Cromwell

• Cromwell- born 1485 and son of a brewer and blacksmith. he trained as a lawyer and by 1520s he was working for Wolsey as general Manager
• When wolsey Fell 1529 Cromwell stayed faithful to old employer and to remain in favour to Henry. little doubt he learnt a lot from Wolsey. Cromwell entered formal royal service in 1530 Nov he was we w member if royal council. within 1 yesr he was a part Of Henry’s Inner circle of advisors- men who already had acces to the king
• Like Wolsey he came from a non noble family. Cromwell was an intelligent man who read well, he experienced life abroad to had experiences of European commerce and business and he tried to work out how politics might develop in Europe and how power might shift
• Personality- looked grumpy but was focused, intelligent and determined. wasn’t allowed to wear rich colours cus of his low birth, was a caring loyal friend, defended Wolsey and remained his friend, made difficult decisions putting ppl in death, he was warm and charming, he liked conversation and ppl found him witty/interesting
• Cromwell gained reputation for working hard and energetically to a good effect. he came to the favourable attention of Henry when he skilfully disentangled Wolseys highly complex business and legal affairs. Henry took Cromwell into his service
• Securing Henry’s annulment- breakthrough to the divorce issue came when cromwell became Henry’s chief minster, 1531 Cromwell believed pope would not rule in Henry’s favour and that the only way ahead was to remove the pope
• March 1533 parliament Passed act in restraint appeals which stated the Final authority in all legal matters, was the king and it became legal to appeal to the pope even on religious matters
• Cromwell was born into humble origins and his rise to power was helped by travels around Europe and his work for wolsey
• He gained complete trust of Henry by securing annulment
• His solution was to transfer the powers held by Rome to the king
• Anne boleyn and Henry was secretly married in jan 1533
• Anne failed to give Henry a son, likely suffered 2 miscarriages
• Henry was 45, his fall from his horse made him worried he would die, the pope said that England would be given to anyone who took it which led to threats from France and Spain, Henry was convinced that god disapproved if his marriage and was refusing to provide him with son
• Mid 1536- rumour Anne Boleyn was being u faithful and 24april cromwell asked to investigate
• Mark smeaton arrested, probs tortured and he confessed having an affair with Anne, further arrests followed and the queen was charged with 5 cases of adultery and treason against the king.
• Anne- sharp and spoke her mind. Her assertive personality no longer attracted Henry and he started to find her irritating. Jane Seymour was sweet and quiet and be wanted her next
• Summary- Cromwell wanted to improve the way Henry’s Kingdom was governed, to take on the routine asks of running country he developed a smaller privy council out of the royal council, to as mister kings finances he created a series of government departments

  the most important of these were the court of augmentations and the court of first fruit and tenths

  cromwell aimed at bringing remote areas under former royal control

  1536 act of union formally placed wales under English rule
• Fall- Henry blamed Cromwell for the failure of his marriage to Anne of clever and wanted to punish him, Henry started to lose faith in his religious policies, 1540 Cromwell was awarded earl Of Essex
• Duke of Norfolk hated Cromwell and disliked it when he became earl as he was someone from such an ordinary background, so he spread rumours that Cromwell wasn’t working hard enough to get out of the marriage to Anne of cleves. He said Cromwell wanted england to be protestant which wasn’t true but Henry was Angry and believed it.
• Henry’s advisors encouraged him to marry afyer death of Jane seymour, England was diplomatically isolated by catholics powers and needed new allies. It was hoped the marriage to Anne of cleves would provide this. Marriage lasted 6months as he didn’t love Anne and fell for Catherine Howard one of Anne’s ladies in waiting. Failure of kings marriage to Anne of cleves was key reason to cromwells fall - king wanted to punish him and the Duke of Norfolk played a significant role in bringing Cromwell down