Caroline Angus - The Private Life of Thomas Cromwell

The Private Life of

Thomas Cromwell

The Private Life of

Thomas Cromwell

Caroline Angus

First published in Great Britain in 2022 by

Pen & Sword History

An imprint of

Pen & Sword Books Ltd

Yorkshire Philadelphia

Copyright Caroline Angus 2022

ISBN 978 1 39909 581 5

eISBN 978 1 39909 582 2

Mobi ISBN 978 1 39909 582 2

The right of Caroline Angus to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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For Grayson, Torben, Espen

and Lachlan

You have my eternal love, appreciation,

adoration and devotion

Cromwell Family Tree

As always, my deepest appreciation goes to my four children, Grayson, Torben, Espen, and Lachlan, for listening to my constant discussion about Cromwell over the last decade. You probably know more than you ever wished.

After publishing a book on Thomas Cromwells letters, it is obvious that Cromwell appears not in his own words, but in the words of others. He went to great lengths to keep himself quiet, and so it is the authors, the scholars, the letter-writers, and the clerks who have filled in the gaps left by Englands only Vicegerent. It took a year for Cromwells belongings to be gathered and catalogued after his death, by which time most paperwork was destroyed, and so those of us who love Cromwell have relied on the talents of early biographers like Ralph Morice, George Cavendish, Edward Lord Herbert of Chirbury, John Foxe, Alexander Alesius, Edward Hall, and Thomas Fuller. The bulk of surviving Cromwell documents are now in the National Archives and the British Library, both sets from a singular collection ripped open in the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries.

Because Cromwells story lies not in what he left behind, but in the dark spaces where his presence is hidden, two online resources are invaluable and hold a deep place in my heart. Firstly, State Papers Online, 15091714, by Cengage/Gale in through the National Archives and the British Library. Without these thousands of documents available, historians like me could not complete our work, and so remain forever in my debt. Secondly, Letters and Papers Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII through British History Online, is a vast achievement in Victorian academic research, giving us insight to the inner workings of the lives of the Tudor period for anyone willing to listen. This resource is available for anyone to use, and so I tend to use it as a point of reference where possible, so that readers can quickly access notes on primary sources at their own leisure.

There are so many authors to thank, it is almost impossible to list everyone. Above all, thank you to Diarmaid MacCulloch, whose work on Thomas Cromwell is incomparable. To couple this, MacCullochs work on Thomas Cranmer is unrivaled. Thank you to Nick Holder, whose work on Austin Friars is unmatched, and to Lauren Mackay, whose work on Thomas Boleyn and Eustace Chapuys is boundless. Many other authors have provided inspiration: Melita Thomas and her illuminating work on the Grey dynasty; Owen Emmersons adoration of Anne Boleyn; Janet Wertman and her studious research on the Seymour family; Heather Darsies revelations about Anna of Cleves; Adrienne Dillards accuracy on Jane Boleyn; Thomas Penns invaluable discoveries on the Frescobaldi smuggling trade; Terri FitzGeralds tireless work on Richard Cromwell; Amy Licences faithful illumination of Katherine of Aragon; Natalie Grueningers commitment to Tudor architecture; Heidi Malagisis continuous support; and Sylvia Barbara Sobertons limitless knowledge of Tudor women.

My sincerest thanks go to all those who helped me at Pen & Sword Claire Hopkins, Laura Hirst, Lucy May, Eleri Pipien, and Sarah-Beth Watkins. My undying and grateful thanks go to Grayson Angus-Baker for being my proofreader and constant sounding board. I deeply appreciate the support. As support comes in so many forms, I have so many people on Twitter who listen to my constant complaints about writing, whether it is the writers and readers of history, or the eclectic group of New Zealanders on kiwi twitter. The online support during the times we live in is invaluable. Finally, thank you to Thomas Cromwell, for going on such an adventure that created a life so diverse of all those around him, paving the way for a new world.

No one expects a pawn to take the queen.

The men and women who dared to defy Thomas Cromwell rarely noticed when he laid in wait to destroy them. A charming, ruthless, and scrupulous man from Putney became the right man, at the right place, at the right time to upset an entire country. Someone needed to be the one to pull England from the medieval period into the light of renaissance and reformation, and it fell on the shoulders of an unassuming merchant turned lawyer, who had no desire to rule.

After languishing in archives for centuries, Thomas Cromwell, or Crumwell, as he was known, is now notorious and well-assumed to be the man behind King Henry VIII. Cromwell has become popular in fiction and non-fiction alike, yet many tropes remain. The man who killed Anne Boleyn. The man who destroyed the monasteries. A dull, overweight man who plodded the royal halls destroying lives, who got what he deserved in July 1540. But how much is true, and how much makes for a convenient scapegoat in history, or an easy villain in novels?

A man whose formal education, in the weakest form of the expression, comprised of basic reading and writing became the shrewdest, most formidable man in the kingdom and entirely reformed English government. Cromwell grew up in a household that understood the importance of honest labour, and yet also knew how to leave international diplomats hanging on his words. His father was a yeoman, his mother from a simple but respected family, and yet Cromwell learned to speak the languages of European kings and queens, popes and emperors. The disparity could not be more astonishing. But King Henry liked men from less auspicious backgrounds; common men had no supporters, and this brief window of opportunity gave Thomas Cromwell an elevation he never sought.