Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex (c. 1485 – 28 July 1540) was an
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
statesman who served as
King Henry VIIIHenry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was also Lord of Ireland and claimant to the Kingdom of France. Henry was the second monarch of the House of Tudor, succeeding his father, Henry VII.Henry VIII was a significant figure in the history of the English monarchy...
's chief minister from 1532 to 1540. Cromwell rose to such power because he was one of the strongest advocates of the
English ReformationThe English Reformation was the series of events in 16th century England by which the Church of England first broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church....
, the English Church's break with the
papacyThe pope is the Bishop of Rome and, as such, is leader of the worldwide Catholic Church...
in Rome. This break was vital to King Henry since he wanted his marriage to
Catherine of AragonCatherine of Aragon was Princess of Wales as the wife of Arthur, Prince of Wales, and Queen of England as the first wife of King Henry VIII of England....
declared null so he could marry
Anne BoleynAnne Boleyn was Queen of England as the second wife of King Henry VIII, the mother of Queen Elizabeth I, and Marquess of Pembroke in her own right. Henry's marriage to Anne, and her subsequent execution, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that was the start of the...
.
Early life
Cromwell was born around 1485 in
PutneyPutney is an affluent district of south-west London in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is located south-west of Charing Cross, on the southern bank of the River Thames, opposite Fulham...
, the son of Walter Cromwell (c. 1463–1510), variously described as a clothworker; a
smithA metalsmith, often shortened to smith, is a person involved in the shaping of metal objects.In pre-industrialized times, smiths held high or special social standing since they supplied the metal tools needed for farming and warfare.- Etymology of smith :The word smith is cognate with the somewhat...
; and an
alehouseA public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises in countries and regions of British influence. Although the terms often have different connotations, there is little definitive difference between pubs, bars,...
keeper, as well as some loose theories that suggest he was in fact an Anglo-German sheep farmer. Details of Cromwell's early life are scarce. Before 1512 he was employed by the powerful
FlorentineFlorence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence...
merchant banker family, the Frescobaldis, in cloth dealing at Syngsson's Mart in
MiddelburgMiddelburg is a municipality and a city in the south-western Netherlands and the capital of the province of Zeeland. It is situated on the peninsula of Walcheren. It has a population of about 46,600.- History of Middelburg :...
in the
NetherlandsThe Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...
. Documents from the archives of the
Vatican CityVatican City , officially the State of the Vatican City , is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, the capital city of Italy...
show that he was an agent for Cardinal Reginald Bainbridge and dealt with English ecclesiastical work before the
Papal RotaThe Apostolic Tribunal of the Roman Rota , for hundreds of years also called the Sacred Roman Rota, is the highest appellate tribunal of the Roman Catholic Church, with respect to the vast majority of its Latin Rite members and several of the Eastern Catholic Churches and is the second-highest...
. Cromwell was fluent in
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
,
ItalianItalian is a Romance language spoken by about 60 million people in Italy, and by a total of around 70 million in the world. In Switzerland, Italian is one of four official languages. It is also the official language of San Marino, as well as the primary language of Vatican City...
and
FrenchFrench is a Romance language globally spoken by about 65 million people as a first language , by 50 million as a second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired foreign language, with significant speakers in 57 countries. Most native speakers of the language live in France,...
.
When Bainbridge died in 1514, Cromwell returned to England in August of that year and was then employed by Thomas Wolsey, where he was put in charge of important ecclesiastical business despite being a layman. By 1519 he had married a clothier's daughter, Elizabeth Wyckes (1489–1527); they had a son
GregoryGregory Cromwell, 1st Baron Cromwell was born in Putney, Surrey, the son of Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex, and Elizabeth Wykes. He was tutored by Richard Southwell, and attended the University of Cambridge. He married Elizabeth Seymour, the sister of Jane Seymour...
. After studying
lawLaw is a system of rules, usually enforced through a set of institutions. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a primary social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus ticket to trading on derivatives markets...
