King Henry VIII & Thomas Cromwell

The "New Man"

Thomas Cromwell was typical of the "new men" who were rising to positions of power and influence in Tudor England. His father was variously reported as having been a clothworker, a smith, or a barkeeper. In short he was a commoner, too unimportant for anyone to keep careful records about him, though prosperous enough to give son Thomas an education in law. The first we hear of Thomas, around 1512, he was representing an Italian banking family in the cloth trade.

Soon after that he was working for Thomas Cardinal Wolsey, who was not only a senior church official but Henry VIII's chief adviser. Over the next few years Cromwell rose steadily in the royal service. Kings preferred able commoners to nobles as officials and advisers because the lords did not much care for being lorded over themselves, making them a bit less-than-fully loyal. Wolsey himself had been born a commoner, but came up in the world the traditional way, by entering the Church.

What made Cromwell a "new man" was that he remained a layman, rising entirely by talent, education – and ruthlessness. By the late 1520s Henry VIII wanted out of his marriage to his first queen, Catherine of Aragon, in order to marry Anne Boleyn. When Cromwell's boss, Cardinal Wolsey, failed to get Henry his divorce (technically an annulment) by following traditional channels, Cromwell muscled Wolsey aside by offering Henry a more daring alternative. If the Pope would not let Henry dump his unwanted wife, why not simply dump the Pope?

Henry initially resisted. Years earlier he had denounced Martin Luther and championed papal supremacy. But now he wanted Anne Boleyn, and Cromwell led him steadily down the path toward getting her. In the process Cromwell abolished all the monasteries in England – producing an enormous windfall for King Henry, and incidentally for himself.

With Cromwell's assistance Henry VIII at last broke from Rome (leading to the founding of the Anglican Church), divorced Catherine of Aragon, and married Anne Boleyn. By this time Cromwell had emerged as Henry's chief minister, engineering the downfall and execution of Sir Thomas More, who had balked at the break from Rome. And when Henry tired of Anne Boleyn, Cromwell engineered her downfall and execution as well.

Love's Tangled Web

Thomas Cromwell made plenty of enemies in his rise, due to his ruthlessness, his greed during the dissolution of the monasteries, and the resentment of nobles like the Duke of Norfolk at seeing a commoner raised above them. But what brought Cromwell down – as it had brought down Cardinal Wolsey and Thomas More before him – was Henry VIII's love life.

Cromwell had helped Henry marry Anne Boleyn and then behead her. He was related by marriage to Henry's next wife, Jane Seymour, whose sister was Cromwell's daughter-in-law. This should have set him up for life, because Jane delivered for Henry what neither of his first two wives had: a son and heir. Henry might fall out of love with Jane and have flings with other ladies of the court, but he would never get rid of his son's mother. Jane died only three days after her son's birth, however, and Henry was once again in the marriage market.

Henry also had made enemies - basically, all of Catholic Europe, some of whom were threatening to invade. England needed allies, and Cromwell advised Henry to do what kings usually did: make a marriage of state to secure an alliance. Henry, aware of the danger he faced, was willing, and Cromwell set to work. Finding a bride for Henry VIII was not easy. One young lady, Christina, Duchess of Milan (in spite of her title a Swedish beauty), said that she would happily marry Henry – if only she "had two heads."

At last Cromwell found a prospect, Anne, sister of the Duke of Cleves, who was an independent ruler of part of Germany. Negotiations were successful, and on New Years' Day of 1540 Anne of Cleves landed in England. That same evening Henry slipped in to see his prospective bride. It did not go well. "I like her not," he bluntly told Cromwell.

Anne of Cleves has gone down in popular legend as the "Flanders mare." Her portrait (which Henry had seen in advance) is less than flattering, but she seems to have been not so much homely as unsophisticated and unstylish, in a royal court that loved sophistication and style. Or perhaps she failed to conceal her own dismay in that first surprise meeting with her grossly obese husband-to-be.

It was too late to back out of the marriage, and Henry's disappointment soon turned to fury. He did not take it out on Anne of Cleves (beyond humiliating her). As savagely vindictive as Henry was toward women with whom he fell out of love, he'd never been in love with Anne in the first place. Instead he blamed Cromwell for talking him into marrying her.

Here was the opportunity for which Cromwell's enemies had been looking . Led by Charles Howard, Duke of Norfolk, they worked on Henry, pumping up his resentment over the unwanted marriage. Secretly they got Henry to sign a warrant for Cromwell's arrest. Norfolk, the leading noble in England, made the arrest in person at the next meeting of the Privy Council, making a special point of removing Cromwell's gold chain of office.

Cromwell was beheaded in the Tower of London a few weeks later, but not before Henry had secured a divorce from Anne of Cleves. Soon he married once again – to the Duke of Norfolk's teenage relative, Catherine Howard. Within a year she too lost her head, for running around on Henry.

Even sooner than that Henry regretted having Cromwell beheaded, and blamed his other advisers for talking him into it. In truth he had no one to blame but himself, but that was the last person Henry VIII ever blamed for anything.