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14 | <Metadata name="Author">Marilee Mongello</Metadata>
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15 | <Metadata name="Title">Tudor Citizens - Thomas Cromwell</Metadata>
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17 | <Metadata name="URL">http://englishhistory.net/tudor/citizens/cromwell.html</Metadata>
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22 | <Metadata name="dc.Subject">Tudor period|Citizens</Metadata>
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32 | <Content>
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33 |
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34 | <center><img SRC="_httpdocimg_/cromwell.gif" ALT="Thomas Cromwell" height=59 width=313>
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35 | <br>born c.1485 in Putney
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36 | <br>executed 28 July 1540 in London
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37 | <p><b><font size=+1>"A good household manager, but not fit to meddle in
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38 | the affairs of kings."</font></b>
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39 | <br><font size=-1>May 1538, Henry VIII describes Cromwell to the French
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40 | ambassador</font></center>
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41 |
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42 | <p><img SRC="_httpdocimg_/cromwell-small.jpg" ALT="portrait of Cromwell as the earl of Essex" BORDER=2 height=264 width=220 align=LEFT>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
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43 | Thomas Cromwell was as great a statesman as England has ever seen and,
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44 | in his decade of power, permanently changed the course of English history.&nbsp;
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45 | Unlike his mentor, Cardinal Wolsey, Cromwell was not a priest or a papist.&nbsp;
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46 | He was a lawyer determined to impose his own character - methodical, detached,
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47 | and calculating - upon government.
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48 | <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Cromwell wanted government to be effective and efficient;
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49 | to achieve this, he had to end the chaos of feudal privilege and ill-defined
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50 | jurisdictions.&nbsp; He was blessed with a logical mind in an age sadly
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51 | devoid of them.&nbsp; And unlike his royal master, he did not let his emotions
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52 | interfere with his position.&nbsp; He was the ideal statesman for Tudor
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53 | England and, just months after his execution in 1540, Henry VIII was bemoaning
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54 | his loss.
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55 | <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Cromwell was introduced to government service as
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56 | a secretary for <a href="_httpextlink_&amp;rl=1&amp;href=http:%2f%2fenglishhistory.net%2ftudor%2fcitizens%2fwolsey.html">Cardinal
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57 | Wolsey</a>.&nbsp; His abilities won him the older man's respect and soon
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58 | Cromwell was his most trusted servant and principal secretary.&nbsp; But
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59 | Cromwell managed to distance himself from Wolsey immediately after the
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60 | Cardinal fell from grace and soon had taken his place as Henry's most valuable
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61 | advisor.&nbsp; Before entering Wolsey's service, Cromwell lived an adventurous
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62 | life.&nbsp; His father had been a brewer and blacksmith known for permanent
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63 | drunkenness and illegal activities.&nbsp; From this inauspicious beginning,
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64 | his son went on to indulge his curiosity and practical nature by traveling
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65 | through Europe.&nbsp; Over the course of several years, he was a soldier
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66 | in Europe, a banker in Italy, clerk in the Netherlands, and a lawyer in
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67 | London.&nbsp; Like so many ambitious men, he was in Wolsey's service in
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68 | the mid-1520s.&nbsp; His most important work was the suppression of 29
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69 | religious houses whose monies Wolsey used to endow colleges at Ipswich
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70 | and Oxford.&nbsp; When Wolsey fell from grace in 1529, Cromwell was hurriedly
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71 | elected burgess for Taunton so he could remain in government service.
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72 | <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; There were striking similarities between the two
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73 | men - both managed to remain favorites of the mercurial Henry VIII for
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74 | years; both were despised by the older nobility who coveted their influence
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75 | with the king; both sought to reform the creaky medieval bureaucracy of
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76 | Tudor government; both were highly intelligent and well-versed in international
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77 | affairs.&nbsp; And both, ultimately, fell from Henry's favor with spectacular
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78 | speed.&nbsp; In the end, the king preferred to listen to the old nobility.
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79 | <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; But Cromwell and Wolsey were also markedly different
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80 | in many ways.&nbsp; Cromwell was the man responsible for the Henrician
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81 | reformation while Wolsey fell because he served two masters, the king of
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82 | England and the Pope.&nbsp; Though Henry had ejected Rome from his nation,
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83 | he still practiced the Roman Catholic religion.&nbsp; The king's religious
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84 | tendencies were never reformist and many historians have made the mistake
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85 | of painting him as one of the first Protestant kings.&nbsp; Henry was never
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86 | a Protestant and he wrote treatises vilifying Martin Luther for which he
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87 | was titled 'Defender of the Faith' by the Pope.&nbsp; Rather, he was an
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88 | opportunist who disliked papal authority and interference in his realm
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89 | and wanted some of the vast wealth the English church possessed.&nbsp;
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90 | For Henry, often desperately short of money, it was near-blasphemy for
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91 | his subjects to pay taxes directly to Rome; he wanted the money for his
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92 | government.&nbsp; He also wanted an annulment from a devoutly Catholic
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93 | wife, Katharine of Aragon, and when the Pope, held hostage by the Holy
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94 | Roman Emperor, refused to rule in his favor, he found it most expedient
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95 | to simply disregard the papacy.&nbsp; But throughout it all, Henry was
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96 | unaware of the forces he had unleashed when he declared himself head of
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97 | the English church.&nbsp; Trained for the church as a child, he remained
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98 | staunchly Catholic for his entire life though the Catholic church deemed
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99 | him a heretic.
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100 | <center>
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101 | <p><b><u><font color="#000000">a discussion of the Henrician reformation</font></u></b></center>
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102 |
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103 | <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; It is important to remember that during Henry's reign,
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104 | at least half of his subjects were under the age of eighteen.&nbsp; Henry's
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105 | court swarmed with young people - pages, scullery maids, and the like.&nbsp;
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106 | English culture celebrated youth; tournaments, hunts, glorious warfare
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107 | were all the province of the young and strong.&nbsp; And while Henry was
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108 | young, he joined these events with a gusto sadly lacking in his father
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109 | or son.&nbsp; But time does not stop, not even for a despotic monarch determined
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110 | to have his way in all things.&nbsp; During his 'great matter', Henry was
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111 | in his thirties and changing from 'Bluff King Hal' into an overweight and
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112 | balding hypochondriac.&nbsp; He had rid himself of Rome to gain wealth
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113 | and a son.&nbsp; He gained both and, once he had, continually toyed with
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114 | the idea of making peace with the pope.&nbsp; He didn't relish excommunication
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115 | and it is likely that he persuaded himself that he wasn't disobeying Christ's
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116 | vicar but rather the Emperor's puppet.