, he became a
MemberA Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a parliament. In many countries the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a unique title, such as senate, and thus also have unique titles for its members, such as senators. Members of...
of the English Parliament in 1523. After the dissolution of that Parliament, Cromwell wrote a letter to a friend joking about its unproductiveness:
I amongst other have endured a Parliament which continued by the space of xvij whole weeks, where we communied of war, peace, stryfe, contencion, debate, murmmur, grudge, riches, poverty, penwrye, truth, falsehood, justice, equyte, discayte, oppression, magnanymyte, activity, force, attempraunce, treason, murder, felony, counsil,[ation], and also how a common wealth might be edeffyed and continued within our realm. Howbeyt in conclusion we have done as our predecessors have been wont to do, that yes to say as well as we might, and left where we began.
In 1524 he was appointed at
Gray's InnThe Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known simply as Gray's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these Inns...
. In the late 1520s he helped Wolsey dissolve thirty monasteries in order to raise funds for Wolsey's grammar school in
IpswichIpswich is a non-metropolitan district and the county town of Suffolk, England on the estuary of the River Orwell. Nearby towns are Felixstowe in Suffolk and Harwich and Colchester in Essex...
(now known as
Ipswich SchoolIpswich School is a co-educational public school situated in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. It was founded in its current form as The King's School, Ipswich by Thomas Wolsey in 1528.- The School Today :...
) and the
Cardinal's College, OxfordThis article is about the Oxford college. For other uses, see Christ Church or Christchurch .Christ Church , is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...
. In 1529 Henry VIII summoned a Parliament (later known as the Reformation Parliament) in order to obtain a divorce from
Catherine of AragonCatherine of Aragon was Princess of Wales as the wife of Arthur, Prince of Wales, and Queen of England as the first wife of King Henry VIII of England....
. In late 1530 or early 1531 Cromwell was appointed a royal counsellor for parliamentary business and by the end of 1531 he was a member of Henry VIII's trusted inner circle. Cromwell became Henry VIII's chief minister in 1532, not through any formal office but by gaining the King's confidence.
King's chief minister
Cromwell played an important part in the
English ReformationThe English Reformation was the series of events in 16th century England by which the Church of England first broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church....
. The parliamentary sessions of 1529–1531 had brought Henry VIII no nearer to annulment. However the session of 1532—Cromwell's first as chief minister—heralded a change of course: key sources of
papal revenuePeter's Pence# An ancient payment made more or less voluntarily to Rome, begun under the Saxons in England and seen also in other countries. Formally discontinued in England at the Reformation....
were cut off and ecclesiastical legislation was transferred to the King. In the next year's session came the fundamental law of the English Reformation: the Act in Restraint of Appeals of 1533 which forbade appeals to Rome (thus allowing for a divorce in England without the need for the Pope's permission). This was drafted by Cromwell and its famous preamble declared:
Where by divers sundry old authentic histories and chronicles, it is manifestly declared and expressed that this realm of England is an EmpireThe term empire derives from the Latin imperium. Politically, an empire is a geographically extensive group of states and peoples united and ruled either by a monarch or an oligarchy...
, and so hath been accepted in the world, governed by one Supreme Head and King having the dignity and royal estate of the imperial Crown of the same, unto whom a body politic compact of all sorts and degrees of people divided in terms and by names of SpiritualityThe Lords Spiritual of the United Kingdom, also called Spiritual Peers, are the 26 bishops of the established Church of England who serve in the House of Lords along with the Lords Temporal. The established Church of Scotland, which is Presbyterian in polity, is not represented by spiritual peers...
and Temporalty, be bounden and owe to bear next to God a natural and humble obedience.
When Cromwell used the label "Empire" for England he did so in a special sense. Previous English monarchs had claimed to be Emperors in that they ruled more than one kingdom, but in this Act it meant something different. Here the Kingdom of England is declared an Empire by itself, free from "the authority of any foreign
potentatePotentate is an informal term for a person with potent, usually supreme, power.The term was used by the Christian Church to describe God, it can be found in...
s". This meant that England was now an
independentSelf-determination is defined as free choice of one’s own acts without external compulsion; and especially as the freedom of the people of a given territory to determine their own political status. In other words, it is the right of the people of a nation to decide how they want to be governed...
sovereignSovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...
nation-stateThe nation-state is a certain form of state that derives its political legitimacy from serving as a sovereign entity for a nation as a sovereign territorial unit. The state is a political and geopolitical entity; the nation is a cultural and/or ethnic entity...
no longer under the jurisdiction of the Pope.
