Domestic policies under Cromwell [1532-40]

• Thomas Cromwell was a lawyer, who came to the King's notice while working under Wolsey.
• His skills, which engineered the break from Rome, became invaluable to Henry.
• It had been suggested that Cromwell's policies revolutionised government as he achieved the royal supremacy through acts of Parliament, so enhancing its status.
• Furthermore, he helped give parliamentary law (statute law), precedence over Church law (canon law).
• Cromwell developed a more 'modern' form of government, replacing the 'personal' approach of earlier kings with a more bureaucratic approach that involved creating departments, controlled by rules and procedures, for different areas.
• For example, the Court of Augmentations and the Court of First Fruits and Tenths, which were established to look after Henry's income from the church, were subject to scrutiny and the careful auditing of all accounts.
• Cromwell changed the composition of the Privy Council, reducing it to 20 men who took responsibility for the business of government.
• This reduction of the privy council increased efficiency and a higher value was placed on talent as opposed to reward for personal service or status within government.
• Cromwell also negotiated further marriages for Henry.
• When Henry's relationship with Anne Boleyn broke down, Cromwell made the case for Anne's adultery. Her execution in May 1536 followed the death, in January, of Catherine of Aragon.
• Henry's third marriage was to Jane Seymour. Jane finally produced a male heir, Edward, in 1537, but she died in childbirth.
• Cromwell's fall from grace followed the failure of Henry's 4th marriage, to the Protestant German Princess Anne of Cleves: a marriage the minister had arranged to suit the foreign policy.
• Cromwell was tried for treason and heresy and was executed in July 1540, on the same day that Henry married Catherine Howard, niece of the Duke of Norfolk.
• The Fall of Anne Boleyn:

  She had several miscarriages and then 'fell out' with Cromwell, who then allied himself with traditional conservatives who hated the changes to doctrine Anne pushed Henry to make... They then persuaded Henry that Anne's flirting with other men was adultery... They also argued that she slept with her brother. This constituted 'high treason', so she was executed in May 1536.
• The Privy Council:


  Cromwell created this between 1534 and 1536 as an administrative reform designed to modernise the King's council. It was small, flexible, and effective. He split the council from the court of Star Chamber, and other parts of the old council's judicial function. The privy council kept some judicial powers in the form of arbitration. It was an elite board of fewer than 20 members, who were leading officers of state.