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117 | <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; But he misjudged the mood of his people, particularly
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118 | his nobles.&nbsp; Educated and by nature inquisitive and acquisitive, the
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119 | new Protestant teachings intrigued them; they also sought the vast monastic
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120 | lands which Henry planned to sell.&nbsp; This was the paradox of the Henrician
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121 | reformation.&nbsp; It was motivated by greed and genuine religious turmoil.&nbsp;
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122 | As time passed, the new generation of nobles were Protestant because it
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123 | was expedient and philosophically appealing.&nbsp; And with each year,
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124 | more Englishmen were born who were further and further away from the old
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125 | days of Roman domination.&nbsp; Henry, in his forties, could remember the
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126 | papist ways but, as the years passed, fewer and fewer of his subjects did.
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127 | <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In terms of the practical effect the reformation
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128 | had on everyday Englishmen, the situation is more difficult to gauge.&nbsp;
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129 | Unlike the wealthy noblemen, they couldn't bid on the seized monastic properties.&nbsp;
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130 | And in many towns and villages, the parish church was the community center,
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131 | where births, weddings, and deaths were officiated over by a priest.&nbsp;
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132 | But they undoubtedly enjoyed not paying their tax to Rome.&nbsp; Once again,
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133 | a paradox emerged - an excommunicated nation which found itself torn between
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134 | loyalty to the sovereign and loyalty to the papacy.&nbsp; Also, since Henry's
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135 | marriage to Anne Boleyn could only be recognized if one accepted his annulment
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136 | from Katharine - which in itself meant a rejection of papal authority -
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137 | and it was treason to <i>not</i> recognize his marriage to Anne, then many
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138 | people were swayed by the threat of execution.&nbsp; In other words, accept
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139 | Henry's decisions or die.&nbsp; Of course, I cannot discuss all aspects
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140 | of the reformation at this site; I recommend L.B. Smith's <i>Henry VIII</i>
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141 | which studies Henry's own theological beliefs.
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142 | <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; There was opposition to the reformation which probably
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143 | had more to do with the attendant loss of independence in north England.&nbsp;
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144 | In 1536, a northern uprising which came to be called the Pilgrimage of
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145 | Grace, gathered over 40,000 men and marched through England.&nbsp; It eventually
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146 | destroyed itself by internal division and lack of clear purpose but one
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147 | of the rebels' demands was a warning for Cromwell - they want their king
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148 | to be advised by <i>noble</i> councilors who understand the people's wishes,
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149 | not common men like Cromwell.&nbsp; Henry was angry at their presumption
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150 | - how dare his ignorant subjects rebel annd then tell him how to run the
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151 | country! - but he was persuaded to show mercy and pardon those involved.&nbsp;
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152 | And he continued to listen to Cromwell.
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153 | <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The <a href="_httpextlink_&amp;rl=1&amp;href=http:%2f%2fenglishhistory.net%2ftudor%2fprimary.html">Pilgrimage
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154 | of Grace</a> was largely motivated not by religious concerns but by Cromwell's
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155 | determination to dissolve the monasteries and improve the royal tax collecting
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156 | methods.&nbsp; For example, the movement began in Louth, in Lincolnshire,
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157 | and began with the murder of two tax collectors, one of whom was hanged
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158 | and the other sewn into a sack and thrown to a pack of hungry dogs!
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159 | <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; So the common people might grumble somewhat but they
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160 | were ultimately more influenced by practical matters.&nbsp; Had Henry's
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161 | excommunication been followed by a terrible harvest or bad weather, it
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162 | may have been otherwise.&nbsp; During his daughter Mary's reign, such signs
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163 | were taken to mean God was angry with her for attempting to reinstate Catholicism.&nbsp;
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164 | But not only did Henry enjoy good weather, he had a brilliant servant.&nbsp;
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165 | Cromwell was the one who gave force to Henry's grand declarations.&nbsp;
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166 | The king declared that Rome had no authority in England and Cromwell instituted
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167 | the reforms which would make it so.&nbsp; The king declared that all monastic
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168 | lands were forfeit and Cromwell set out to close the monasteries, assess
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169 | their value, and sell them to the highest bidder.&nbsp; For a decade, this
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170 | partnership worked marvelously.
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171 | <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Also, Henry and Cromwell both recognized a fundamental
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172 | truth of the English people; the government could do what it liked as long
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173 | as traditional religious views were not upset too much.&nbsp; Certainly
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174 | Henry did not upset his own.&nbsp; The name of the pope was omitted in
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175 | their prayers but not much else.&nbsp; Henry's break with Rome was really
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176 | a legal reformation rather than one of real religious content.&nbsp; England
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177 | practiced Catholicism without a pope and, in his place, was their king.&nbsp;
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178 | This situation suited Cromwell.&nbsp; Like many, he recognized that the
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179 | Church had lost its way, remaining a ponderous medieval institution concerned
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180 | with wealth and influence.&nbsp; But Europe was no longer medieval; countries
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181 | were becoming nation-states, patriotic and immune to the cultural unity
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182 | which Rome promoted.&nbsp; The pope envisioned a collection of nations
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183 | joined beneath the cloak of Christendom with him at its head; but, particularly
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184 | in xenophobic England, there were mutterings that the church was dominated
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185 | by other nations.&nbsp; Also, the church claimed authority over its subjects;
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186 | no priest or cleric could be tried by their sovereign nation.&nbsp; They
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187 | would answer only to Rome.&nbsp; This problem had angered Henry II centuries
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188 | before and resulted in Thomas Becket's murder.&nbsp; In Henry's time, it
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189 | had grown worse.&nbsp; Also, as king, he believed himself ruler of <i>all</i>
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190 | his subjects, priest and commoner alike.
