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex.svg|thumb|Cromwell's [[coat of arms]] after his son's marriage, in 1537, to Queen [[Jane Seymour|Jane]]'s sister, [[Elizabeth Seymour, Lady Cromwell|Elizabeth, Lady Ughtred]]{{sfn|MacCulloch|2018|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=qLBwDQAAQBAJ&q=%22six+fleurs+de+lys%22 427–8], pl. 7, 8.}}|alt=color illustration of Cromwell's coat of arms]]
[[File:Thomas Cromwell, Coat of Arms, 1537.png|thumb|Cromwell's [[coat of arms]] as Knight of the Garter]]

[[File:Thomas Cromwell medal, 1538 side 2.png|thumb|Portrait medal made for Thomas Cromwell in 1538. Reverse: armorial shield of Cromwell, being two coats quarterly within the Garter.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2018|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=qLBwDQAAQBAJ&q=%22six+fleurs+de+lys%22 427–428], pl. 7, 8.}}]]
Cromwell's position was now stronger than ever. He succeeded Anne Boleyn's father, [[Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire]], as [[Lord Privy Seal]] on 2 July 1536, resigning the office of [[Master of the Rolls]], which he had held since 8 October 1534. On 8 July 1536, he was raised to the peerage as [[Baron Cromwell|Baron Cromwell of Wimbledon]].{{sfn|Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII|loc=11, [https://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol11/pp73-89 202(3) and 202(14)]}}

===Religious reform===
Cromwell orchestrated the [[Dissolution of the Monasteries]] and visitations to the universities and colleges in 1535, 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 1602.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SochIc9cRGQC&pg=PT58|title=Mediaeval Education and the Reformation|author=John Lawson|date=15 April 2013|publisher=Routledge |access-date=17 November 2015|isbn=9781135031091}}</ref>

In July 1536, 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 1536. 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]],{{sfn|Hoyle|2001|p=5}} collectively known as the [[Pilgrimage of Grace]], found support among the gentry and even the nobility.{{sfn|Bucholz|Key|2004|p=77}}

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."{{sfn|Dodds|1915|p=186}} The suppression of the risings spurred further Reformation measures. In February 1537, Cromwell convened a [[vicegerent]]ial [[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#Bishops' Book (1537)|Bishops' Book]].{{sfn|MacCulloch|2018|pp=411–413}} By October, it was in circulation, although the King had not yet given it his full assent. 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 1537, but Cromwell was nonetheless forced to accept the existence of an executive body dominated by his conservative opponents.{{sfn|Leithead|2008}}

In January 1538, Cromwell pursued an extensive campaign against what the opponents of the old religion termed "idolatry"; statues, [[rood screen]]s, 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 1538, a process legitimised in the 1539 session of Parliament and completed in the following year.{{sfn|Leithead|2008}}

====Resistance to further religious reform====
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. He imprisoned [[Henry Courtenay, 1st Marquess of Exeter]], Sir [[Edward Neville (courtier)|Edward Neville]], and Sir [[Nicholas Carew (courtier)|Nicholas Carew]] on charges of treason in November 1538 (the "[[Exeter Conspiracy]]"), using evidence acquired from Sir [[Geoffrey Pole]] under interrogation in the Tower. Sir Geoffrey, "broken in spirit", was pardoned but the others were executed.{{sfn|Bernard|2007|pp=412–426}}

On 17 December 1538, the [[French Inquisition|Inquisitor-General of France]] forbade the printing of [[Miles Coverdale]]'s [[Great Bible]]. 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 1539. The publication of the Great Bible was one of Cromwell's principal achievements, being the first authoritative version in English.{{sfn|Leithead|2008}}

The King, however, continued to resist further Reformation measures. A Parliamentary committee was established to examine doctrine, and the [[Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk|Duke of Norfolk]] presented six questions on 16 May 1539 for the House to consider, which were duly passed as the Act of [[Six Articles (1539)|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.{{sfn|Leithead|2008}}

===Anne of Cleves===
{{stack|[[File:Anne of Cleves, by Hans Holbein the Younger.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|''[[Anne of Cleves]]'', by [[Hans Holbein the Younger]] ({{Circa|1539}})]]}}
Henry's third wife, Jane, died in 1537, less than two weeks after the birth of her only child, the future [[Edward VI]]. In early October 1539, the King finally accepted Cromwell's suggestion that he should marry [[Anne of Cleves]], the sister of [[William, Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg]], partly on the basis of a portrait which [[Hans Holbein the Younger|Hans Holbein]] had painted of her. On 27 December, Anne of Cleves arrived at Dover. On New Year's Day 1540, the King met her at [[Rochester, Kent|Rochester]], at first disguised, where he embraced and kissed Anne, though Anne "regarded him little".{{sfn|Wriothesley|1875|p=[https://archive.org/details/achronicleengla04hamigoog/page/n172/mode/2up?view=theater 110]}} He later claimed to be 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 [[Palace of Placentia|Greenwich Palace]], but the marriage was not consummated.{{sfn|Starkey|2003|p=631}} Henry said that he found it impossible to enjoy conjugal relations with a woman whom he found so unattractive.{{sfn|Weir|1991|pp=377–378, 386–388, 395, 405, 410–411}}

