Book Reviews2 Thomas Cromwell: the rise and fall of Henry VIII’s most notorious minister

Dec 4, 2009

Book by: Robert Hutchinson.  New York : St. Martin’s Press.  360 pages.  Hardback.  ISBN 978-0-57794-0.  $29.99.  September 2009.

Robert Hutchinson’s wonderful and entertaining book will keep the reader very interested and unwilling to put it down.  In this book, the author brings together and interesting blend of history and direct quotations from Cromwell’s time period to paint a good picture of the character of this well known historical figure.

Thomas Cromwell is infamous for his role in the dissolution of the monasteries and other religious houses in England during the reign of King Henry VIII.  Hutchison argues that Cromwell got this idea from Cardinal Wolsey, while he was working as an assistant to the Cardinal who was chancellor of England and the main minister for the king.  Wolsey had dissolved some of the lesser monasteries to raise money to found some colleges.  Cromwell would later remember this dissolution idea and use it on a larger scale.

After Cardinal Wolsey fell from power over his failure to obtain a divorce from the Pope for Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, Cromwell rose to power over time to become Henry’s most important minister. He also helped the king divorce his second wife and to marry his second and third wives. Cromwell also helped Henry in financial and political matters which benefited them both.  Cromwell knew that he had to stay on Henry’s good graces or he would fall like Wolsey and others had done.  

Cromwell also assisted Henry in religious matters, but he was too liberal for Henry who still favored many Roman Catholic practices.  This, and Cromwell’s failure with the marriage of Anne of Cleves, led to his downfall and execution as a traitor.

Thomas Cromwell was a great organizer and administrator.  Many of the ideas and methods he installed in the English government are still used by the contemporary British government . However, he was too greedy and corrupt. He desired wealth, power, and the advancement of himself and his family. Another of Cromwell’s greedy acts was the destruction of many pieces of English art and architecture in order to get at the precious metals and jewels they were made of.  He encouraged the destruction of many shrines in England like those of St. Thomas a Becket in Canterbury and St. Swithun in Winchester. He was also behind the martyrdom of many of the first English martyrs who are held today as saints or blessed.

This book would appeal to those who are interested in the Reformation in England and those interested in the figure of Thomas Cromwell.

Robert Hutchinson is an expert on the Reformation in England and Wales and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquities.  He is an associate tutor in Church Archaeology at the University of Sussex’s Center (England) for Continuing Education and is the author of many papers.  He is the author of The Last Days of Henry VIII (2006), Elizabeth’s Spymaster (2007), and The House of Treason:  the rise and the fall of a Tudor Dynasty (2009).

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