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191 | <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; One must also mention the corruption of the church,
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192 | sadly evident to everyone.&nbsp; Certainly there were Godly men who struggled
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193 | to enforce the tenets of their faith.&nbsp; But there were also bishops
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194 | and cardinals more interested in business and finance than theology.&nbsp;
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195 | The church preached that the surest path to heaven was through good works,
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196 | particularly at a monastery or abbey, but every Englishmen knew that only
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197 | the wealthy could afford to endow or board at them.&nbsp; Furthermore,
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198 | an increasing number of churchmen were absent from their posts.&nbsp; Cardinal
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199 | Wolsey embodied this avaricious streak; he was bishop, archbishop, abbot,
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200 | and cardinal yet the affairs of state kept him from his duties.&nbsp; Instead
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201 | of tending to his flock, he tended to his purse.&nbsp; He sired illegitimate
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202 | children and collected nearly 50,000 pds a year from his vast holdings.
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203 | <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Wolsey represented the church as it had become; certainly
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204 | such abuses may not have turned most Englishmen from their faith.&nbsp;
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205 | But when confronted with the forces of Protestantism, the church found
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206 | precious few willing to die for their beliefs.&nbsp; After all, why would
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207 | anyone die for a faith they didn't respect?&nbsp; When the king styled
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208 | himself head of the church, many were perhaps relieved.&nbsp; Henry made
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209 | no claim to a holy life, not like the churchman Wolsey; he also was shrewd
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210 | enough to endow his monarchy with papal apparatus.&nbsp; From the 1530s
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211 | on, the Tudor dynasty was even more divine and the machinery of state could
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212 | enforce its divinity.
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213 | <center>
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214 | <p><b><u><font color="#000000">Cromwell's revolution in government</font></u></b></center>
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215 |
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216 | <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Cromwell's rise to power was extraordinary and occurred
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217 | just when Henry needed a minister of great administrative imagination and
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218 | genius, uninterested in the squabbles of his council and determined to
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219 | empower the machinery of state.&nbsp; Cromwell entered royal service in
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220 | early 1530 and, from then on, rose rapidly.&nbsp; In late 1530 he was sworn
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221 | into the King's Council and, just a year later, began to attract unfavorable
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222 | attention from Wolsey's old rivals.&nbsp; These were Stephen Gardiner,
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223 | bishop of Winchester, Thomas Howard, duke of Norfolk, and Charles Brandon,
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224 | duke of Suffolk.&nbsp; Gardiner had worked with Wolsey but, like Norfolk
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225 | and Suffolk, viewed the Cardinal's fall as a chance to take his place.&nbsp;
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226 | From 1529 to about 1533, they enjoyed the king's confidence even as Cromwell
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227 | rose to overtake them all.&nbsp; His career progressed as follows:
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228 | <br><b><font color="#990000">1531</font></b> - member of the privy council
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229 | <br><b><font color="#990000">1532</font></b> - Master of Court of Wards
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230 | and Master of Jewel House
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231 | <br><b><font color="#990000">1533</font></b> - Chancellor of the Exchequer
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232 | <br><font color="#990000"><b>1534</b> </font>- King's Secretary and Master
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233 | of the Rolls
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234 | <br><b><font color="#990000">1535</font></b> - Vicar-General
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235 | <br><b><font color="#990000">1536</font></b> - Lord Privy Seal and Baron
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236 | Cromwell of Oakham
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237 | <br><b><font color="#990000">1537</font></b> - Knight of the Garter and
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238 | Dean of Wells
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239 | <br><b><font color="#990000">1539</font></b> - Lord Great Chamberlain
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240 | <br><b><font color="#990000">1540</font></b> - created Earl of Essex
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241 | <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; As the above list shows, Henry never forgot the fallen
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242 | Wolsey.&nbsp; He had heaped honors upon him with extravagant generosity
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243 | and had written to the pope recommending religious promotion.&nbsp; In
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244 | the end, Henry believed himself betrayed.&nbsp; Not only had Wolsey accumulated
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245 | obscene wealth, but he had grown arrogant and eventually treasonous.&nbsp;
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246 | And so Cromwell, despite his years of diligence and genius, was eventually
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247 | rewarded with an earldom but only a short time before his execution.
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248 | <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; His influence upon the 1530s, one of the most influential
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249 | and vital decades in English history, was enormous.&nbsp; One needs only
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250 | to study the 1540s to realize how the loss of Cromwell affected Tudor government.&nbsp;
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251 | He also came to power during Anne Boleyn's ascendancy.&nbsp; It was a symbolic
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252 | changing of the guard - the old Katharine of Aragon thrust aside for the
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253 | young, ambitious Anne Boleyn and Wolsey disgraced and replaced by his protégé
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254 | Cromwell.&nbsp; Cromwell supported Anne until she, like Wolsey, became
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255 | a liability.&nbsp; Among his immediate accomplishments were the following:
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256 | <br><b><font color="#990000">1</font></b> - the dissolution of the monasteries
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257 | and establishment of the royal supremacy
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258 | <br><b><font color="#990000">2</font></b> - founded the ministries of Augmentations
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259 | and First Fruits to handle income from the dissolution
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260 | <br><b><font color="#990000">3</font></b> - founded the two courts of Wards
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261 | and Surveyors which allowed more efficient taxation and leasing
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262 | <br><b><font color="#990000">4 </font></b>- politically integrated the
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263 | kingdom by extending sovereign authority into northern England, Wales &amp;
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264 | Ireland (actions which angered the great feudal lords)
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265 | <br><b><font color="#990000">5</font></b> - used the power of that relatively
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266 | new invention, the printing-press and thus spearheaded the first propaganda
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267 | campaign in English history.
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268 | <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In the 1530s, he had instituted reforms of the English
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269 | government which earned enmity from the nobility.&nbsp; Cromwell recognized
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270 | the basic inefficiency of feudal government and, from it, struggled to
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271 | create a more logical system.&nbsp; Instead of offices held solely because
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272 | of birth, he wanted trained servants with expertise in their field.&nbsp;
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273 | He built a bureaucracy of professionals outside the royal household.&nbsp;
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274 | He began the first era of parliamentary control of England, using the institution
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275 | to dissolve the monasteries which made up a quarter of all arable land
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276 | and validate his other decisions.