===Earl of Essex===
On 18 April 1540, Henry granted Cromwell the [[Earl of Essex|earldom of Essex]] and the senior court office of [[Lord Great Chamberlain]].{{sfn|Leithead|2008}} Despite these signs of royal favour, Cromwell's tenure as the King's chief minister was nearing its end. 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.{{sfn|Weir|1991|pp=412, 418}}

==Downfall and execution==
During 1536, 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 1540, 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 and that, when Henry finally met her, the King was reportedly shocked by her plain appearance.{{sfn|Elton|1991b|p=157}} Cromwell had passed on to Henry some exaggerated claims of Anne's beauty.{{sfn|Warnicke|2000|p=77}}<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Oku_BAAAQBAJ&pg=PT73 |title=Henry VIII and his Court|first=Luise|last=Muhlbach|date=14 May 2010|publisher=Andrews UK |access-date=14 January 2018|via=Google Books|isbn=9781849891172}}</ref> However, [[Nicholas Wotton]], one of the envoys sent to Cleves, considered Holbein's portrait a good likeness; according to the depositions of witnesses assembled for Henry's divorce hearing, it was this first disastrous meeting with Anne that caused him to dislike his fourth wife.{{sfn|Warnicke|2000|pp=86, 138}}

Henry VIII confided in Cromwell that he had been unable to [[consummate]] the union with Anne and he allowed Cromwell to impart this information to [[William FitzWilliam, 1st Earl of Southampton]], who, as [[Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom|Lord High Admiral]], had conveyed Anne from Calais. Back home at [[Austin Friars, London|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).{{efn|Henry had created FitzWilliam Earl of Southampton on 18 October 1537. Wriothesley became Earl of Southampton on 16 February 1547, after FitzWilliam's death in 1542.}} When Henry's humiliation became common knowledge, Southampton (who was anxious to avoid the King's displeasure for his part in bringing Anne to London), or possibly Wriothesley's close friend [[Edmund Bonner]], Bishop of London, made sure that Cromwell was blamed for the indiscretion. 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.{{sfn|Warnicke|2000|p=165}}{{sfn|MacCulloch|2018|pp=522–525}}

A long-mooted [[Italian War of 1536–1538#Effects|Franco-Imperial alliance]] (contrary to England's interests) had failed to materialise.{{efn|Had the proposed treaty come about the Pope would direct the reconciled rulers to mount a joint invasion of England.{{sfn|Head|1995|pp=165–166}}}} The King had sent the Duke of Norfolk to the French King [[Francis I of France|Francis I]] to offer Henry's support in his unresolved dispute with Emperor [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]], and the mission had been received favourably. This changed the balance of power in England's favour and demonstrated that Cromwell's earlier foreign policy of wooing support from the [[United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg|Duchy of Cleves]] had unnecessarily caused his King's conjugal difficulty.{{sfn|Head|1995|pp=165–166}} Furthermore, the possibility of war was arising between the Duke of Cleves and Charles V and, if this materialised, Henry would be trapped by his new alliance with Cleves into declaring war on France, an unwelcome reversal of previous policy.{{sfn|Borman|2014|p=523}}

Early in 1540 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)<ref>Foxe (1563, ed. Cattley 1838), '''V''', p. 261: "Wily Winchester…so alienated the king's mind…by pestilent persuasions creeping into [his] ears."</ref> 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 [[pimp|pander]], her uncle of Norfolk", an opportunity to displace their foe.{{sfn|Elton|1951|p=175}} Catherine's assignations with the King were openly facilitated by the Duke and the Bishop and as she "strode...towards the throne" the two conspirators found themselves edging once more into political power.{{sfn|Loades|2012|loc=Chapter 4 "The Summer of 1540"; Chapter 5 "The Rival Queens"}}{{sfn|Scarisbrick|2008|pp=376, 429}} It would have been a simple matter for Cromwell to arrange an annulment of Henry's marriage to the tractable Anne, but this would have put him in greater jeopardy as it would clear the way for Catherine to marry the King.{{sfn|Elton|1951|p=175}} At this point, however, cynical self-interest may have made Henry hesitate to act immediately against Cromwell, as the minister was guiding two important revenue bills (the Subsidy Bill—whereby Cromwell sought to extend the principle that taxation could be levied for general government purposes rather than a specified objective—and a bill to confiscate the assets of the [[Knights Hospitaller|Order of St John]]) through Parliament; Henry was anxious that any unpopularity caused by the measures would fall on Cromwell and not himself.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Elton |first1=G. R. |editor1-last=Winter |editor1-first=J. M. |title=War and Economic Development, Essays in memory of David Joslin |date=1975|editor1-link=Jay Winter |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, England |isbn=9780521205351|pages=39–42|chapter=Taxation for war and peace in early-Tudor England}}</ref>{{sfn|Elton|1951|p=174}}{{sfn|MacCulloch|2018|p=518}}

