One of the most influential figures during the reign of King Henry VIII was Thomas Cromwell,
who rose from humble origins to become a man who ruined the livelihoods of so many.
Cromwell’s raids on the English monasteries, Abbey’s and religious houses can still be
seen today in the ruins around England, and he was a man who’s brutal streak attracted
the King’s eye.
He was a man who with utmost loyalty would carry out the wishes of Henry VIII, but he
too would fall from grace shockingly on the scaffold on Tower Hill, with an executioner
and his axe administering the brutal justice of the Tudor King.
But on that day with thousands of people watching, Thomas Cromwell’s execution did not go smoothly.
Thomas Cromwell rose to prominence as a lawyer, and before he earned the trust of King Henry
VIII, he was a key advisor to Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chief advisor to the King, and
the key liaison for the Pope in England.
He was a well established lawyer and merchant in London, and he then in 1523 obtained a
seat in the House of Commons as a Burgess.
He was to begin with actually critical of Henry VIII, as he was preparing at the time
a speech against the King’s intended invasion of France, but he then realised that this
was not the best idea.
He criticised parliament and the lack of productivity, but it was in 1524 he became a member of Wolsey’s
household.
He helped Wolsey in dissolving around 30 monasteries to raise funds to found Wolsey’s new schools
including the Cardinal College in Oxford.
But Cromwell was then appointed a member of Wolsey’s council and one of his most trusted
advisors.
But he quickly fell from power, and Cromwell made a number of enemies, however he then
sought to have a career which would eclipse Wolsey, and would take him into the royal
court.
At some point Henry VIII became aware of Wolsey and he did defend his former master, and his
loyalty impressed the Tudor Monarch.
He was appointed to the Privy Council and Cromwell then was appointed throughout his
career to a huge number of offices and roles, but he would become the King’s Chief Advisor.
At the time, Henry VIII was trying to annul or divorce his first wife Catherine of Aragon,
and Wolsey had failed to get this for the King which outraged him.
But Cromwell whilst working with others sought to find the best way to proceed with the annulment
without the Pope’s permission.
He would preach to the Houses of Commons about the outdated religion and also the abuses
of power committed by clerics and Catholic bishops.
Henry ultimately would do as he pleased, and Cromwell helped to prorogue parliament and
with this figures such as Thomas More resigned as the Lord Chancellor, and he realised that
the battle to save the King and Catherine’s marriage was over.
Henry and Anne would marry in secret, and then after this Cromwell introduced more bills
to restrict the power of the Catholic Church and Rome inside of England.
Cranmer was consecrated as the Archbishop of Canterbury, and he would later declare
Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII’s marriage as valid, saying Henry and Catherine’s was
invalid.
Henry VIII got what he wanted, and Cromwell played a key part in this, but in April 1534
he was confirmed as his principal secretary and chief minister, meaning he was the second
most powerful man in the country.
It was his advise that Henry would take most seriously, and Cromwell was tasked with now
making sure that all the members of the clergy would accept the Act of Succession, as Henry
VIII was declared the Supreme Head of the Church of England.
Many refused to accept this including Thomas More and Bishop John Fisher, and Cromwell
was then placed in charge of dealing with these men who were considered rebels.
This led to the executions of both men, who were protesting that they could not accept
Anne also as the Queen.
But Anne Boleyn would later fall herself, as Henry VIII was falling in love with Jane
Seymour one of her ladies in waiting.
Cromwell had previously been one of Anne’s greatest allies, but the King now tasked him
with finding a way out of his second marriage and Cromwell would be ruthless in this.
Anne herself like Cromwell had many enemies at court, but many of the English populace
had not been won over by her.
She had also failed to provide the King with his greatly wished for male heir, and as the
King was impatient, Cromwell swiftly brought her downfall.
The Imperial Ambassador wrote, ‘Cromwell has been authorised and commissioned by the
King to prosecute and bring an end to the mistresses’ trial, to do which he had taken
considerable trouble.
He set himself to devise and conspire the said affair.’
Cromwell would imprison Anne Boleyn inside the Tower of London, and he had a number of
women attend on her, but these ultimately were spies tasked to tell any information
about her to Cromwell.
Anne Boleyn would later be execute, and she was accused of adultery, incest and treason
all charges spun and crafted by Cromwell, and along with her 5 other men including her
brother would lose their heads.