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277 | <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; From the above list, one will note that most of the
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278 | 'accomplishments' were motivated by financial need.&nbsp; Like his predecessors
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279 | in government ministry, Cromwell needed to provide secure and regular income.&nbsp;
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280 | This alone necessitated an assault on the church's wealth.&nbsp; Cromwell
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281 | also developed a novel, and very unpopular idea - in the past, taxes were
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282 | created to support warfare; in 1534, he developed a new tax.&nbsp; Its
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283 | basis?&nbsp; The king's maintenance of peace.&nbsp; These measures did
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284 | not help his reputation but, by 1547, had brought nearly 2,000,000 pds
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285 | to Henry's treasury.&nbsp; Of course, Henry would use the entire windfall
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286 | to finance his increasingly complicated foreign policy.&nbsp; At the time
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287 | of Henry's death, all the wealth Cromwell had accumulated was gone and
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288 | Edward VI was left with debased currency and massive debts.
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289 | <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In 1534, however, Henry was prepared to reap the
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290 | benefits of his new anti-clerical policies.&nbsp; He had appointed his
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291 | friend Thomas Cranmer to the venerable and powerful position of Archbishop
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292 | of Canterbury.&nbsp; Cranmer was like Cromwell in many ways - both owed
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293 | their rise to prominence entirely to Henry's mercurial favor; both came
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294 | from humble backgrounds; both were despised by the traditional nobility.&nbsp;
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295 | Cranmer had come to Henry's attention by first suggesting a solution to
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296 | the divorce problem - petition learned churchmen for their opinion, assuming
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297 | they agreed with Henry.&nbsp; Like Cromwell, Cranmer benefited directly
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298 | from the fall of Katharine of Aragon and the Imperial alliance and the
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299 | rise of Anne Boleyn and her Norfolk relations.&nbsp; Henry's midlife crisis
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300 | provided fertile ground for ambitious men.&nbsp; Cranmer and Cromwell liked
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301 | one another and became friends, though Cranmer was careful to distance
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302 | himself once Cromwell's ruin was assured.
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303 | <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In 1535, Henry appointed Cromwell Vicar General and,
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304 | over the next five years, the honors increased - Lord Privy Seal, titled
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305 | Baron Cromwell of Oakham, Knight of the Garter and Dean of Wells, and finally
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306 | Lord Great Chancellor and ennoblement as Earl of Essex.&nbsp; The last
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307 | was Cromwell's greatest ambition and long before justified by his superior
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308 | service to the crown.&nbsp; During the accumulation of these honors, however,
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309 | Cromwell began to recognize the flaws in his success.
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310 | <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; First, he had accompanied Anne Boleyn on her rise
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311 | to power; yet, in 1536, he helped engineer her disgrace and execution on
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312 | charges of adultery, incest, and witchcraft.&nbsp; Why?&nbsp; Cromwell
|
---|
313 | recognized Henry's dissatisfaction with the marriage - after several years,
|
---|
314 | Anne's sharp tongue had offended many and, even worse, she had not produced
|
---|
315 | a male heir.&nbsp; Furthermore, Henry had become infatuated with Anne's
|
---|
316 | lady-in-waiting, Mistress Jane Seymour.&nbsp; Tiring of his wife, he wanted
|
---|
317 | to be rid of her.&nbsp; Divorce was only briefly considered before being
|
---|
318 | pushed aside.&nbsp; As he had with Katharine of Aragon, Henry became convinced
|
---|
319 | his marriage was invalid, only this time because of adultery, and he retained
|
---|
320 | his absolute conviction in her guilt even as he truly believed his and
|
---|
321 | Katharine's marriage was invalid.&nbsp; To rid himself of Anne, he turned
|
---|
322 | to the ever-ready Cromwell.&nbsp; Soon enough, Anne was on trial with her
|
---|
323 | brother and two male servants.&nbsp; They were all executed, despite spirited
|
---|
324 | defenses and the widely-held belief that it was judicial murder.
|
---|
325 | <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Cromwell betrayed his former patron because she no
|
---|
326 | longer held the king's favor.&nbsp; In the rough world of Tudor politics,
|
---|
327 | friendships were lost in the struggle for prestige and survival.&nbsp;
|
---|
328 | And now Cromwell turned to Mistress Jane Seymour and her relatively obscure
|
---|
329 | family for support.&nbsp; The Seymours, however, never warmed to Cromwell
|
---|
330 | as had the Boleyns, largely because they didn't trust him or his influence
|
---|
331 | over the king.&nbsp; Cromwell was careful to press Jane's cause to the
|
---|
332 | king though Henry needed little urging.&nbsp; Just days after Anne Boleyn's
|
---|
333 | execution, Jane Seymour became his third wife, dying eighteen months later
|
---|
334 | after delivering the longed-for son, Prince Edward.&nbsp; Cromwell busied
|
---|
335 | himself with auctioning off church properties to various noblemen and further
|
---|
336 | reforming the archaic machinery of Tudor government.&nbsp; In doing so,
|
---|
337 | he continued to ignore Henry's council of noble peers.&nbsp; When the council
|
---|
338 | did meet, Cromwell dominated the meetings and disregarded most suggestions.&nbsp;
|
---|
339 | To his credit, he was right on most counts; the nobility was quite distanced
|
---|
340 | from the changing nature of government.&nbsp; They were fiercely protective
|
---|
341 | of their own 'inalienable' rights as landowners and peers and notoriously
|
---|
342 | difficult when these rights were impugned (this conflict between the nobility
|
---|
343 | and monarchy was centuries-old - simply remember the 13th century <i>Magna
|
---|
344 | Carta</i>, when the nobles forced King John I to recognize their 'natural'
|
---|
345 | rights.)