Cromwell was arrested at a Council meeting at Westminster on 10 June 1540 and accused of various charges. "Cromwell may have been arrested for his promotion of religious reformation, but few could doubt that Henry was also punishing Cromwell for the humiliation of his latest marriage."<ref>Moyle, Franny, ''The King's Painter: The Life and Times of Hans Holbein'', p. 307.</ref> His enemies took every opportunity to humiliate him: The Duke of Norfolk snatched the [[Order of the Garter#Robes and insignia|St George's collar]] (insignia of the Order of the Garter) from Cromwell's shoulders, saying:  "A traitor must not wear it", while the prisoner's former friend Sir William Fitzwilliam, Earl of Southampton{{sfn|Angus|2022|p=220}} untied the ceremonial garter of the Order.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2018|p=525}}<ref>Franny Moyle identifies Southampton as the culprit in ''The King's Painter: The Life and Times of Hans Holbein'', p. 306.</ref>  His initial reaction was defiance: "This then is my reward for faithful service!" he cried out, and angrily defied his fellow councillors to call him a traitor.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Norwich |first1=John Julius |author1-link=John Julius Norwich |title=Four princes: Henry VIII, Francis I, Charles V, Suleiman the Magnificent and the obsessions that forged modern Europe |date=2016 |publisher=John Murray |location=London |isbn=9780802126634 |page=166}}</ref> He was taken by barge to the [[Tower of London|Tower]] and imprisoned.

A [[bill of attainder]] containing a long list of indictments, including supporting [[Anabaptists]], corrupt practices,{{efn|Elton was unable to identify any surviving evidence of cash bribes or other practices that would have been considered corrupt in Cromwell's time.{{sfn|Elton|1993}}}} 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 I of England|Mary]], was introduced into the [[House of Lords]] a week later. It was augmented with a further charge of [[Sacramentarians|sacramentarianism]], for which the Six Articles allowed only the death penalty, two days after that.{{sfn|Borman|2014|p=563}}{{sfn|Everett|2015|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=tWzbBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA141 141]}} It passed on 29 June 1540.{{sfn|Leithead|2008}}<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yoevCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA141 |title=Thomas Cromwell: Tudor Minister|first=B. W.|last=Beckingsale|date=17 June 1978|publisher=Springer|access-date=14 January 2018|via=Google Books|isbn=9781349016648}}</ref>

All Cromwell's honours were forfeited and it was publicly proclaimed that he could be called only "Thomas Cromwell, cloth carder".<ref>"[[The Complete Peerage]]", new edition by Hon. Vicary Gibbs, (St Catherine Press, London), vol III, p. 557.</ref> The King deferred the execution until his marriage to Anne of Cleves could be annulled; Cromwell was being spared for the time being in case he was needed to give evidence of the King's distaste for Anne.<ref name="auto" /> Anne, however, agreed to an amicable annulment (and was treated with great generosity by Henry as a result). Hoping for clemency, Cromwell wrote in support of the annulment, in his last personal address to the King.{{sfn|Weir|1991|pp=419–420}} He ended the letter: "Most gracious Prince, I cry for mercy, mercy, mercy."{{sfn|Elton|1991a|p=2}}

Cromwell was condemned to death without trial, lost all his titles and property and was publicly beheaded on [[Tower Hill]] on 28 July 1540, on the same day as the King's marriage to Catherine Howard.{{sfn|Warnicke|2008}} Cromwell made a prayer and speech on the scaffold, professing to die "in the traditional [Catholic] faith" and denying that he had aided heretics. This was a necessary disavowal, to protect his family.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2018|p=530}}<ref name="auto">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yoevCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA143 |title=Thomas Cromwell: Tudor Minister|first=B. W.|last=Beckingsale|date=17 June 1978|page=143|publisher=Springer|access-date=14 January 2018|via=Google Books|isbn=9781349016648}}</ref> The circumstances of his execution are a source of debate: while some accounts state that the executioner had great difficulty severing his head,{{sfn|Borman|2014|p=589}}<ref name="Hutchinson2019">{{cite book|first = Robert | last = Hutchinson | author-link = Robert Hutchinson (historian) | title = Henry VIII: The Decline and Fall of a Tyrant | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ACB0DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT70 | date = 4 April 2019 | publisher = Orion | isbn = 978-1-4746-0581-6 | pages = 70 | via = Google Books}}</ref> others claim that this is [[Wiktionary:apocryphal#Adjective|apocryphal]] and that it took only one blow.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/articles/thomas-cromwell-and-the-ungoodly-executioner/|title=The History Press {{!}} Thomas Cromwell and the 'ungoodly' executioner|website=www.thehistorypress.co.uk|language=en|access-date=29 October 2019}}</ref> Afterwards, his [[Head on a spike|head was set on a spike]] on [[London Bridge]].{{sfn|Leithead|2008}}