Cromwell was the most prominent of those who suggested to Henry VIII that the king make himself head of the English Church, and saw the
Act of SupremacyThe first Act of Supremacy granted King Henry VIII of England Royal Supremacy which is still the legal authority of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. Royal Supremacy is specifically used to describe the legal sovereignty of the civil laws over the laws of the Church in England.- First Act of...
of 1534 through Parliament. In 1535 Henry VIII appointed Cromwell as his last "
VicegerentVicegerent is the official administrative deputy of a ruler or head of state: vice + gerere .-Notable vicegerents:*Thomas Cromwell, Vicegerent of Henry VIII, appointed 1535.*The Byzantine Emperors held as a title "God's Vicegerent on Earth"....
in Spirituals". This gave him the power as supreme judge in ecclesiastical cases and the office provided a single unifying institution over the two
provincesAn ecclesiastical province is a large jurisdiction of religious government, so named by analogy with a secular province, existing in certain hierarchical Christian churches, especially in the Catholic Church and Orthodox Churches and in the Anglican Communion...
of the English Church (
CanterburyThe Province of Canterbury, also called the Southern Province, is one of two ecclesiastical provinces making up the Church of England. It consists of 30 dioceses, covering roughly the southern two-thirds of England, along with the Channel Islands, the Falkland Islands, a few parishes in Wales, and...
and
YorkThe Province of York is one of two ecclesiastical provinces making up the Church of England, and consists of 14 dioceses which cover the northern third of England and the Isle of Man. York was elevated to a Archbishopric in 735 AD: Ecgbert of York was the first archbishop...
). As Henry VIII's vicar-general, he presided over the
Dissolution of the MonasteriesThe Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, denotes the administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, nunneries and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their income, disposed...
, which began with his visitation of the monasteries and
abbeyAn abbey , is a Christian monastery or convent, under the government of an Abbot or an Abbess, who serves as the spiritual father or mother of the community....
s, announced in 1535 and begun in the winter of 1536. He was created
Baron Cromwell on 9 July 1536 and
Earl of Essex on 18 April 1540. He was also the architect of the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542, which united
England and WalesEngland and Wales is a legal unit within the United Kingdom. It consists of England and Wales, two of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Unlike Scotland and Northern Ireland, England and Wales follow the legal system known as English law, and the two form the constitutional successor to the...
.
Cromwell also became patron to a group of English intellectual
humanistsHumanism is a perspective common to a wide range of ethical stances that attaches importance to human dignity, concerns, and capabilities, particularly rationality. Although the word has many senses, its meaning comes into focus when contrasted to the supernatural or to appeals to authority...
whom Cromwell used to promote the English Reformation through the medium of print. These included
Thomas GibsonThomas Gibson may refer to:*Thomas Gibson , American actor known for his roles in the television series Criminal Minds and Dharma & Greg...
, William Marshall,
Richard MorrisonRichard Morrison is the name of:* Richard Morrison , Edward VI's ambassador to Charles V* Richard Morrison , columnist for The Times newspaper* Richard James Morrison , English astrologer...
,
John RastellJohn Rastell , was an English printer and author.Born in London, he is vaguely reported by Anthony à Wood to have been "educated for a time in grammaticals and philosophicals" at Oxford. He became a member of Lincoln's Inn, and practised successfully as a barrister. He was also M.P...
,
Thomas StarkeyThomas Starkey was an English political theorist and humanist.Starkey attended the University of Oxford and gained an MA at Magdalen College in 1521. After this, Starkey stayed in Padua until around 1526...
,
Richard TavernerRichard Taverner is best known for his Bible translation, The Most Sacred Bible whiche is the holy scripture, conteyning the old and new testament, translated into English, and newly recognized with great diligence after most faythful exemplars by Rychard Taverner, commonly known as Taverner's...
and John Uvedale. Cromwell commissioned Marshall to translate and print
Marsilius of PaduaMarsilius of Padua was an Italian scholar who was deeply involved in the politics of his time. In fact his political treatise Defensor pacis is seen by some as the most revolutionary political treatise written in the later Middle Ages.Born at Padua, Marsilius began studying medicine in Italy...
's
Defensor pacisThe tract Defensor pacis laid the foundations of modern doctrines of sovereignty. It was written by Marsilius of Padua , an Italian medieval scholar. It appeared in 1324 and provoked a storm of controversy that lasted through the century...
