Thomas Cromwell

A SUNDAY TIMES, THE TIMES, DAILY TELEGRAPH, SPECTATOR, FINANCIAL TIMES, GUARDIAN, BBC HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR

'This is the biography we have been awaiting for 400 years' Hilary Mantel
'A masterpiece' Dan Jones, Sunday Times

ThomasCromwell is one of the most famous - or notorious - figures inEnglishhistory. Born in obscurity in Putney, he became a fixer forCardinalWolsey in the 1520s. After Wolsey's fall, Henry VIII promotedhim to aseries of ever greater offices, and by the end of the 1530s hewaseffectively running the country for the King. That decade wasone ofthe most momentous in English history: it saw a religious breakwiththe Pope, unprecedented use of parliament, the dissolution of all monasteries. Cromwell was central to all this, but establishing hisrolewith precision, at a distance of nearly five centuries and afterthedestruction of many of his papers at his own fall, has beennotoriouslydifficult.

Diarmaid MacCulloch's biography is muchthe mostcomplete and persuasive life ever written of this elusivefigure, amasterclass in historical detective work, making connectionsnotpreviously seen. It overturnsmany received interpretations, forexample that Cromwell was a cynical,'secular' politician withoutdeep-felt religious commitment, or that heand Anne Boleyn were alliesbecause of their common religious sympathies- in fact he destroyedher. It introduces the many differentpersonalities of thesefoundational years, all conscious of the'terrifyingly unpredictable'Henry VIII. MacCulloch allows readers to feelthat they are immersed inall this, that it is going on around them.

Fora time, theself-made 'ruffian' (as he described himself) - ruthless,adept in theexercise of power, quietly determined in religiousrevolution - wasmaster of events. MacCulloch's biography for the firsttime reveals histrue place in the making of modern England and Ireland,for good andill.

Reviews

The Tudor minister brought to fictional life in Wolf Hall is given a definitive scholarly treatment in this long-awaited, masterful, wry biography