[[Edward Hall]] said of Cromwell's downfall,

<blockquote>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. But this is true that of certain of the clergy he was detestably hated, & specially of such as had borne swynge [beaten hard], and by his means was put from it; for in deed he was a man that in all his doings seemed not to favour any kind of Popery, nor could not abide the snoffyng pride of some prelates, which undoubtedly, whatsoever else was the cause of his death, did shorten his life and procured the end that he was brought unto.{{sfn|Hall|1809|pp=838–839}}</blockquote>

Henry came to regret Cromwell's killing and later accused his ministers of bringing about Cromwell's downfall by "pretexts" and "false accusations". Over important issues and policies, he had always been liable to be manoeuvred into a hasty decision by the intrigues of the factions within his court.<ref name="auto"/><ref name=IVES>{{cite book |last1=Ives |first1=Eric |author1-link=Eric Ives |editor1-last=MacCulloch |editor1-first=Diarmaid |editor1-link=Diarmaid MacCulloch |title=The Reign of Henry VIII: Politics, Policy and Piety |date=1995 |publisher=Macmillan |location=London |isbn=9780333578575 |page=33 |chapter=Henry VIII the political perspective}}</ref> On 3 March 1541, the French ambassador, [[Charles de Marillac]], reported in a letter that the King was now said to be lamenting that,

<blockquote>under pretext of some slight offences which he had committed, they had brought several accusations against him, on the strength of which he had put to death the most faithful servant he ever had.{{sfn|Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII|loc=16, [https://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol16/pp282-289 590]}}</blockquote>
{{Multiple image|direction=vertical|width=400|image1=London 01 2013 Tower Hill scaffold 5211.JPG|image2=London Tower Hill Plaque-Courtenay-Cromwell-Howard-Seymour-Wyatt-Howard-Wentworth.JPG|caption1=Site of the ancient scaffold at [[Tower Hill]], adjoining the [[Tower of London]], where Cromwell was decapitated|caption2=Plaque at the ancient scaffold site on Tower Hill commemorating Cromwell and others executed at the site}}
There remains an element of what [[Geoffrey Elton]] describes as "mystery" about Cromwell's demise. In April 1540, just three months before he went to the block, and less than two months before he was arrested, he was created Earl of Essex and Lord Great Chamberlain. The arbitrary and unpredictable streak in the King's personality, which more than once exercised influence during his reign, had surfaced again and washed Cromwell away in its wake.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2d4qgsSLZQgC&pg=PA269 |title=Hume and Machiavelli: Political Realism and Liberal Thought|first=Frederick G.|last=Whelan|date=14 January 2018|page=269|publisher=Lexington Books|access-date=14 January 2018|via=Google Books|isbn=9780739106310}}</ref>

==Personal religious beliefs==
Although Cromwell always maintained a primarily political outlook on general affairs, there is consensus among scholars that at least while he held power he was a Protestant, with a Lutheran mindset. For him, the [[Henrician Reformation]] was certainly more than a jurisdictional revolution masquerading in religious garb. For instance, in the mid-1530s, he promoted Protestant ideas to forge an alliance with German Lutheran states, but his support for the Protestant cause is too general to be accurately explained in narrow political terms.<ref>William Underwood, "Thomas Cromwell and William Marshall's Protestant books". ''The Historical Journal'' 47.3 (2004): 517–539. [https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/historical-journal/article/thomas-cromwell-and-william-marshalls-protestant-books/3B05EA4539D100486353138B7AFB42CE online]</ref>