, for which he paid him £20.
When
ErasmusDesiderius Erasmus Roterodamus was a Dutch Renaissance humanist and a Catholic theologian...
was trying to retrieve the arrears of his pension from the living in
AldingtonAldington is a village and civil parish in the Ashford District of Kent, England. The village centre is eight miles south-east of the town of Ashford...
,
KentKent , originally Cantia, is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the River Thames estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent...
, the incumbent refused on grounds that it was his predecessor who had promised to pay his pension. Cromwell sent Erasmus 20
angelsAn Angel is a gold coin, first used in France in 1340, and introduced into England by Edward IV in 1465 as a new issue of the "noble" and so at first called the "angel-noble". It varied in value between that period and the time of Charles I, when it was last coined from 6s. 8d. to 11s...
and Thomas Bedyll, a friend of Cromwell's, informed Erasmus that Cromwell "favours you exceptionally and everywhere shows himself to be an ardent friend of your name".
Downfall
Cromwell had supported Henry VIII in disposing of
Anne BoleynAnne Boleyn was Queen of England as the second wife of King Henry VIII, the mother of Queen Elizabeth I, and Marquess of Pembroke in her own right. Henry's marriage to Anne, and her subsequent execution, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that was the start of the...
and replacing her with
Jane SeymourJane Seymour was Queen Consort of England as the third wife of King Henry VIII. She succeeded Anne Boleyn as Queen Consort following the latter's execution in 1536...
, due to the fact that he (Cromwell) had fallen out with Boleyn over the distribution of the funds from the
dissolution of the monasteriesThe Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, denotes the administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, nunneries and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their income, disposed...
, and therefore he feared his own downfall at her hands. During his years as the King's chief minister, Cromwell created many powerful enemies for himself; mainly due to the inordinate generosity he showed himself when dividing the spoils from the dissolution of the monasteries.
His final downfall, however, was caused by the haste with which he encouraged the king to marry
Anne of ClevesAnne of Cleves was a German noblewoman and the fourth wife of Henry VIII of England and as such she was Queen of England from 6 January 1540 to 9 July 1540. The marriage was never consummated, and she was not crowned queen consort...
, a princess from the
Duchy of ClevesThe Duchy of Cleves was a state of the Holy Roman Empire in present Germany and the Netherlands . Its territory was part of the Low Countries, situated on both sides of the river Rhine, around its capital Cleves and roughly covering today's districts of Cleves, Wesel and the city of Duisburg...
. This was a marriage that Cromwell hoped would put the English Reformation back on track after the recent setback with the
Six ArticlesThe Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion were established in 1563 and are the historic defining statements of Anglican doctrine in relation to the controversies of the English Reformation; especially in the relation of Calvinist doctrine and Roman Catholic practices to the nascent Anglican doctrine of...
, but the whole thing became a disaster when King Henry shouted "I like her not!" after first meeting her in person. Henry told Cromwell to get him out of the marriage by legal means, but the king was obliged to go ahead with it or risk the vital German alliance. The disaster of the king's marriage to Anne of Cleves was all the opportunity that Cromwell's opponents, most notably the
Duke of NorfolkThomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk was a prominent Tudor politician. He was uncle to Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, two wives of Henry VIII, and played a major role in the machinations behind these relationships. After falling from favour, he was stripped of his dukedom and imprisoned in the...
, needed to press for his fall from grace.
Even though he was made the 1st Earl of Essex by the king on 18 April 1540, Cromwell became very suspicious that his downfall was coming, because he had never been so officially high in the king's graces, and at a time when he had got the king stuck in an unwanted marriage. Cromwell's fears were to be proved correct. Whilst at a Council meeting on 10 June 1540, Cromwell was arrested and imprisoned in the
Tower of LondonHer Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London , is a historic fortress and scheduled monument in central London, England, on the north bank of the River Thames...
. Cromwell was subjected to an
Act of AttainderA bill of attainder is an act of the legislature declaring a person or group of persons guilty of some crime and punishing them without benefit of a trial.-Origin:...
and was kept alive by Henry VIII until his marriage to Anne of Cleves could be annulled.
