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Sunday 10 August 2014

Thomas Cromwell

Thomas Cromwell (c. 1485 – 1540), was an English lawyer and statesman who served as chief minister to King Henry VIII of England from 1532 to 1540.

He was the son of Walter Cromwell, a blacksmith, fuller and cloth merchant, and owner of both a hostelry and a brewery.

Thomas's mother, Katherine, was the aunt of Nicholas Glossop of Wirksworth in Derbyshire.

For years the Protestant-leaning Cromwell and his advisors had harbored reservations about the place of monasteries in Christian life. In particular they were concerned about their theology of intercessory prayers for the dead. Between 1536 and 1540, after breaking with the papacy,  Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell sold off the property and valuables of the 800 monasteries, nunneries and friaries in England.

Thomas Cromwell

Among the ecclesiastical buildings destroyed was Glastonbury Abbey, which had been the largest church in England.

Thomas Cromwell's income in 1537 was about £12,500, the equivalent of more than £4.5 million today.

After arranging the King's marriage to a German princess, Anne 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 an annulment six months later. Cromwell was arraigned under a bill of attainder and executed for treason and heresy on Tower Hill on July 28, 1540.

His nephew Richard was the great-grandfather of Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector.

Sourced Wikipedia, Event magazine, 

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