In 1535, Cromwell succeeded in having clearly identified reformers, such as [[Hugh Latimer]], [[Edward Foxe]] and [[Nicholas Shaxton]], appointed to the [[episcopacy]]. He encouraged and supported the work of reformers, such as [[Robert Barnes (martyr)|Robert Barnes]]; and he obtained the licence to publish the [[Matthew's Bible]], providing significant funding for the printing of this English translation of the Bible and sending one to every parish in England.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2AXp3GFGYXwC&q=thomas+cromwell+++matthew+bible+great+bible|title=Matthew's Bible: A Facsimile of the 1537 Edition|first1=John|last1=Rogers|first2=Joseph W.|last2=Johnson|date=14 January 2018|publisher=Hendrickson Publishers|access-date=14 January 2018|via=Google Books|isbn=9781598563498}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=05UXAwAAQBAJ&q=thomas+cromwell+the+great+bible&pg=PT24|title=The New King James Version: In the Great Tradition|first=Arthur L.|last=Farstad|date=8 April 2014|publisher=Thomas Nelson|access-date=14 January 2018|via=Google Books|isbn=9780718021788}}</ref> By 1538, it was compulsory for all churches to own a Bible, in accordance with Cromwell's injunctions.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-Cranmer-archbishop-of-Canterbury|title=Thomas Cranmer – archbishop of Canterbury|website=Britannica.com|access-date=14 January 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/voices/voices_reformation_events.shtml|title=BBC – Radio 4 Voices of the Powerless – 08/08/2002 featuring the Reformation's dates|website=BBC|access-date=14 January 2018}}</ref> The revised version, the [[Great Bible]], was widely available by 1539 and included a picture of Henry VIII, [[Thomas Cranmer]] and Cromwell on the title page.{{sfn|Hutchinson|2008|p=117}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://earlyenglishbibles.com/earlyversions/GreatFull5b.html|title=Great Bible (Full Story) – Early English Bibles|website=Earlyenglishbibles.com|access-date=14 January 2018}}</ref>

When Cromwell fell from favour in 1540, his alleged support for [[Anabaptism]] was cited. Although the charge was spurious, the fact that it was levelled at all demonstrates the reputation for evangelical sympathies Cromwell had developed.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=an-eXXA3DBMC&q=charge+of+anabaptism+thomas+cromwell&pg=PA15|title=The Concise Encyclopedia of the Revolutions and Wars of England, Scotland, and Ireland, 1639–1660|first=Stephen C.|last=Manganiello|page=15|date=14 January 2018|publisher=Scarecrow Press|access-date=14 January 2018|via=Google Books|isbn=9780810851009}}</ref>

==Historical significance==

Until the 1950s, historians discounted Cromwell's role, stating he was little more than the agent of the despotic King Henry VIII. The 1911 ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'' article (written by [[Albert Pollard]]) states "his power has been overrated."<ref>{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Cromwell, Thomas, Earl of Essex |last1= Pollard |first1= Albert Frederick |author1-link= Albert Pollard | pages=499—511|short=1}}</ref> [[Geoffrey Elton]], however, in ''The Tudor Revolution'' (1953), featured him as the central figure in the Tudor revolution in government, the presiding genius, much more so than the King, in handling the break with Rome and in creating the laws and administrative procedures that reshaped post-Reformation England. Elton wrote that Cromwell had been responsible for translating royal supremacy into parliamentary terms, creating powerful new organs of government to take charge of Church lands, and largely removing the medieval features of central government.{{sfn|Elton|1953|p=414}}

Subsequent historians have agreed with Elton as to Cromwell's importance, though not with his claims of "revolution".{{sfn|Bernard|1998|pp=587–607 Bernard argues Elton exaggerated Cromwell's role}}{{sfn|Coby|2009|p=197}}{{sfn|Kenyon|1983|p=210}} Leithead (2004) wrote, "Against significant opposition he secured acceptance of the king's new powers, created a more united and more easily governable kingdom, and provided the crown, at least temporarily, with a very significant landed endowment."{{sfn|Leithead|2008}} [[Diarmaid MacCulloch]] credits the advancement of the most significant politicians and administrators of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, including [[William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley|William Cecil]] and [[Nicholas Bacon (Lord Keeper)|Nicholas Bacon]], to the influence and guidance of Thomas Cromwell at the start of their careers.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2018|pp=550–551}}

During Cromwell's years in power, he skilfully managed Crown finances and extended royal authority. In 1536, he established the [[Court of Augmentations]] to handle the massive windfall to the royal coffers from the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Two other important financial institutions, the [[Court of Wards and Liveries|Court of Wards]] and the [[Court of First Fruits and Tenths]], owed their existence to him, although they were not set up until after his death. He strengthened royal authority in the north of England, through reform of the [[Council of the North]], extended royal power and introduced Protestantism in Ireland, and was the architect of the [[Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542]], which promoted stability and gained acceptance for the royal supremacy in Wales.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jones |first1=J. Graham |title=The history of Wales |date=2014 |publisher=University of Wales |location=Cardiff, Wales |isbn=9781783161690 |page=58 |edition=Third}}</ref> He also introduced important social and economic reforms in England in the 1530s, including action against [[enclosure]]s, the promotion of English cloth exports and the [[Vagabonds Act 1536|poor relief]] legislation of 1536.{{sfn|Angus|2022|p=135, p. 140}}{{sfn|Leithead|2008}}

