The Fall of Cromwell

Ten weeks from earl to the block

On 18 April 1540 Henry VIII made Thomas Cromwell Earl of Essex and Lord Great Chamberlain of England, the highest honours he had ever given a minister. On 10 June, at the council table at Westminster, the Duke of Norfolk tore the Order of the Garter from the neck of the new earl while the captain of the guard arrested him. On 28 July Cromwell was beheaded on Tower Hill, and the king married Catherine Howard, the niece of Norfolk, the same afternoon. A minister who had run England for six years and had just been raised to the peerage was destroyed in ten weeks, by a bill of attainder that was never tried in a court, on charges of treason and heresy that nobody then or since has found convincing. The exam asks why. The spec names two causes, the Duke of Norfolk and the marriage to Anne of Cleves, and the strong answer weighs those against the others: religion, the foreign situation, and the king. This module gives you the dated evidence for all of them.

Five words the examiners use

Each definition ends with the moment it mattered, because a bare definition earns nothing in a 12-mark answer.

From the Six Articles to the block, in order

Put these six events in the order they happened.

• Parliament passes the Act of Six Articles, restating Catholic doctrine with the death penalty for denial
• Henry marries Anne of Cleves at Greenwich, having told Cromwell he likes her not
• Cromwell is created Earl of Essex and Lord Great Chamberlain
• Cromwell is arrested at the council table and Norfolk tears off his Garter
• The Cleves marriage is annulled, using a deposition Cromwell wrote from the Tower
• Cromwell is beheaded on Tower Hill and Henry marries Catherine Howard the same day

Why arrest a man you have just made an earl?

Eight weeks separated the earldom of Essex from the arrest at the council table. Which explanation best accounts for the reversal?

• The king wanted out of the Cleves marriage and blamed the minister who had made it; the alliance it was for had stopped mattering once France and the Emperor fell out again in the spring; Norfolk and Gardiner had a niece ready and a charge of heresy that the Six Articles made deadly; and Henry, who had done the same to Wolsey, was quicker to abandon a servant than to admit an error.
• Cromwell had been caught plotting to seize the throne.
• Cromwell had stolen from the Court of Augmentations.
• The Pope demanded his execution as the price of reconciliation.

The two causes the spec names

The question will name Norfolk and Cleves. Have the evidence for each ready, and notice that they only worked together.

Religion as a cause

Five statements about 1539 and 1540. Tap the TWO that give evidence of religion as a cause of the fall, as opposed to the marriage or the faction.

• The Act of Six Articles of June 1539 restated Catholic doctrine with the death penalty for denial, and Cromwell was known to have opposed it.
• At Rochester on 1 January 1540 the king met Anne of Cleves for the first time and told Cromwell afterwards that he liked her not.
• The attainder of June 1540 charged Cromwell with being a sacramentarian, with protecting heretical preachers, and with saying he would fight for his opinions if the king turned against them.
• At the council table on 10 June Norfolk tore the Garter from the neck of Cromwell before the guard led him out.
• Henry married Catherine Howard, the niece of Norfolk, at Oatlands on the day of the execution.

The attainder and the block

Select the THREE statements that are true of the last weeks of Cromwell.

• He was condemned by an Act of Attainder that passed both Houses between 17 and 29 June 1540, so that there was no trial and no defence.
• From the Tower he wrote to the king pleading for mercy, and wrote the deposition on the Cleves marriage that Henry needed for the annulment of 9 July.
• He was beheaded on Tower Hill on 28 July 1540, and the king married Catherine Howard that day.
• He was tried by a jury of his peers and found guilty.
• Henry pardoned him at the last minute and he retired to Essex.
• He fled to Cleves and died there.

Weigh the causes, and see the pattern

The 16-mark question on this bullet asks how far one cause explains the fall. The strong answer weighs all of them with dates, and then notices that the fall of Cromwell repeats the fall of Wolsey. The marriage gave the king a grievance against his minister in January 1540 and a reason to want him gone. The foreign situation took away the excuse for the marriage by the spring. Religion gave the enemies of Cromwell a charge that carried death after the Six Articles. The faction supplied the niece, the accusation and the men at the council table. The king did what he had done in 1529: used a minister for everything, blamed him for one thing, and let him fall. The parallel is the point examiners reward. Wolsey fell in October 1529 over a royal marriage he could not arrange, to a faction led by Norfolk, with the king looking on; Cromwell fell in June 1540 over a royal marriage he had arranged too well, to a faction led by Norfolk, with the king looking on. A minister of Henry VIII lasted as long as he was useful and no longer, and the marriages of the king were where usefulness ran out.