|
---|
346 | <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; As discussed earlier, the nobility resented Cromwell's
|
---|
347 | influence with the king and his pro-monarchy, anti-nobility policy.&nbsp;
|
---|
348 | And while many of the nobles benefited from the sale of clerical lands,
|
---|
349 | many others had relatives dedicated to religious service.&nbsp; Also, reverence
|
---|
350 | for the church and its servants was as deeply-held as reverence for the
|
---|
351 | monarchy.&nbsp; Henry's attacks upon the church struck many as unnatural
|
---|
352 | and wrong; since they could not turn on the king, they turned on Cromwell
|
---|
353 | and blamed him for every unpopular policy.&nbsp; Henry VIII, who relished
|
---|
354 | his popularity, allowed his faithful servant to be impugned.&nbsp; Thus,
|
---|
355 | Henry could meet with his nobles, listen to their complaints, and even
|
---|
356 | agree with them since many were his dearest friends.&nbsp; The king remained
|
---|
357 | popular while his chief minister became increasingly despised and isolated.&nbsp;
|
---|
358 | It is worth noting that one of Cromwell's friends, Richard Moryson, argued
|
---|
359 | that merit and not birth should be the only qualification for entry into
|
---|
360 | the privy council.&nbsp; Moryson eventually became a member himself.
|
---|
361 | <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; It is also important to note that years of listening
|
---|
362 | to anti-Cromwell gossip eventually affected Henry.&nbsp; Even the king
|
---|
363 | did not exist in a vacuum and, as his temper became increasingly erratic,
|
---|
364 | he was easily swayed by inflamed opinion.&nbsp; Thus, Cromwell suffered
|
---|
365 | from a lapse in Henry's temper and one which the king almost immediately
|
---|
366 | regretted.&nbsp; Chief among Cromwell's enemies were the highest nobles
|
---|
367 | in the land, once Wolsey's great enemies and led by the dukes of Suffolk
|
---|
368 | and Norfolk.&nbsp; These men had pushed Wolsey from favor after years of
|
---|
369 | effort and were determined to do the same to his protégé.&nbsp;
|
---|
370 | The perfect opportunity arrived when Queen Jane died two weeks after childbirth,
|
---|
371 | in October 1537.&nbsp; Henry VIII was genuinely bereaved at her death but
|
---|
372 | almost immediately the search began for a new queen.&nbsp; After all, Jane
|
---|
373 | had delivered a son but one male heir was not enough in the sixteenth century.&nbsp;
|
---|
374 | Henry's council began to search for a new consort with the king's enthusiastic
|
---|
375 | support.
|
---|
376 | <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; For Cromwell, this was a chance to further extend
|
---|
377 | his influence while thwarting the English nobility.&nbsp; Henry's second
|
---|
378 | and third wives had been English noblewomen whose families directly profited
|
---|
379 | from their rise to power.&nbsp; The influence of these families naturally
|
---|
380 | troubled Cromwell.&nbsp; As their influence rose, his own suffered - so
|
---|
381 | he was opposed to the idea of another English wife.&nbsp; Also, as an intelligent
|
---|
382 | statesman, he recognized the diplomatic power of royal marriages.&nbsp;
|
---|
383 | Henry's troublesome foreign policy could be soothed if he chose a foreign
|
---|
384 | wife - a princess or duchess of one of the great European families.&nbsp;
|
---|
385 | Kings were meant to marry other royalty and Cromwell immediately searched
|
---|
386 | for possible candidates.
|
---|
387 | <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; While searching, he was careful to avoid Catholic
|
---|
388 | candidates.&nbsp; Cromwell's rise to power was directly connected to the
|
---|
389 | fall of Catholicism in England and he wanted to keep England on the path
|
---|
390 | of Protestantism.&nbsp; Therefore, he sought a Protestant ally for Henry
|
---|
391 | VIII.&nbsp; Naturally, his gaze turned to the Protestant states of Germany,
|
---|
392 | birthplace of the Lutheran revolution.&nbsp; Meanwhile, Henry VIII was
|
---|
393 | concerned with more aesthetic matters, sending artists (most famously,
|
---|
394 | Hans Holbein the Younger) to France and Milan to paint potential brides.&nbsp;
|
---|
395 | Among those painted was Christina, duchess of Milan and niece of the Holy
|
---|
396 | Roman Emperor; she famously remarked that she would be happy to marry Henry
|
---|
397 | - if she had two heads!&nbsp; Henry also considered Marie de Guise, a widowed
|
---|
398 | cousin of the French king.&nbsp; Marie, however, chose to marry Henry's
|
---|
399 | nephew, James V of Scotland, thus creating a French-Scottish alliance along
|
---|
400 | Henry's troublesome northern border.&nbsp; Their only surviving child is
|
---|
401 | famous in history as the tragic Mary queen of Scots.
|
---|
402 | <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Cromwell was well aware that if France and the Holy
|
---|
403 | Roman Empire ended hostilities, as seemed likely, England would be left
|
---|
404 | out in the diplomatic cold.&nbsp; He was quite happy when the French and
|
---|
405 | Imperial marriage negotiations fell apart.&nbsp; But as the search wound
|
---|
406 | on, Henry became increasingly desperate for a wife.&nbsp; No doubt he was
|
---|
407 | lonely; also, his court needed a queen to be complete.&nbsp; A king was
|
---|
408 | not meant to be a bachelor, as every European monarch knew.&nbsp; Finally,
|
---|
409 | Cromwell found a Protestant ally with two available sisters - the duke
|
---|
410 | of Cleves, whose lands were strategically located and wealthy.&nbsp; He
|
---|
411 | had two sisters not yet wed called Anne and Amelia.&nbsp; As the eldest,
|
---|
412 | Anne was chosen as the possible bride and Holbein immediately went to Cleves
|
---|
413 | to paint her portrait.&nbsp; <a href="_httpextlink_&amp;rl=0&amp;href=http:%2f%2fwww.geocities.com%2fathens%2fforum%2f9194%2fcleves1.jpg">This
|
---|
414 | painting</a> would become of paramount importance in the coming year.&nbsp;
|
---|
415 | Henry was determined to have a beautiful wife and specifically asked his
|
---|
416 | various ambassadors probing questions - does Marie de Guise have wide hips
|
---|
417 | for childbearing? is Christina of Milan pock-marked? does Anne of Cleves
|
---|
418 | play the lute?&nbsp; Holbein's famous portrait of Anne cannot be adequately
|
---|
419 | judged in our time; after all, standards of beauty have changed.&nbsp;
|
---|
420 | However, it is amusing to note that she - so maligned in her own time as
|
---|
421 | the ugliest of Henry's wives - is the most attractive by twentieth-century
|
---|
422 | standards.
