The Rise of Cromwell

To make or mar

On All Hallows Day, 1 November 1529, George Cavendish found Thomas Cromwell in a window at Esher, weeping over a primer. Cardinal Wolsey had been dismissed as Lord Chancellor a fortnight earlier and his household was breaking up. Cromwell, the lawyer who had run the business affairs of the Cardinal for fifteen years, told Cavendish that he was going to ride to London that afternoon and, God willing, make or mar before he came back. He made. Within a month he had a seat in the new Parliament. Within a year he was in the Royal Council. By April 1534 he was Principal Secretary, the office through which every paper reached the king, and in January 1535 he was Vicegerent in Spirituals, with more power over the English Church than any layman had ever held. The exam bullet is his rise, 1529 to 1534. The question behind it is whether the son of a Putney blacksmith rose because of what he could do, or because the king had a problem, the annulment, that only he could solve. This module gives you the dated evidence for both.

Five words for a rising minister

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

The rungs of the ladder, in order

Put these six steps in the rise of Cromwell in the order they happened.

• Cromwell enters the service of Wolsey and from 1524 dissolves 29 small monasteries to fund the two colleges of the Cardinal
• After the fall of Wolsey, Cromwell secures the seat for Taunton in the new Parliament and defends his old master in the Commons
• Cromwell is sworn a member of the Royal Council
• The Supplication against the Ordinaries forces the Submission of the Clergy and More resigns as Chancellor
• The Act in Restraint of Appeals lets Cranmer annul the marriage at Dunstable without reference to Rome
• Cromwell becomes Principal Secretary

Why did the king keep the servant of a fallen minister?

Wolsey was dismissed in October 1529 and every man of his was suspect. A year later his chief man of business was on the Royal Council. Which explanation best accounts for it?

• Cromwell had shown in the Commons that he could manage Parliament, had shown for Wolsey that he could dissolve religious houses and handle money, was recommended by Norfolk who wanted a useful lawyer, and above all offered the king what Wolsey had failed to give him: a way to end the marriage without the Pope, by using statute to make the king head of the Church in England.
• He was an old friend of the king from childhood.
• He was a senior churchman like Wolsey and the king wanted continuity.
• He was a cousin of Anne Boleyn.

Ability against opportunity

The 16-mark question on this bullet asks how far his rise was down to his own ability. Have both columns ready with dates, and notice that neither column works without the other.

Evidence of ability

Five statements about the rise. Tap the TWO that give evidence of the ability of Cromwell, as opposed to his luck or his patrons.

• Before he was thirty Cromwell had fought as a mercenary in Italy, worked for a Florentine bank and traded cloth in Antwerp, and was practising law in London by 1512.
• Sir Thomas More, who replaced Wolsey as Lord Chancellor in October 1529, refused to have anything to do with the annulment.
• The Duke of Norfolk found Cromwell his seat for Taunton in November 1529 and put his name to the king.
• In December 1529 Cromwell spoke in the Commons against the bill of attainder on Wolsey, and it failed.
• Pope Clement VII was in the power of Charles V, the nephew of Catherine of Aragon, after the sack of Rome in 1527.

Offices and dates

Select the THREE statements that are true of the offices Cromwell held on his way up.

• He was made Master of the King's Jewels in April 1532, his first royal office, which gave him access to the money of the king.
• He became Chancellor of the Exchequer in April 1533, the month the Act in Restraint of Appeals passed.
• He became Principal Secretary in April 1534 and Master of the Rolls in October 1534.
• He succeeded Wolsey as Lord Chancellor in 1529.
• He was made Archbishop of Canterbury in 1533.
• He was created Earl of Essex in 1530 as a reward for entering the Council.

The idea that made him

Every minister of Henry VIII rose by giving the king what he wanted. What Cromwell gave him was not a favour but an idea, and the idea is what a top-level answer explains. Wolsey had spent 1527 to 1529 asking the Pope for the annulment, and failed at Blackfriars in July 1529 when the case was recalled to Rome. Cromwell asked a different question: not how to persuade Rome, but why England needed Rome at all. If the king were head of the Church in his own realm, his own archbishop could judge his own marriage. That could be done by Act of Parliament, and Cromwell knew how to manage Parliament. The steps followed in order: the Commons attack on the church courts in March 1532, the surrender of the clergy in May, the Act stopping appeals to Rome in April 1533, the judgement at Dunstable on 23 May, the coronation of Anne on 1 June, the birth of Elizabeth on 7 September. This meant that by the end of 1533 the king had his new wife and a Church he controlled, and the man who had shown him the way could not be spared. Ability supplied the idea; the opportunity was that nobody else had one.