==Descendants==
Thomas Cromwell's son [[Gregory Cromwell, 1st Baron Cromwell]], married [[Elizabeth Seymour, Baroness Cromwell|Elizabeth Seymour]], the sister of Queen [[Jane Seymour]] and widow of Sir [[Anthony Ughtred]]. They had five children:{{sfn|Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry III|2011|p=111}}{{sfn|Richardson, Plantagenet Ancestry I|2011|p=[https://books.google.com.au/books?id=kjme027UeagC&pg=PA604#v=onepage&q&f=false 604]}}
* [[Henry Cromwell, 2nd Baron Cromwell]]
* Edward Cromwell
* [[Thomas Cromwell (Parliamentary diarist)|Thomas Cromwell]]
* Katherine Cromwell
* Frances Cromwell

Thomas Cromwell had an illegitimate daughter called Jane.{{sfn|Fitzgerald|MacCulloch|2016|p=591}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R2QUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA499-IA10|title=The English Baronetage: Containing a Genealogical and Historical Account of All the English Baronets|first=Arthur|last=Collins|date=1741|page=493|publisher=Tho. Wotton|access-date=14 January 2018|oclc= 265028317|via=Google Books}}</ref>

[[Puritan]] leader [[Oliver Cromwell]] was the great-grandson of Sir [[Richard Williams (alias Cromwell)|Richard Cromwell]], Thomas Cromwell's nephew.{{sfn|Williams|1975|p=142}}

<gallery mode="packed" heights="140px">
File:Portrait of a Young Man, c. 1535-40, Hans Holbein the Younger.jpg|[[Portrait Miniature of Hans Schwarzwaldt|Portrait of a Young Man, perhaps Gregory Cromwell]], Hans Holbein the Younger{{sfn|Fitzgerald|MacCulloch|2016|pp=594–598}}
File:Holbein, Hans (II) - Portrait of a lady, probably of the Cromwell Family formerly known as Catherine Howard - WGA11565.jpg|[[Portrait of a Lady, probably a Member of the Cromwell Family|Portrait of a Lady, perhaps Elizabeth Seymour]], Hans Holbein the Younger{{sfn|Fitzgerald|2019}}
File:Portrait of a Man in Black, Follower of Hans Holbein the Younger, c. 1600.png|Portrait of a Man in Black, perhaps Sir Richard Cromwell{{sfn|Fitzgerald|2020}}
File:Oliver Cromwell by Samuel Cooper.jpg|Oliver Cromwell
</gallery>

==Hans Holbein portraits==
Thomas Cromwell was a patron of [[Hans Holbein the Younger]], as were Thomas More and Anne Boleyn. In the New York [[Frick Collection]], two portraits by Holbein hang facing each other on the same wall of the Study, one depicting Thomas Cromwell, the other Thomas More, Cromwell's executed political and religious opponent.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2018|p=214}} In 2023, the Book of Hours depicted in the Frick Collection [[Portrait of Thomas Cromwell|portrait of Cromwell]] was put on display at [[Hever Castle]], Kent.<ref>{{cite web |title=Thomas Cromwell's Book of Hours in Trinity College Library |url=https://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/news/thomas-cromwells-book-of-hours-in-trinity-college-library/#:~:text=A%20jewelled%20Book%20of%20Hours,Frick%20Collection%20in%20New%20York. |publisher=[[Trinity College Cambridge]] |access-date=11 November 2023 |date=9 June 2023}}</ref>

==Fictional portrayals==
{{Main article|Fictional portrayals of Thomas Cromwell}}
Cromwell has been portrayed in a number of plays, feature films, and television [[miniseries]], usually as a villainous character. More recently, however, [[Hilary Mantel]]'s two [[Man Booker Prize]]-winning novels ''[[Wolf Hall]]'' (2009) and ''[[Bring up the Bodies]]'' (2012), and the final volume in the trilogy, ''[[The Mirror & the Light]]'' (2020), have shown Cromwell in a more sympathetic light.  In the novels, Cromwell is imbued with family affections, genuine respect for [[Thomas Wolsey|Cardinal Wolsey]], zeal for the Reformation, and support for a limited degree of social reform, while the villainous character is [[Thomas More]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Brosch |first1=Renate |editor1-last=Pollard |editor1-first=Eileen |editor2-last=Carpenter |editor2-first=Ginette |title=Hilary Mantel : contemporary critical perspectives |date=2018 |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Publishing]] |location=London, UK |isbn=978-1-4742-9650-2 |page=58}}</ref>

The television series ''[[Wolf Hall (TV series)|Wolf Hall]]'' (2015) is based on the first two of the novels in Mantel's trilogy, while its sequel ''[[Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light]]'' (2024) is based on the third.