|
---|
423 | <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Holbein's portrait showed a perfectly attractive
|
---|
424 | young woman - and, on that basis, Cromwell was able to secure the marriage
|
---|
425 | alliance with a Protestant ally.&nbsp; Anne set sail for England, little
|
---|
426 | realizing what lay ahead.&nbsp; The king, meanwhile, was ecstatic that
|
---|
427 | after almost three years as a widower he would be a husband again, able
|
---|
428 | to play one of his favorite roles.&nbsp; The entire country was thrilled
|
---|
429 | at the news, in fact, and after Anne arrived, Cromwell finally secured
|
---|
430 | his greatest ambition - an earldom.&nbsp; He was titled earl of Essex by
|
---|
431 | Henry VIII on 18 April 1540 after the marriage treaty was finalized.
|
---|
432 | <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; During this time, he also attempted to placate the
|
---|
433 | nobility by redistributing lands to the great magnates, providing them
|
---|
434 | with near-autonomous controls of great sections of land.&nbsp; For example,
|
---|
435 | the duke of Suffolk traded East Anglian lands for lands in Lincolnshire
|
---|
436 | - the duke of Norfolk already held lands in Anglia while Lincolnshire needed
|
---|
437 | a strong leader.&nbsp; Earlier, Cromwell had attempted to befriend Henry's
|
---|
438 | oldest child, the stubbornly Catholic Princess Mary.&nbsp; She rebuffed
|
---|
439 | his attention, largely on religious grounds.
|
---|
440 | <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Two years of marriage-brokering were often interrupted
|
---|
441 | by rumors of rebellion.&nbsp; The Pilgrimage of Grace had made Henry more
|
---|
442 | sensitive to popular sentiment.&nbsp; While Cromwell searched for a wife,
|
---|
443 | rumors spread that the king planned new taxes.&nbsp; Also, the last remnants
|
---|
444 | of the legitimate Plantagenet line - the Nevilles, Poles, and Courtenays
|
---|
445 | - were suspected of encouraging rebellionn and Henry used this convenient
|
---|
446 | excuse to order more executions.&nbsp; But popular unrest needed to be
|
---|
447 | assuaged in some manner so Cromwell engineered the passing of the Six Articles
|
---|
448 | at Parliament in April 1539.&nbsp; These articles attempted to stamp a
|
---|
449 | more conservative gloss on the Henrician reformation, thus placating conservative
|
---|
450 | European nobles - and the Catholic nations in Europe, now forced to concede
|
---|
451 | Henry was not so great a heretic after all.&nbsp; It was a supreme example
|
---|
452 | of Cromwell's talent for diffusing domestic tension.&nbsp; In effect, it
|
---|
453 | was all talk and no action; it didn't alter the course of the reformation
|
---|
454 | one bit.
|
---|
455 | <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Finally, on 6 October 1539, the marriage treaty with
|
---|
456 | Cleves was finalized just two months after Holbein delivered his portrait.&nbsp;
|
---|
457 | Princess Anne, once betrothed to the duke of Lorraine, was now destined
|
---|
458 | to be queen of England.&nbsp; It was the fulfillment of Cromwell's domestic
|
---|
459 | and foreign policies.&nbsp; On 11 December, Anne was at Calais waiting
|
---|
460 | for a favorable wind to carry her to Dover.&nbsp; She was there for almost
|
---|
461 | two weeks while Henry waited at Greenwich.&nbsp; Finally, on 27 December
|
---|
462 | she landed at Deal and then traveled to Dover and Canterbury before arriving
|
---|
463 | at Rochester on 1 January 1540.&nbsp; Henry, desperate to see his bride
|
---|
464 | in person, rushed in disguise to meet her 'to thus nourish love', he told
|
---|
465 | Cromwell.&nbsp; Their comical first meeting is described at the <a href="_httpextlink_&amp;rl=1&amp;href=http:%2f%2fenglishhistory.net%2ftudor%2fprimary.html">Primary
|
---|
466 | Sources</a> section.
|
---|
467 | <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The meeting was an unmitigated disaster and the beginning
|
---|
468 | of Cromwell's end.&nbsp; The New Year gifts Henry had brought for Anne
|
---|
469 | were delivered the next day by a courier with a brief note of welcome.&nbsp;
|
---|
470 | 'I am ashamed that men have so praised her as they have done, and I like
|
---|
471 | her not', the king said ominously; he told Cromwell that Anne was 'nothing
|
---|
472 | so well as she was spoken of' and, if he had known the truth of her appearance,
|
---|
473 | she would never have come to England.&nbsp; The next day, his betrothed
|
---|
474 | arrived in Greenwich and the marriage, scheduled for that day, was delayed
|
---|
475 | for two days while Henry sought escape.&nbsp; But there was none to be
|
---|
476 | had - the Holy Roman Emperor was in Paris meeting with the French king
|
---|
477 | and Henry, locked out by those two great powers, could not risk offending
|
---|
478 | the German princes who approved the union with Anne.&nbsp; They were, after
|
---|
479 | all, his only allies at the moment.&nbsp; So Anne was not sent back and
|
---|
480 | Henry moaned that he must 'put my neck in the yoke'.&nbsp; He wrote to
|
---|
481 | Cromwell, 'My lord, if it were not to satisfy the world and my realm, I
|
---|
482 | would not do that I must do this day for none earthly thing'.
|
---|
483 | <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Poor Anne of Cleves - barely able to speak English,
|
---|
484 | in a foreign land, and despised by her intended husband!&nbsp; The confused
|
---|
485 | woman was led to a private marriage ceremony at Greenwich and, then, to
|
---|
486 | her equally humiliating marriage-bed.&nbsp; The union was not consummated,
|
---|
487 | a subject upon which Henry never wavered.&nbsp; He spoke openly of how
|
---|
488 | disgusted he was by Anne's appearance; 'struck to the heart' by distaste,
|
---|
489 | he 'left her as good a maid as he found her'.&nbsp; They lay together for
|
---|
490 | the entire length of their marriage but were never physically intimate.&nbsp;
|
---|
491 | After a few months had passed, the French-Imperial alliance showed signs
|
---|
492 | of cooling and Henry's natural boldness had returned.&nbsp; He wanted out
|
---|
493 | of this fourth marriage and told Cromwell to arrange it.
