Today in History
Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex
(c. 1485 – 28 July 1540), was an English lawyer and statesman who served
as chief minister to King Henry VIII of England from 1532 to 1540.
Cromwell was one of the strongest
advocates of the English Reformation. He helped to engineer an annulment
of the king's marriage to the Spanish princess Catherine of Aragon, in order to allow Henry to
marry his mistress Anne Boleyn. After failure to obtain approval from
the Pope, in 1534 parliament endorsed the king's claim
to be head of a breakaway Church of England, and Cromwell supervised the new
church from the unique posts of vicegerent in spirituals and vicar general.
During his rise, Cromwell made
many enemies, especially among the conservative faction at court. He fell from power
after arranging the king's marriage to a German princess, Anna of Cleves. Cromwell hoped that the marriage
would breathe fresh life into the Reformation in England, but it turned into a disaster
for Cromwell and ended in annulment just six months later. Cromwell was arraigned
under a bill of attainder and executed for treason and heresy on Tower Hill on 28 July 1540. The king later expressed
regret at the loss of his chief minister.
Oliver Cromwell (1599–1658), the Parliamentarian leader who overthrew the monarchy
during the English Civil War, was a great-great-grandson
of Thomas Cromwell's sister, Katherine Williams (born circa 1482).
thefreedictionary.com
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