He was executed at the Tower on 28 July 1540, the same day that the king went on to marry
Catherine HowardCatherine Howard , also spelled Katherine or Katheryn, was the fifth wife of Henry VIII of England, and sometimes known by his reference to her as his "rose without a thorn"....
. After his execution, Cromwell's head was boiled and then set upon a spike on
London BridgeLondon Bridge is a bridge between the City of London and Southwark in London, England, over the River Thames. Situated between Cannon Street Railway Bridge and Tower Bridge, it forms the western end of the Pool of London...
, facing away from the City of London.
Edward HallEdward Hall , English chronicler and lawyer, was born about the end of the 15th century, being a son of John Hall of Northall, Shropshire....
, a contemporary chronicler, records that Cromwell made a speech on the scaffold, professing to die, "in the traditional faith" and then "so paciently suffered the stroke of the axe, by a ragged Boocherly miser whiche very ungoodly perfourmed the Office". Hall said of Cromwell's downfall:
Many lamented but more rejoiced, and specially such as either had been religious men, or favoured religious persons; for they banqueted and triumphed together that night, many wishing that that day had been seven year before; and some fearing lest he should escape, although he were imprisoned, could not be merry. Others who knew nothing but truth by him both lamented him and heartily prayed for him. But this is true that of certain of the clergy he was detestably hated, & specially of such as had borne swynge, and by his means was put from it; for in dead he was a man that in all his doings seemed not to favour any kind of Popery, nor could not abide the snoffyng pride of some prelates, which undoubtedly, whatsoever else was the cause of his death, did shorten his life and procured the end that he was brought unto.
Henry came to regret Cromwell's execution. About eight months after his execution, Henry accused his ministers of bringing about Cromwell's downfall by false charges and said he now realised that Cromwell was the most faithful servant he had ever had. Henry spent the rest of his life lamenting the fact that Cromwell had been executed.
Relatives and descendants
Thomas Cromwell's daughter-in-law was Elizabeth Seymour, sister of Queen
Jane SeymourJane Seymour was Queen Consort of England as the third wife of King Henry VIII. She succeeded Anne Boleyn as Queen Consort following the latter's execution in 1536...
. Elizabeth was married to
Gregory Cromwell, 1st Baron CromwellGregory Cromwell, 1st Baron Cromwell was born in Putney, Surrey, the son of Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex, and Elizabeth Wykes. He was tutored by Richard Southwell, and attended the University of Cambridge. He married Elizabeth Seymour, the sister of Jane Seymour...
.
The Lord Protector of England,
Oliver CromwellOliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader best known for his involvement in making England into a republican Commonwealth and for his later role as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland.He was one of the commanders of the New Model Army which defeated the royalists in...
(1599–1658), was descended from Thomas Cromwell's sister Catherine Cromwell. Oliver was Thomas's great-great-grandnephew.
Hans Holbein Portraits
Thomas Cromwell was one of the patrons of
Hans Holbein the YoungerHans Holbein the Younger was a German artist and printmaker who worked in a Northern Renaissance style. He is best known as one of the greatest portraitists of the 16th century. He also produced religious art, satire and Reformation propaganda, and made a significant contribution to the history...
, as were Sir Thomas More and
Anne BoleynAnne Boleyn was Queen of England as the second wife of King Henry VIII, the mother of Queen Elizabeth I, and Marquess of Pembroke in her own right. Henry's marriage to Anne, and her subsequent execution, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that was the start of the...
. Holbein painted the portrait shown at the top of this page (
illustration, upper right of page). The inscription on the paper lying on the table in the original portrait describes Cromwell as "Master of the Jewell House", an official position that he occupied for just one year from 12 April 1532, thus dating the portrait.
In
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
's
Frick CollectionThe Frick Collection is an art museum located in Manhattan, New York City, United States. It is housed in the former residence of steel magnate Henry Clay Frick, which was designed by Thomas Hastings and constructed in 1913-1914....
two paintings by Holbein hang in the same room, one depicting Thomas Cromwell, the other one
Thomas MoreSir Thomas More , also known as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, scholar, author, and statesman....
, whose execution he had procured.
Fictional portrayals
Cromwell has been portrayed in at least fourteen feature films and television
miniseriesA miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a production which tells a story in a pre-planned limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term...
.