From Esher to the Council

Four moments between November 1529 and May 1533. Choose what Cromwell actually did, and notice what each choice bought him.

• November 1529. Wolsey is dismissed and you are his man of business, tainted by his fall and hated for the monasteries you closed. What do you do?
• December 1529. A bill of attainder against Wolsey, listing 44 charges, comes down from the Lords. Everyone expects you to stay silent or vote it through. What do you do?
• 1531. You are on the Council. The king has waited four years for Rome and More will not help him. The Boleyns want a result. What do you offer?
• March 1532. The Commons have grievances against the church courts and the clergy are resisting. You need the clergy broken before the appeals Act can pass. What do you do?

From cause to consequence

Because Wolsey fell in _____ 1529, the king needed a new minister and the man of business of the Cardinal needed a new master. Because Cromwell had a seat for _____ in the Reformation Parliament, he could be seen defending Wolsey in the Commons. Because _____ and the Boleyns wanted a lawyer who would get results, he was on the Council by the end of 1530. Because Rome would not grant the annulment, Cromwell proposed to settle it by _____ in England. And because the Act in Restraint of Appeals let Cranmer judge the marriage at _____ in May 1533, the king had what he wanted and his new minister had his reward.

How fast was the rise?

Wolsey was dismissed as Lord Chancellor in October 1529. Cromwell became Principal Secretary in April 1534. How many months passed between the two?

The 4-mark question

Question (a) might read: Describe two features of the rise of Cromwell, 1529 to 1534. It is marked feature plus supporting detail, twice. Which answer scores all four marks?

• One feature was that he rose through Parliament: he took the seat for Taunton in November 1529 and was managing the Commons by the Supplication of March 1532. Another was that office followed service on the annulment: he became Chancellor of the Exchequer in April 1533, the month the Act in Restraint of Appeals passed, and Principal Secretary in April 1534.
• He was an MP. He was made Secretary.
• Cromwell rose very quickly and became the most powerful man in England after the king.
• Cromwell rose because he solved the annulment when Wolsey and More could not.

A 12-mark paragraph, marked

Question (b): Explain why Cromwell rose to power in the years 1529 to 1534. One reason for the rise of Cromwell was the fall of Wolsey in October 1529. Wolsey had been the only minister of the king for fifteen years, and his dismissal over the failure of the annulment at Blackfriars left a space at the top of government that nobody was ready to fill: More, who took the Great Seal, refused to touch the marriage, and Norfolk and Suffolk were soldiers rather than administrators. This meant that the king needed a man who could do the work Wolsey had done and would take on the problem Wolsey had failed at, and Cromwell, who had run the affairs of the Cardinal since about 1514 and was in the Commons defending him by December 1529, was the obvious candidate to those who were looking. The fall of the old minister was the opportunity; without it the rise could not have begun when it did. What earned the marks: a cause named in the first sentence; specific support (Blackfriars, More and the Great Seal, Norfolk and Suffolk, 1514, December 1529); the link phrase this meant that; and a closing sentence that returns to the question. Two more paragraphs, on his solution to the annulment through statute and on his own skill in Parliament and administration, and the answer reaches the top level.

Write the 12-mark answer

Explain why Cromwell rose to power in the years 1529 to 1534. You may use the following in your answer: the fall of Wolsey; the annulment. You must also use information of your own.

• Support that counts: a date, an office, an Act or a name
• Causes of your own: his skill in Parliament, his experience under Wolsey, or the backing of Norfolk and the Boleyns

The 16-mark judgement

Question (c) might read: "Cromwell rose to power because of his own ability." How far do you agree? A student has written the case FOR. Which is the strongest point to set AGAINST it?

• The same ability had served Wolsey for fifteen years without taking Cromwell near the Council; what changed in 1529 was not the man but the situation, since the fall of Wolsey emptied the top of government, the refusal of More left the annulment unowned, and the deadlock with Rome since 1527 meant that a statute solution nobody had needed before was suddenly the only one left, so ability explains why it was Cromwell and opportunity explains why it was then.
• Cromwell was just lucky.
• Norfolk got him his seat, so Norfolk deserves the credit.
• He was executed in 1540, so he cannot have been that able.