|
---|
494 | <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; What were Cromwell's options?&nbsp; There were two
|
---|
495 | ways to nullify the marriage (in essence, arrange a divorce) - Henry had
|
---|
496 | not consented to the marriage (this was proved by his failure to consummate
|
---|
497 | it) and Anne had not consented to the marriage (this was proved by Anne's
|
---|
498 | precontract to the duke of Lorraine.)&nbsp; Henry had long been concerned
|
---|
499 | with the latter problem - but had been assured that the contract was completely
|
---|
500 | repudiated.&nbsp; Still, the day before his marriage to Anne, he called
|
---|
501 | the Clevian ambassadors to him and raised the issue.&nbsp; They were astonished,
|
---|
502 | and rightly so, and offered to remain as prisoners in England until the
|
---|
503 | formal repudiation papers were delivered from Cleves.&nbsp; Meanwhile,
|
---|
504 | Thomas Cranmer told the king that Anne could simply swear that the betrothal
|
---|
505 | had been repudiated - no official documents were necessary.&nbsp; His friend
|
---|
506 | Cromwell 'travailed on him [Henry] to pass the matter over'; he hoped that
|
---|
507 | once Henry was married to Anne, the king would resign himself to the marriage.
|
---|
508 | <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; But instead Henry turned to the precontract when
|
---|
509 | his distaste could not be overcome.&nbsp; On 9 July, Parliament declared
|
---|
510 | the marriage null and void and Anne, surprising Henry and the court, was
|
---|
511 | content to be called 'sister' and receive a handsome income and household
|
---|
512 | in England.&nbsp; She had no desire to return to Cleves, where she would
|
---|
513 | remain under her brother's thumb and perhaps married again.&nbsp; It is
|
---|
514 | also possible she found Henry as unattractive as he found her.&nbsp; Henry
|
---|
515 | was so pleased with this unexpected docility that he gave her status second
|
---|
516 | only to his daughters, Princesses Mary and Elizabeth, both of whom came
|
---|
517 | to befriend Anne.&nbsp; Anne's letter to Henry, in which she accepts the
|
---|
518 | dissolution of their marriage, can be read at '<a href="_httpextlink_&amp;rl=1&amp;href=http:%2f%2fenglishhistory.net%2ftudor%2fletters.html">Letters
|
---|
519 | of the Six Wives of Henry VIII</a>'.
|
---|
520 | <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; However, the time had come to search for a convenient
|
---|
521 | scapegoat - the person responsible for the disastrous union.&nbsp; Henry
|
---|
522 | railed against his ambassadors who had so misled him with descriptions
|
---|
523 | of her beauty - though, in truth, the ambassador's descriptions had been
|
---|
524 | honest.&nbsp; It was soon alleged that Cromwell had kept them from the
|
---|
525 | king, for fear of discouraging the union.&nbsp; Now, Cromwell was arrested
|
---|
526 | on 10 June 1540, at 3pm on a Saturday, while at a Privy Council meeting.&nbsp;
|
---|
527 | This was a full month before the marriage was nullified.&nbsp; Henry and
|
---|
528 | Cromwell's enemies were in the midst of finding scapegoats for the marriage,
|
---|
529 | while not yet assured of its outcome.&nbsp; Henry, in a fit of temper and
|
---|
530 | pique, complained bitterly that his minister had betrayed him while trying
|
---|
531 | to further his own influence; the nobility were only too happy to encourage
|
---|
532 | such thoughts.&nbsp; They urged Henry to arrest Cromwell and teach the
|
---|
533 | upstart his final lesson - namely, that it does not pay to mislead a king.
|
---|
534 | <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; So the captain of the guard arrived at the council
|
---|
535 | chamber and arrested Cromwell, while a table of his enemies looked on.&nbsp;
|
---|
536 | The moment the guard entered the room, Cromwell recognized the danger -
|
---|
537 | and threw his hat upon the table in rage.&nbsp; Norfolk and Southampton
|
---|
538 | stripped his decorations from his robe of state and Cromwell was then escorted
|
---|
539 | to a barge - and, then, the Tower of London.&nbsp; The events which follow
|
---|
540 | are far from clear - Cromwell's fall and execution are among the most mysterious
|
---|
541 | events of Henry VIII's reign and cannot be easily understood.&nbsp; I have
|
---|
542 | yet to read a history which offers an adequate explanation.&nbsp; In truth,
|
---|
543 | Henry became increasingly mercurial and tempermental in his later years,
|
---|
544 | and Cromwell was just one of many victims of the king's ever-changing whims.
|
---|
545 | <p><font size=+1>&nbsp;</font> First, if Cromwell fell from favor because
|
---|
546 | of the Cleves marriage, as most believe, why did Henry title him earl of
|
---|
547 | Essex in April 1540 - months after the marriage had been finalized and
|
---|
548 | while negotiations for divorce were underway?&nbsp; Second, if Cromwell
|
---|
549 | was executed because his government policies angered the king, as has been
|
---|
550 | alleged, why did Henry give his voluntary approval to all of Cromwell's
|
---|
551 | legislation?&nbsp; Third, is his enemies were in the ascendancy, why had
|
---|
552 | Henry only recently shown the duke of Norfolk (Cromwell's great enemy)
|
---|
553 | open favor?&nbsp; After all, Norfolk had just been sent abroad on diplomatic
|
---|
554 | work - away from the king.
