Thomas Cromwell facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Thomas Cromwell
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Portrait of Thomas Cromwell,
Hans Holbein the Younger (1532–1533) |
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| Lord Great Chamberlain | |
| In office 17 April 1540 – 10 June 1540 |
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| Monarch | Henry VIII |
| Preceded by | John de Vere, 15th Earl of Oxford |
| Succeeded by | Robert Radcliffe, 1st Earl of Sussex |
| Governor of the Isle of Wight | |
| In office 2 November 1538 – 10 June 1540 |
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| Monarch | Henry VIII |
| Preceded by | Sir James Worsley |
| Succeeded by | Richard Worsley |
| Lord Privy Seal | |
| In office 2 July 1536 – 10 June 1540 |
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| Monarch | Henry VIII |
| Preceded by | Thomas Boleyn |
| Succeeded by | William Fitzwilliam |
| Master of the Rolls | |
| In office 8 October 1534 – 10 July 1536 |
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| Monarch | Henry VIII |
| Preceded by | John Taylor |
| Succeeded by | Christopher Hales |
| Principal Secretary | |
| In office April 1534 – April 1540 |
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| Monarch | Henry VIII |
| Preceded by | Stephen Gardiner |
| Succeeded by | Thomas Wriothesley |
| Chancellor of the Exchequer | |
| In office 12 April 1533 – 10 June 1540 |
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| Monarch | Henry VIII |
| Preceded by | John Bourchier |
| Succeeded by | John Baker |
| Personal details | |
| Born | c. 1485 Putney, Surrey |
| Died | 28 July 1540 (aged 54–55) Tower Hill, London |
| Cause of death | Execution by beheading |
| Resting place | Chapel Royal of St. Peter ad Vincula, Tower of London, London, United Kingdom 51°30′31″N 0°04′37″W / 51.508611°N 0.076944°W |
| Spouse | Elizabeth Wyckes |
| Children | Gregory Cromwell, 1st Baron Cromwell Anne Cromwell Grace Cromwell Jane Cromwell |
| Parents | Walter Cromwell, Katherine Meverell |
Thomas Cromwell ( c. 1485 – 28 July 1540), briefly Earl of Essex, was an English statesman and lawyer who served as chief minister to King Henry VIII from 1534 to 1540. He was beheaded on orders of the king 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.
Contents
Early life
Cromwell was born around 1485, the son of Walter Cromwell (c.1450 - c.1514), a yeoman, fuller and cloth merchant, and owner of both an hostelry and a brewery. Thomas's mother, generally named as Katherine Meverell, was from a recognised "gentry family" in Staffordshire.
In his youth Cromwell left his family in Putney and crossed the Channel to the Continent. Accounts of his activities in France, Italy and the Low Countries are sketchy and contradictory.
Marriage and issue
At one point during these years, Cromwell returned to England, where around 1515 he married Elizabeth Wyckes (d. 1529). She was the widow of Thomas Williams, a Yeoman of the Guard, and the daughter of a Putney shearman, Henry Wyckes, who had served as a gentleman usher to King Henry VII. The couple had three children:
- Gregory Cromwell, 1st Baron Cromwell (c. 1520–1551), who was Elizabeth Seymour's second husband.
- Anne Cromwell (c.1522 - October 1529)
- Grace Cromwell (c.1527 - October 1529)
Cromwell's wife died in 1529 and his daughters, Anne and Grace, are believed to have died not long after their mother. Their death may have been due to sweating sickness. Provisions made for Anne and Grace in Cromwell's will, dated 12 July 1529, were crossed out at some later date. Gregory outlived his father by only 11 years, succumbing to sweating sickness in 1551.
Royal favourite
By November 1529, Cromwell had secured a seat in Parliament as a member for Taunton and was reported to be in favour with the King.
At some point during the closing weeks of 1530, the King appointed him to the Privy Council.
The king's gratitude to Cromwell was expressed in a grant of the lordship of the manor of Romney in the Welsh Marches (recently confiscated from the family of the executed Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham) and appointment to three relatively minor offices: Master of the Jewels on 14 April 1532, Clerk of the Hanaper on 16 July, and Chancellor of the Exchequer on 12 April 1533. 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 Chancery, and the Exchequer.