Theatre
Perhaps Cromwell's best known fictional appearance is in
Robert BoltRobert Oxton Bolt, CBE was an English playwright and a two-time Oscar winning screenwriter.- Career :He was born in Sale, Cheshire. At Manchester Grammar School his affinity for Sir Thomas More first developed. He attended Manchester University, and after war service Exeter University...
's play
A Man for All SeasonsA Man for All Seasons is a play by Robert Bolt. An early form of the play had been written for BBC Radio in 1954, but after Bolt's success with The Flowering Cherry, he reworked it for the stage....
; he was played in the London premiere and on Broadway by
Leo McKernReginald "Leo" McKern AO was an Australian actor who appeared in numerous British television programs and movies, and more than 200 stage roles.-Early life:...
. He is the main antagonist of the story, and is portrayed as being ruthlessly ambitious and jealous of
Thomas MoreSir Thomas More , also known as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, scholar, author, and statesman....
's influence with the King. Cromwell is also a supporting character in
William ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's preeminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
's play
Henry VIIIThe Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eighth is a history play by William Shakespeare, based on the life of Henry VIII of England. An alternative title, All is True, is recorded in contemporary documents, the title Henry VIII not appearing until the play's publication in the First Folio...
. He is subject of
Thomas Lord CromwellThomas Lord Cromwell is an Elizabethan history play, depicting the life of Thomas Cromwell, the minister of Henry VIII.The play was entered into the Stationers' Register on August 11, 1602, and was published in quarto later the same year by bookseller William Cotton...
, a 1602 play of unknown authorship attributed to the initials W.S. (as such once thought to be a
Shakespeare workThe Shakespeare Apocrypha is the name given to a group of plays that have sometimes been attributed to William Shakespeare, but whose attribution is questionable for various reasons...
).
Novels
Cromwell is the protagonist of
Hilary MantelHilary Mary Mantel CBE is an English novelist, short story writer and critic. Her work, ranging in subject from personal memoir to historical fiction, has been short-listed for major literary awards...
's 2009 novel
Wolf Hall, which is to some extent a rebuttal of
Robert BoltRobert Oxton Bolt, CBE was an English playwright and a two-time Oscar winning screenwriter.- Career :He was born in Sale, Cheshire. At Manchester Grammar School his affinity for Sir Thomas More first developed. He attended Manchester University, and after war service Exeter University...
's unflattering portrayal of Cromwell in
A Man for All SeasonsA Man for All Seasons is a play by Robert Bolt. An early form of the play had been written for BBC Radio in 1954, but after Bolt's success with The Flowering Cherry, he reworked it for the stage....
. The novel won the 2009
Man Booker PrizeThe Man Booker Prize for Fiction, also known in short as the Booker Prize, is a literary prize awarded each year for the best original full-length novel, written in the English language, by a citizen of either the Commonwealth of Nations, Ireland, or Zimbabwe...
.
Cromwell appears as a leading character in the first two Matthew Shardlake historical crime fiction novels by
C. J. SansomChristopher John "C.J." Sansom is an English writer of crime novels. He was born in 1952 and was educated at the University of Birmingham, where he took a BA and then a PhD in history. After working in a variety of jobs, he decided to retrain as a solicitor. He practised for a while in Sussex as a...
,
DissolutionDissolution is a crime novel by British author C. J. Sansom. It is Sansom's first published novel, released in 2003, and the first in the Matthew Shardlake series...
and
Dark FireDark Fire is a crime novel by British author C. J. Sansom. It is Sansom's second novel, released in 2004, and also the second in the Matthew Shardlake series...
, and as a supporting character in the many novels based on members of the Tudor royal family, particularly those on Henry VIII or Anne Boleyn.
He is a major character in "The Trusted Servant" by Alison Macleod (
http://www.archiveshub.ac.uk/news/04012101.html), whose main protagonist begins as Cromwell's younger protege. He also plays a minor part in two of
Philippa Gregory-Early life and academic career:Philippa Gregory was born in Kenya. When she was two years old, her family moved to England. She was a "rebel" at school, but eventually decided to go to university and was educated at the University of Sussex. She worked in BBC radio for two years before attending...
