analyse the rise and fall of Thomas Cromwell
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Answer:
October 1529: Exit Wolsey, enter Cromwell
When Henry’s VIII’s chief adviser Cardinal Wolsey fell from grace in October 1529 – for failing to secure for the king an annulment from his first wife, Catherine of Aragon – it was expected that his favourite servant, Thomas Cromwell, would fall with him. Cromwell feared this himself and wept bitter tears of regret. But he soon rallied, pronouncing that he would go to the court and “make or marre”.
Acting as an intermediary between his fallen master and the king had all the makings of a thankless task, but Cromwell turned it to his advantage with spectacular success.
Henry was quick to appreciate the skill of this self-trained lawyer – a man born to a ‘lowly’ family in Putney, c1485 – and put it to his own use. Cromwell soon secured a seat in parliament and, by the end of 1530, had been appointed a member of the council. Far from being overawed by such a meteoric rise, he was outspoken and persuasive in his opinions, much to the annoyance of his higher-born colleagues.