Cromwell held numerous offices during his career in the King's service, including:
- Commissioner for the Subsidy, London 1524, Kent 1534, for printing of the Bible 1539, for sale of crown lands 1539, 1540
- Master of King's Jewel House jointly with Sir John Williams 14 April 1532, c. 1533–1540
- Clerk of the Hanaper 16 July 1532, jointly with Ralph Sadler Apr. 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, Honour of Rayleigh, Essex September 1539
- Surveyor of the King's Woods, jointly with Sir William Paulet by 1533
- Principal Secretary c. 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–d., sole, Leeds Castle, Kent 4 January 1539 – 1540
- Visitor-General of the Monasteries and Vicar General 21 January 1535
- 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 Lords, Parliament of 1536
- Trier, Parliament of 1539
- 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
- Governor of the Isle of Wight, 2 November 1538 – 1540
- Great Chamberlain, 17 April 1540
as well as numerous minor offices.
Religious reform
Cromwell was one of the most powerful proponents of the English Reformation. He helped to engineer an annulment of the king's marriage to Catherine of Aragon so that Henry could lawfully marry Anne Boleyn. 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.
After the break with Rome, Cromwell orchestrated the religious reform. In an attempt to clarifiy new religious doctrine, Cromwell enforced the Ten Articles endorsed by the King, which lead to widespread popular and clerical uprisings, collectively known as the Pilgrimage of Grace.
In January 1538, Cromwell pursued an extensive campaign against what the opponents of the old religion termed "idolatry": statues, rood screens, and images were attacked, culminating in September with the dismantling of the shrine of St. Thomas Becket at Canterbury. Early in September, Cromwell also completed a new set of vicegerential injunctions declaring open war on "pilgrimages, feigned relics or images, or any such superstitions" and commanding that "one book of the whole Bible in English" be set up in every church.
The publication of the Great Bible was one of Cromwell's principal achievements, being the first authoritative version in English.
The King, however, was becoming increasingly unhappy with Cromwell's Reformation measures. On 16 May 1539 the House passed the Act of Six Articles, which reaffirmed a traditional view of the Mass, the Sacraments, and the priesthood.
Downfall and execution
The gradual slide towards Protestantism at home and the King's ill-starred 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 provided a very flattering portrait of Anne which may have deceived the king. The 65 cm × 48 cm (26 in × 19 in) painting is now displayed at the Louvre in Paris. When Henry finally met her, the king was reportedly shocked by her plain appearance. Cromwell had passed on to Henry some exaggerated claims of Anne's beauty.
When Henry's humiliation became common knowledge, Cromwell was arrested at a Council meeting at Westminster on 10 June 1540 and accused of various charges. His initial reaction was defiance: "This then is my reward for faithful service!" he cried out. He was taken by barge to the Tower and imprisoned.
A Bill of Attainder containing a long list of indictments, including supporting Anabaptists, corrupt practices, leniency in matters of justice, acting for personal gain, protecting Protestants accused of heresy and thus failing to enforce the Act of Six Articles, and plotting to marry King Henry's daughter Mary, was introduced into the House of Lords a week later. It was augmented with a further charge of sacramentarianism, for which the Six Articles allowed only the death penalty, two days after that. It passed on 29 June 1540.
All Cromwell's honours were forfeited and it was publicly proclaimed that he could be called only "Thomas Cromwell, cloth carder". 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. 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. He ended the letter: "Most gracious Prince, I cry for mercy, mercy, mercy."
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. 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.
Historical significance
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 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. He also introduced important social and economic reforms in England in the 1530s, including action against enclosures, the promotion of English cloth exports and the poor relief legislation of 1536.
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. In 2023 the Book of Hours depicted in the Frick Collection portrait of Cromwell was put on display at Hever Castle, Kent.
Images for kids
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Cromwell's arms as they were before his son's marriage to the queen's sister.
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Cromwell's coat of arms as Earl of Essex, a depicted on his Garter stall plate
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See also
In Spanish: Thomas Cromwell para niños