's novels including "The Other Boleyn Girl" and "The Boleyn Inheritance"
Film
Franklin DyallFranklin Dyall was an English actor.He appeared in 26 films between 1916 and 1948.-Filmopgraphy:* Esther * The Garden of Resurrection * Easy Virtue...
portrayed Cromwell in
The Private Life of Henry VIIIThe Private Life of Henry VIII is a 1933 film about Henry VIII, King of England. It was written by Lajos Biró and Arthur Wimperis, and directed by Sir Alexander Korda.Charles Laughton won the 1933 Academy Award as Best Actor for his performance as Henry...
(1933).
Leo McKernReginald "Leo" McKern AO was an Australian actor who appeared in numerous British television programs and movies, and more than 200 stage roles.-Early life:...
reprised his role of Cromwell from the stage version in the film of
A Man for All Seasons. He has also been portrayed in
Anne of the Thousand DaysAnne of the Thousand Days is a 1969 costume drama made by Hal Wallis Productions and distributed by Universal Pictures. It was directed by Charles Jarrott and produced by Hal B. Wallis. The film tells the story of Anne Boleyn...
(1969) by
John ColicosJohn Colicos was a Canadian actor. He was a distinguished stage actor in the UK, the United States and Canada.-Career:...
, the low-brow
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
comedy
Carry On HenryCarry On Henry is the 21st of the Carry On series and was released in 1971. It tells a fictionalised story involving Sid James as Henry VIII, who chases after Barbara Windsor's character Bettina...
(1971) by
Kenneth WilliamsKenneth Charles Williams was a British comic actor, star of 26 Carry On films and radio comedies with Tony Hancock and Kenneth Horne, as well as being a witty raconteur.-Life and career:...
, in
Henry VIII and His Six WivesHenry VIII and His Six Wives is the only feature-length film to deal with all six of King Henry VIII's wives...
(1972) by Donald Pleasance, and
The Other Boleyn Girl (2008) by
Iain MitchellIain Mitchell is a British actor notable for his appearance as Thomas Cromwell in The Other Boleyn Girl and Superintendant Maitland in Agatha Christie's Poirot . Onstage he has appeared in La Cage aux Folles and the adaptation of His Dark Materials....
.
TV
Cromwell has been portrayed in the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation, usually referred to by its abbreviation as the "BBC", is the longest established and largest broadcaster in the world...
miniseriesA miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a production which tells a story in a pre-planned limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term...
The Six Wives of Henry VIIIThe Six Wives of Henry VIII is a series of six teleplays produced by the BBC and first transmitted between 1 January and 5 February 1970.The series tells the story of King Henry VIII of England focused on, and often from the perspective of, each of his six wives - one per episode .Each episode was...
(1970) by Wolfe Morris, in the Granada Television production
Henry VIIIHenry VIII is a two-part British television serial produced principally by Granada Television for ITV. It chronicles the life of Henry VIII of England from the disintegration of his first marriage to an aging Spanish princess until his death following a stroke in 1547, by which time he had married...
(2003) by
Danny WebbDanny Webb is a British television and film actor. He may be known for his role as the prisoner Morse in Alien 3. He has had made appearances in many famous British television programs including The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, Emmerdale Farm, A Touch of Frost, The Bill, Silent Witness,...
,
In the TV version of
The Other Boleyn GirlThe Other Boleyn Girl is a 2003 BBC television film, adapted from Philippa Gregory's novel of the same name.-Production:This was a low production budget of £750,000. It was highly acclaimed by critics for the superb performances and the innovative way of approaching costume drama...
(2003) he is played by veteran
Ron CookRon Cook is a British actor who has been active in the theatre, film and television since the 1970s. He is from South Shields, Co Durham, United Kingdom and is a graduate of Rose Bruford College.- Stage appearances :...
.
In the television series
The TudorsThe Tudors is an Irish-produced historical fiction television series created by Michael Hirst. The series is based upon the reign of English monarch Henry VIII, and is named after the Tudor dynasty.-Production:...
(2007) Cromwell is played by English actor
James FrainJames Frain is an English stage and screen actor. He is possibly best known for his role as Thomas Cromwell in the Showtime series The Tudors. He appeared from 2007 to 2009 until his character was executed in the third season finale....
. Frain played the character for three seasons and his execution brought the third series to its conclusion. In
The Twisted Tale Of Bloody Mary (2008), an independent film from TV Choice Productions
http://www.thetwistedtale.com/, he is played by Burtie Welland.
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