The last year

Four moments in 1540, three for Cromwell and one for his enemies. Choose what was actually done, and notice what it cost.

• January 1540. The king has told you he likes the Cleves princess not, and asks whether there is any way out of the marriage before the wedding. What do you advise?
• May 1540. Gardiner and Norfolk are whispering heresy to the king and Catherine Howard is at court. You still hold the offices and the king has just made you an earl. What do you do?
• Early June 1540. You are Norfolk. Cromwell has arrested Lisle and Sampson and will come for you next. The king is unhappy with his wife and taken with your niece. What do you do?
• Late June 1540. You are Cromwell, in the Tower, attainted. The king sends asking for a written account of what passed between him and Anne of Cleves on their wedding night. What do you do?

From cause to consequence

Because the Truce of Nice left England isolated in 1538, Cromwell made a marriage into _____ that the king did not want. Because France and the Emperor quarrelled again by the spring of 1540, the alliance stopped mattering and the marriage became a grievance. Because the Act of Six Articles of _____ made denial of the mass a capital crime, the conservatives had a charge that could kill. Because _____ had a niece and the ear of the king, the charge reached him. And because Henry had already shown with _____ what he did with a minister who failed him over a marriage, the earldom of April was no protection in _____.

From arrest to the block

Cromwell was arrested on 10 June 1540 and executed on 28 July 1540, the same day Henry married Catherine Howard. How many days passed between the arrest and the execution?

The 4-mark question

Question (a) might read: Describe two features of the fall of Cromwell in 1540. It is marked feature plus supporting detail, twice. Which answer scores all four marks?

• One feature was its speed: Cromwell was made Earl of Essex on 18 April 1540 and arrested at the council table on 10 June, eight weeks later. Another was that he was condemned without trial, by an Act of Attainder that passed Parliament by 29 June on charges of treason and heresy, and executed on 28 July.
• It was quick. He was executed.
• The fall of Cromwell was one of the most dramatic events of the reign and shocked everyone at court.
• Cromwell fell because the Cleves marriage had failed and Norfolk turned the king against him with a charge of heresy.

A 12-mark paragraph, marked

Question (b): Explain why Cromwell fell from power in 1540. One reason for the fall of Cromwell was the failure of the marriage to Anne of Cleves. Cromwell had made the match himself, by the treaty of October 1539, to give England allies among the German princes at a time when the Truce of Nice had left it facing France and the Emperor together. Henry met Anne at Rochester on 1 January 1540, disliked her on sight, and married her on 6 January only because Cromwell advised that breaking the treaty would be worse. This meant that the king now had a wife he did not want and a minister to blame for her, and when France and the Emperor fell out again in the spring the alliance the marriage had bought was worthless as well. A minister who had been valued for solving the marriages of the king had created one, and the deposition Cromwell wrote from the Tower to end it was the last service the king took from him before the block. What earned the marks: a cause named in the first sentence; specific support (the treaty, the Truce, Rochester, the wedding date, the spring, the deposition); the link phrase this meant that; and a closing sentence that returns to the question. Two more paragraphs, on Norfolk and the conservatives and on the charge of heresy under the Six Articles, and the answer reaches the top level.

Write the 12-mark answer

Explain why Cromwell fell from power in 1540. You may use the following in your answer: the marriage to Anne of Cleves; the Duke of Norfolk. You must also use information of your own.

• Support that counts: a date, a name, an Act or a place
• Causes of your own: the Act of Six Articles and the charge of heresy, the change in the foreign situation, or the part played by the king himself

The 16-mark judgement

Question (c) might read: "The main reason for the fall of Cromwell was the failure of the marriage to Anne of Cleves." How far do you agree? A student has written the case FOR. Which is the strongest point to set AGAINST it?

• A failed marriage could have cost Cromwell his favour; it took a capital charge to cost him his head, and that came from religion and the faction, since the Act of Six Articles of 1539 had made the sacramentarian heresy the attainder alleged a matter of death and Norfolk and Gardiner had both the charge and the niece ready, so the marriage explains the timing and religion explains the outcome.
• Henry made Cromwell an earl in April 1540, so he cannot have been angry about the marriage.
• Henry regretted the execution afterwards.
• The Cleves marriage was annulled on 9 July 1540.