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist|20em}}

==Bibliography==
{{refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}
* {{Cite book |last=Angus |first=Caroline |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1PeBEAAAQBAJ |title=The Private Life of Thomas Cromwell |date=2022 |publisher=Pen & Sword |location=Yorkshire| isbn=9781399095815}}
* {{Cite book |last=Beazley |first=F. C. |url=https://archive.org/stream/notesonparishbu00beazgoog#page/n106/mode/2up |title=Notes on the Parish of Burton in Wirrall |date=1908 |publisher=Henry Young & Sons |others=Illustrated with seven plates and numerous coats of arms drawn by Graham Johnston, Herald Painter to the [[Lyon Court]] |location=Liverpool}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Bernard |first=George W. |author-link=George W. Bernard |date=October 1998 |title=Elton's Cromwell |journal=[[History (journal)|History]] |volume=83 |issue=272 |pages=587–607 |doi=10.1111/1468-229X.00088 |issn=1468-229X}} at [http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1468-229X.00088/abstract Wiley Online Library]
* {{Cite book |last=Bernard |first=George W. |title=The King's reformation : Henry VIII and the remaking of the English church |date=2007 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=9780300109085 |author-mask=——}}
* {{Cite book |last=Bindoff |first=S. T. |title=Members. The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509–1558 |date=1982 |publisher=HistoryOfParliamentOnline.org |editor-last=Bindoff |editor-first=S. T. |chapter=Cromwell, Thomas (by 1485–1540), of London |access-date=21 October 2013 |chapter-url=http://www.HistoryOfParliamentOnline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/cromwell-thomas-1485-1540}}
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* {{Cite book |last=Borman |first=Tracy |title=Thomas Cromwell : the untold story of Henry VIII's most faithful servant |date=2014 |publisher=Hodder & Stoughton |isbn=9781444782875 |author-link=Tracy Borman}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Brigden |first=Susan |author-link=Susan Brigden |date=June 1981 |title=Popular Disturbance and the Fall of Thomas Cromwell and the Reformers, 1539–1540 |journal=Historical Journal |volume=24 |issue=2 |pages=257–278 |doi=10.1017/s0018246x0000546x |jstor=2638786 |s2cid=154423447 |ref={{Sfnref|Brigden|Jun 1981|pp=257–278}}}}
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* {{cite book |last1=Bucholz |first1=Robert |last2=Key |first2=Newton |title=Early Modern England, 1485–1714 : a narrative history |date=2004 |publisher=[[Wiley-Blackwell|Blackwell]] |location=Oxford, England |isbn=0-631-21392-9}}
*{{Cite book |last=Coby |first=J. Patrick |title=Thomas Cromwell: Machiavellian Statecraft and the English Reformation |date=2009 |publisher=Lexington Books |isbn=978-0739134030 |location=Lanham |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W3F_uN8wlCsC}}
* {{Cite book |last=Cokayne |first=G.E. |url=https://archive.org/stream/completepeerageo03coka#page/556/mode/2up |title=The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom |date=1913 |publisher=St Catherine Press |editor-last=Gibbs |editor-first=Vicary |volume=III |location=London |ref={{Sfnref|Cokayne III|1913}} |author-link=George Cokayne |editor-last2=Doubleday |editor-first2=H. Arthur}}
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* {{Cite book |last=Edwards |first=P. S. |title=Members. The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1509–1558 |date=1982 |publisher=Published for [[The History of Parliament]] Trust by [[Harvill Secker|Secker & Warburg]] |isbn=978-0436042829 |editor-last=Bindoff |editor-first=S. T. |volume=2: Members D–M |location=London |chapter=HOUGH, Richard (1505–73/74), of Leighton and Thornton Hough, Cheshire. |access-date=24 September 2014 |chapter-url=http://www.HistoryOfParliamentOnline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/hough-richard-1505-7374 }}
* {{Cite journal |last=Elton |first=Geoffrey |author-link=Geoffrey Elton |date=1951 |title=Thomas Cromwell's Decline and Fall |journal=Cambridge Historical Journal |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=150–185 |doi=10.1017/S1474691300002766 |jstor=3021084}}
* {{Cite book |last=Elton |first=Geoffrey Rudolph |url=https://archive.org/details/tudorrevolutioni0000elto |title=The Tudor Revolution in Government: Administrative Changes in the Reign of Henry VIII |date=1953 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |author-mask=—— |url-access=registration}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Elton |first=G. R. |author-mask=—— |date=1956 |title=The Political Creed of Thomas Cromwell |journal=Transactions of the Royal Historical Society |series=Fifth Series |volume=6 |pages=69–92 |doi=10.2307/3678841 |jstor=3678841|s2cid=144735978 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Elton |first=Geoffrey Rudolph |url=https://archive.org/details/reformrenewaltho0000elto |title=Reform and Renewal: Thomas Cromwell and the Common Weal |date=1973 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0521200547 |location=Cambridge |author-mask=—— |url-access=registration}}
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* {{Cite journal |last=Elton |first=Geoffrey |author-mask=—— |date=December 1993 |title=How Corrupt was Thomas Cromwell? |journal=Historical Journal |volume=36 |issue=4 |pages=905–908 |doi=10.1017/s0018246x00014552 |jstor=2640037|s2cid=159983157 }}
* {{cite book |last=Everett |first=Michael |title=The Rise of Thomas Cromwell: Power and Politics in the Reign of Henry VIII, 1485–1534 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tWzbBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA141 |date=2015 |location=New Haven |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |isbn=9780300213089}}
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* {{Cite book |last=Noble |first=Mark |title=Memoirs of the Protectoral House of Cromwell |date=1787 |publisher=G.G.J. and J. Robinson |edition=3rd |volume=II |location=London |ref={{Sfnref|Noble II|1787}} |author-link=Mark Noble (biographer)}}
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* {{cite web|last=Wriothesley|first=Charles|author-link=Charles Wriothesley|editor-last=Hamilton|editor-first=William Douglas|title=A Chronicle Of England During The Reigns Of The Tudors: From A.D. 1485 To 1559|series=Camden Society. New Series|volume=1|location=London|publisher=Camden Society|year=1875|id={{OCLC|1096776828|73998658}}|url=https://archive.org/details/achronicleengla04hamigoog/page/n172/mode/2up?view=theater}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex}}
{{wikiquote|Thomas Cromwell}}
{{EB1911 poster|Cromwell, Thomas, Earl of Essex}}
* [http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/cromwell-thomas-1485-1540 CROMWELL, Thomas (by 1485–1540), of London] at historyofparliamentonline.org
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_OderwkAtQ&t=1s Sir Diarmaid MacCulloch] Cambridge Union
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=En44HaZWB5U&t=1s Diarmaid MacCulloch: ''Thomas Cromwell – A Fresh Look'']. Berwick Literary Festival
* {{Cite DNB| wstitle=Cromwell, Thomas (1485?-1540)| volume=13| page=194}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150304180344/http://englishhistory.net/tudor/citizens/cromwell.html Thomas Cromwell] with details on his policies at Englishhistory.net
* [https://collection.imamuseum.org/artwork/72261/ Portrait of Thomas Cromwell] at the Indianapolis Museum of Art
* {{NPG name|name=Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex}}
* {{UK National Archives ID}}
* {{Librivox author |id=16183}}

