During the 2020 lockdown, Soul City Wanderer took the opportunity to catch up on his history book reading: These are his top ten recommendations from the pile he ploughed through (in no particular order). 6/10: Thomas Cromwell by Robert Hutchinson.
Soul City Wanderer’s own book Soul City Wandering was released in 2020. Available in paperback or on Kindle, it encourages readers to rediscover their urban surroundings.
The Great Airbrush of Propaganda
Historical Londoner Thomas Cromwell seems in vogue at the moment, not least since the release of Hilary Mantel’s final novel in her Wolf Hall trilogy, The Mirror and the Light (Fourth Estate 2020). For a balanced biography of a Londoner whose political shenanigans still ring down the ages, Soul City Wanderer recommends Thomas Cromwell: The Rise and Fall of Henry VIII’s Most Notorious Minister. Robert Hutchinson (Phoenix. 2008).
Thomas Cromwell was King Henry VIII’s most trusted lieutenant during the 1530s. Though, of course, like all Henry’s close advisors, the proviso of that trust is ‘up to a point.’
The first chapters look at Cromwell’s slog up the diplomatic slope from humble beginnings as the son of a publican in Putney in south-west London. There doesn’t seem to be much that the young Thomas learns from his abusive father, aside from a hard edge, a mean streak and dishonesty.
By working his way into the household of Cardinal Wolsey, who in the 1520s, was the most powerful man in the country (irrespective of Henry VIII), Cromwell put himself at the forefront of English political plotting and courtly intrigue.
The rising clerk has an obsequiousness attitude to those above him, and a propensity to cynically ‘use’ and then ruthlessly dispense with the services of those below. And, like his later namesake Oliver, there is distinct Machiavellian aspect to his personality once he gets into power.
As this biography progresses, we see how Cardinal Wolsey’s fall signals Cromwell’s rise to the top. Within a few years of Wolsey’s passing Cromwell had managed to attain all the reins of government. In 1534, he formally became Chief Minister, Chief of Security and Royal Secretary. By 1535, only the church remained free of his meddling. That soon changed when the King granted Cromwell the title of Vicar General which gave him power over the clergy and monasteries. Cromwell soon set up his own ecclesiastical court, with the power to install bishops. To his own posts, he then added Lord High Chamberlain, Keeper of the Privy Seal, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and finally Earl of Essex, which was the last straw for some of the aristocracy. By 1539, Cromwell’s power and influence pervaded every part of England’s administration.
At the same time, working hand in hand with Henry, he made the monarchy more powerful. In 1539, he forced through an Act of Parliament that effectively gave the king power by decree. A move towards tyrannical despotism.
Cromwell accrued vast wealth, of course. But it didn’t only stem from his offices of power. The author reveals he was also operating as the royal court’s loan shark. Those who wished to maintain at least a modicum of status were forced into paying him exorbitant interest rates. This of course, made him doubly unpopular.
It was Cromwell’s arrangement of the marriage of Henry VIII to Anne of Cleves which led to his downfall. His enemies, especially the equally spiteful, venomous and duplicitous Bishop Gardiner, and the Duke of Norfolk, like vultures sensing blood, began to circle. Yet, Cromwell never deviated from being devious. He continued to scheme and plot right till the very end.
In June 1540, Cromwell was arrested for treason and sent to the Tower. On July 28th, he was beheaded on Tower Hill.
While reading the second part of the book, I was wondering if this powerful Londoner’s state machinations had any modern parallels, when the author made the allusion to the Nazi minister Joseph Goebbels. It is a sharp analogy. Cromwell, in the words of the author, “dexterously wielded the airbrush of propaganda.”
Thomas Cromwell: The Rise and Fall of Henry VIII’s Most Notorious Minister. Robert Hutchinson (Phoenix. 2008).
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