|
---|
555 | <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; What are we left with?&nbsp; The charges eventually
|
---|
556 | listed in Cromwell's attainder <i>did not</i> list the above - Cromwell
|
---|
557 | was not accused of misleading Henry on matters of policy, he was not held
|
---|
558 | responsible for the disastrous marriage, and he was not charged with leading
|
---|
559 | England into an unwanted Lutheran alliance.&nbsp; Instead, he was charged
|
---|
560 | with selling export licenses illegally, granting passports and commissions
|
---|
561 | without royal knowledge, freeing people suspected of treason and - of course
|
---|
562 | - that he, base-born and ignoble, had usuurped and deliberately misused
|
---|
563 | royal power.&nbsp; Most significantly, however, he was charged with heresy
|
---|
564 | - this charge was the bulk of his attaindder and apparently swayed Henry
|
---|
565 | decisively.&nbsp; Norfolk, allied with the Catholic bishops Cromwell had
|
---|
566 | forced from power, engineered this charge.&nbsp; Cromwell, they charged,
|
---|
567 | had encouraged and spread heretical literature, allowed heretics to preach,
|
---|
568 | released them from prison, and allied himself against their enemies.&nbsp;
|
---|
569 | Significantly, it was reported that in March 1539 Cromwell said that, even
|
---|
570 | if Henry turned from Protestantism, 'yet I would not turn, and if the king
|
---|
571 | did turn, and all his people, I would fight in this field in mine own person,
|
---|
572 | with my sword in my hand <i>against him</i> and all other'.&nbsp; That
|
---|
573 | was treason.
|
---|
574 | <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Shortly after his arrest, incriminating letters to
|
---|
575 | Lutherans were found in Cromwell's home, placed there by agents of the
|
---|
576 | duke of Norfolk; they were so inflammatory that the king was outraged.&nbsp;
|
---|
577 | Cromwell's name, Henry swore, would be abolished forever.&nbsp; Cromwell
|
---|
578 | wrote two desperate letters from the Tower; the one that survives is in
|
---|
579 | tatters.&nbsp; He assured his monarch that he was a good, loyal servant
|
---|
580 | and a faithful Christian.&nbsp; But Henry, surrounded by Cromwell's enemies
|
---|
581 | and - more significantly - newly infatuated with Norfolk's niece, Catherine
|
---|
582 | Howard, would hear nothing.&nbsp; Furthermore, Norfolk was shrewd enough
|
---|
583 | to create a Lutheran conspiracy; three popular reformers, Robert Barnes,
|
---|
584 | Thomas Garret, and William Jerome, were executed just days after Cromwell.&nbsp;
|
---|
585 | None of the men were allowed an open trial.&nbsp; That would allow the
|
---|
586 | public opportunity for them to dispute the false charges.&nbsp; Instead,
|
---|
587 | they were condemned by Act of Attainder, a parliamentary tool which dispensed
|
---|
588 | with justice in favor of speed.
|
---|
589 | <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The executed men were also neighbors of Cromwell,
|
---|
590 | which was their only link to the earl.&nbsp; And they were as innocent
|
---|
591 | as Cromwell of the charges against them - as evidenced by the confusion
|
---|
592 | of contemporary chroniclers.&nbsp; Edward Hall, one of the great chroniclers
|
---|
593 | of Tudor England, could find no real evidence against them although he
|
---|
594 | 'searched to know the truth'.
|
---|
595 | <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; So Cromwell was executed privately on Tower Green
|
---|
596 | on 28 July 1540, still protesting his innocence.&nbsp; He died with dignity
|
---|
597 | - but the whole sordid affair of his deatth would not rest.&nbsp; For the
|
---|
598 | volatile Henry VIII was soon despairing of his loss, just a few months
|
---|
599 | after he allowed the execution.&nbsp; He raged at his council, accusing
|
---|
600 | them of lying and deliberately destroying his 'most faithful servant'.&nbsp;
|
---|
601 | Cromwell's destruction had been engineered on 'light pretexts' and against
|
---|
602 | the king's wishes.&nbsp; In truth, Henry was a victim as well - of a determined
|
---|
603 | group of nobles and clerics, led by Norfolk, who hated Cromwell and carried
|
---|
604 | the king along on their path of destruction.&nbsp; Events were rapid and
|
---|
605 | deliberately confused.&nbsp; By the time Henry realized what had happened,
|
---|
606 | it was too late.&nbsp; He could only bemoan his loss, while never understanding
|
---|
607 | exactly why it happened.
|
---|
608 | <p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; This was no comfort to Thomas Cromwell, however;
|
---|
609 | after a lifetime of dedicated service, he met his end by execution and
|
---|
610 | all of Henry's regrets could not bring him back to life.
|
---|
611 | <center>
|
---|
612 | <hr WIDTH="100%">
|
---|
613 | <br><font size=-1><a href="_httpextlink_&amp;rl=1&amp;href=http:%2f%2fenglishhistory.net%2ftudor%2fcitizens.html">to
|
---|
614 | Tudor Citizens</a></font>
|
---|
615 | <br><font size=-1><a href="_httpextlink_&amp;rl=1&amp;href=http:%2f%2fenglishhistory.net%2ftudor.html">to Tudor
|
---|
616 | England</a></font>
|
---|
617 | <p><b><font size=-1>Want to learn more about Cromwell?</font></b>
|
---|
618 | <br><font size=-1>Try these books (used as sources for my article) -</font>
|
---|
619 | <br><font size=-1>The Cardinal and the Secretary: Thomas Wolsey and Thomas
|
---|
620 | Cromwell</font>
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621 | <br><font size=-1>by Neville Williams.</font>
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622 | <br><font size=-1>Policy and Police: the enforcement of the Reformation
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623 | in the Age of Thomas Cromwell</font>
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624 | <br><font size=-1>by G. R. Elton.</font>
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625 | <br><font size=-1>Reform and Renewal: Thomas Cromwell and the Common Weal</font>
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626 | <br><font size=-1>by G. R. Elton.</font>
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627 | <br><font size=-1>Thomas Cromwell and the English Reformation</font>
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628 | <br><font size=-1>by A. G. Dickens.</font>
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629 | <br><font size=-1>Thomas Cromwell: Tudor Minister</font>
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630 | <br><font size=-1>by B. W. Beckingsale.</font></center>
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631 |
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632 |
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633 |
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634 | <!-- text below generated by server. PLEASE REMOVE --><!-- Counter/Statistics data collection code --><script language="JavaScript" src="_httpextlink_&amp;rl=0&amp;href=http:%2f%2fhostingprod.com%2fjs%5fsource%2fgeov2.js"></script><script language="javascript">geovisit();</script><noscript><img src="_httpextlink_&amp;rl=0&amp;el=direct&amp;href=http://visit.webhosting.yahoo.com/visit.gif?us1108082581" alt="setstats" border="0" width="1" height="1"></noscript>
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636 | </Content>
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637 | </Section>
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638 | </Archive>
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