{{S-start}}
{{S-off}}
{{s-bef|before = [[John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners|John Bourchier]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Chancellor of the Exchequer]]|years = 1533–1540}}
{{s-aft|after = [[John Baker (English statesman)|John Baker]]}}
{{S-bef |before=[[Stephen Gardiner]]}}
{{S-ttl |title=[[Secretary of State (England)|Secretary of State]] |years=1534–1540}}
{{S-aft |after=[[Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton|Thomas Wriothesley]]<br />[[Ralph Sadler]]}}
{{S-bef |before=[[John Taylor (Master of the Rolls)|John Taylor]]}}
{{S-ttl |title=[[Master of the Rolls]] |years=1534–1536}}
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{{S-legal}}
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{{S-end}}

{{Chancellors of the Exchequer}}
{{House of Tudor Chancellors of the Exchequer}}
{{Masters of the Rolls}}
{{Deans of Wells}}
{{Chancellors of the University of Cambridge}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cromwell, Thomas}}
[[Category:1480s births]]
[[Category:1540 deaths]]
[[Category:15th-century English lawyers]]
[[Category:16th-century English nobility]]
[[Category:16th-century English lawyers]]
[[Category:16th-century English MPs]]
[[Category:English royal favourites]]
[[Category:Chancellors of the Exchequer of England]]
[[Category:Chancellors of the University of Cambridge]]
[[Category:Converts to Anglicanism from Roman Catholicism]]
[[Category:Cromwell family]]
[[Category:Deans of Wells]]
[[Category:Earls of Essex|Thomas]]
[[Category:English Anglicans]]
[[Category:Lawyers from London]]
[[Category:English MPs 1523]]
[[Category:English MPs 1529–1536]]
[[Category:English MPs 1536]]
[[Category:People convicted under a bill of attainder]]
[[Category:Executions at the Tower of London]]
[[Category:Knights of the Garter]]
[[Category:Lords Privy Seal]]
[[Category:Lord Great Chamberlains]]
[[Category:Masters of the Rolls]]
[[Category:People associated with the Dissolution of the Monasteries]]
[[Category:People executed under Henry VIII]]
[[Category:People executed by Tudor England by decapitation]]
[[Category:People executed under the Tudors for treason against England]]
[[Category:Executed people from London]]
[[Category:People from Putney]]
[[Category:Prisoners in the Tower of London]]
[[Category:Secretaries of state of the Kingdom of England]]
[[Category:Burials at the Church of St Peter ad Vincula]]
[[Category:English politicians convicted of crimes]]
[[Category:Masters of the Jewel Office]]
[[Category:Peers of England created by Henry VIII]]
[[Category:Barons Cromwell]]
[[Category:Court of Henry VIII]]
[[Category:Year of birth uncertain]]
[[Category:15th-century English diplomats]]
[[Category:Executed English nobility]]