Thomas Cromwell: The Rise And Fall Of Henry VIII's Most Notorious Minister by Robert Hutchinson Page B
Authors: Robert Hutchinson
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died at Launde from the ‘sweating sickness’, like his mother, on 4 July 1551. Three days later, his widow married John Paulet, later Second Marquis of Winchester. 7
Gregory’s heir was a minor at his father’s death, but later married the daughter of his stepfather. He died in December 1592.
The baronetcy continued until it was inherited by Cromwell’s great-great-grandson, another Thomas, who was created Viscount Lecale in November 1624 and, twenty years later, Earl of Ardglass. It became extinct with the death of the Fourth Earl on 26 November 1687. 8
Sir Richard, Cromwell’s nephew who had changed his name from Williams in 1531, enriched himself from the dissolution. He married Frances Myrfin in 1518 and had two sons. He kept his appointment as a gentleman of Henry’s privy chamber and died on 20 October 1544, aged only thirty-two. He founded the arm of the family that later produced another protector of England, Oliver Cromwell.
Of the others in this tight little human drama, Richard Sampson, Bishop of Chichester, who had been thrown into the Tower by Cromwell in the tussle for power just before his downfall, was saved by his arrest and was eventually pardoned the following August. Sir Richard Richedied in his bed in 1567 after a lifetime of narrow escapes from entirely just retribution. Stephen Gardiner was imprisoned soon after Henry’s death in 1547 and remained incarcerated for much of Edward VI’s reign for sedition and his failure in religious conformity. On the accession of Mary I, who returned England to Catholicism, he became Lord Chancellor. He died at the Palace of Westminster on 13 November 1555. Norfolk was condemned for treason in the dying days of Henry’s reign but escaped execution when the King died. He too remained imprisoned in the Tower until Mary’s reign and was another who died peacefully in his bed, in 1554. Mary burnt Cranmer as a heretic on 21 March 1556, leaving as his legacy the wonderful rolling English words and phrases of the Book of Common Prayer.
Both Sir Thomas More and Bishop Fisher were canonised by Pope Pius XI in 1935. The Carthusian priors also became saints in 1970.
Catherine Howard was beheaded on 13 February 1542 for her rampant adultery. Anne of Cleves died in 1557 and was the only one of Henry’s wives to be buried in Westminster Abbey, amongst the kings and queens of England.
The last word has to go to Henry, so well served by that corpulent, black-coated Minister. Legend has it that whenever the King, an inveterate gambler, was dealt a knave at cards, he would exclaim: ‘I have got Cromwell.’
And, scornfully, he told the French ambassador in May 1538 that his Minister was ‘a good household manager, but not fit to meddle in the affairs of kings’. If it were humanly possible, Henry may have come to regret those dismissive words.
Once he had lost the loyal services of his most ruthless and resourceful administrator, as well as the Machiavellian architect of England’s foreign policies, he began to feel uncomfortable and isolated. Henry confidently believed only he possessed the supreme skills and cunning required to rule England alone. His self-assurance swiftly dissipated. Never endowed with any patience for the minutiae of government, the King soon became tired of the burden and within less than a year, he was angrily ruing the day that Cromwell was destroyed.
In one of his increasingly frequent outbursts of tearful, vituperativerage, he complained bitterly that his subjects were ‘unhappy people to govern whom he would shortly make so poor that they would not have the boldness, nor the power, to oppose him’.
Most of his privy councillors were concerned more with lining their own pockets than serving him and, moreover, ‘upon light pretexts, by false accusations, they made him put to death the most faithful servant he ever had’. 9
Cromwell would have enjoyed the unexpectedly fulsome epitaph and laughed at the discomfiture of his
Gregory’s heir was a minor at his father’s death, but later married the daughter of his stepfather. He died in December 1592.
The baronetcy continued until it was inherited by Cromwell’s great-great-grandson, another Thomas, who was created Viscount Lecale in November 1624 and, twenty years later, Earl of Ardglass. It became extinct with the death of the Fourth Earl on 26 November 1687. 8
Sir Richard, Cromwell’s nephew who had changed his name from Williams in 1531, enriched himself from the dissolution. He married Frances Myrfin in 1518 and had two sons. He kept his appointment as a gentleman of Henry’s privy chamber and died on 20 October 1544, aged only thirty-two. He founded the arm of the family that later produced another protector of England, Oliver Cromwell.
Of the others in this tight little human drama, Richard Sampson, Bishop of Chichester, who had been thrown into the Tower by Cromwell in the tussle for power just before his downfall, was saved by his arrest and was eventually pardoned the following August. Sir Richard Richedied in his bed in 1567 after a lifetime of narrow escapes from entirely just retribution. Stephen Gardiner was imprisoned soon after Henry’s death in 1547 and remained incarcerated for much of Edward VI’s reign for sedition and his failure in religious conformity. On the accession of Mary I, who returned England to Catholicism, he became Lord Chancellor. He died at the Palace of Westminster on 13 November 1555. Norfolk was condemned for treason in the dying days of Henry’s reign but escaped execution when the King died. He too remained imprisoned in the Tower until Mary’s reign and was another who died peacefully in his bed, in 1554. Mary burnt Cranmer as a heretic on 21 March 1556, leaving as his legacy the wonderful rolling English words and phrases of the Book of Common Prayer.
Both Sir Thomas More and Bishop Fisher were canonised by Pope Pius XI in 1935. The Carthusian priors also became saints in 1970.
Catherine Howard was beheaded on 13 February 1542 for her rampant adultery. Anne of Cleves died in 1557 and was the only one of Henry’s wives to be buried in Westminster Abbey, amongst the kings and queens of England.
The last word has to go to Henry, so well served by that corpulent, black-coated Minister. Legend has it that whenever the King, an inveterate gambler, was dealt a knave at cards, he would exclaim: ‘I have got Cromwell.’
And, scornfully, he told the French ambassador in May 1538 that his Minister was ‘a good household manager, but not fit to meddle in the affairs of kings’. If it were humanly possible, Henry may have come to regret those dismissive words.
Once he had lost the loyal services of his most ruthless and resourceful administrator, as well as the Machiavellian architect of England’s foreign policies, he began to feel uncomfortable and isolated. Henry confidently believed only he possessed the supreme skills and cunning required to rule England alone. His self-assurance swiftly dissipated. Never endowed with any patience for the minutiae of government, the King soon became tired of the burden and within less than a year, he was angrily ruing the day that Cromwell was destroyed.
In one of his increasingly frequent outbursts of tearful, vituperativerage, he complained bitterly that his subjects were ‘unhappy people to govern whom he would shortly make so poor that they would not have the boldness, nor the power, to oppose him’.
Most of his privy councillors were concerned more with lining their own pockets than serving him and, moreover, ‘upon light pretexts, by false accusations, they made him put to death the most faithful servant he ever had’. 9
Cromwell would have enjoyed the unexpectedly fulsome epitaph and laughed at the discomfiture of his
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