Anne Boleyn was executed, and Cromwell was the architect behind this.
But some of his most brutal policies were the Dissolutions of the Monasteries, in which
he shut down and seized control of hundreds of religious houses including Abbeys, monasteries
and nunneries.
It was referred to as ‘easily the greatest single disaster in literary history,’ as
thousands of books and manuscripts deemed to have been too Catholic were destroyed.
Cromwell would oust monks, nuns abbots and others from their homes, and with these some
were pensioned off but many were made homeless and they became very poor.
The King seized the wealth and land, and with this he became incredibly wealthy and this
was then used to fund the King’s wars.
The houses were ransacked, and many of the artefacts were defaced and were sold off.
It was a huge attack on religion, and further cemented Cromwell’s position as the key
ally to the dangerous Tudor king.
But he too would fly too close to the sun and would fall from grace.
Following the death of Henry VIII’s third wife Jane Seymour, Cromwell was asked whom
the King should marry and he suggested one of the Cleves daughters from Germany.
Hans Holbein was dispatched to paint the girls, and the King seeing these images then chose
Anne of Cleves as his fourth wife.
The King was excited by this prospect, but when the pair met the marriage was a complete
disaster, and it’s believed their marriage was left unconsumated.
But with this, his enemies dug their talons in, and Cromwell would now fall from grace.
Henry VIII confided that he could not consummate the marriage, but the King was humiliated
and this information then was spread around court.
But his enemies would not stop there, and they bent the ear of the King saying that
Cromwell was serving his own interests, and was plotting against the King, and with this
he was arrested at Westminster on the 10th June 1540.
His enemies continued to humiliate him during this, with the insignia of the Order of the
Garter being ripped from his shoulders, and Cromwell’s reaction was, ‘This then is
my reward for faithful service,’ and he cried out against the other councillors and
he was then taken down river to the Tower of London.
An act of Attainder was passed against him, and he was condemned to death for a huge number
of crimes, including plotting to marry the King’s daughter.
All of Cromwell’s honours were forefeited and he was referred to as Thomas Cromwell
the Cloth Carder.
The King would delay the execution of him until the marriage to Anne of Cleves was annulled,
and he was spared for a while incase he was needed to give evidence against Anne.
It was on the 28th July 1540 that Thomas Cromwell was taken to the execution scaffold on Tower
Hill.
He was taken out of the Tower of London and was sent with guards to the short walk north
to Tower Hill where the axeman waited for him.
He was a much hated figure across the country, especially because of what he had done to
the monasteries and religious houses, and Tower Hill would have been packed with people
that day.
The Chronicler Edward Hall recounts the day Cromwell lost his head, he said ‘Cromwell
was brought to the scaffold on Tower Hill where he said the following words.
I am come hither to die and not to purge myself as may happen, some think that I will for
if I should so do, I were a very wretched miser, I am by the law condemned to die and
THANK GOD that hath appointed me this death.
For my offence.
I have lived a sinner and offended my lord god for which I ask him hearty forgiveness.
I have offended my prince for which I ask him forgiveness, and I beseech you all to
pray to God with me that he will forgive me.
And now I pray top that be here to bear me record.
I die in the catholic faith, not doubting in any article of my faith.
I confess that like as God by his Holy Spirit I have been seduced by the devil.
I heartily desire you to pray for the King’s grace and may long live with you, in health
and prosperity, and after him that his son Prince Edward may long reign over you.
Cromwell then gave himself over to the executioner on the scaffold.
He gave the executioner some money as was traditional to try and guarantee a skilled
and quick death, but this would not happen.
Cromwell’s executioner was described as ‘a wretched miser,’ and Cromwell It was
said ‘so patiently suffered the stroke of the axe by a ragged and butchery miser, which
very ungodly performed the office.’
The executioner took a number of swings to take Cromwell’s head off.
It was not a clean execution.
It took the executioner 2 or 3 swing of the axe to sever his head, and it’s believed
that this shocked the crowd, even those who hated Cromwell.
But Thomas Cromwell was a brutal and savage man who would stop at nothing to remain in
favour for the King, and he would even condemn Anne Boleyn to her execution.
But ultimately the axeman would catch up with him, as he would fail spectacularly with the
Kings fourth marriage.
The executioner’s many swings of the axe would have been brutal to have watched, but
Cromwell was the man who was suffering this.
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