Making the real Thomas Cromwell stand up

As part of 'The British Academy 10-Minute Talks' on YouTube, Revd Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch Kt FBA talks about how to understand Thomas Cromwell, even though so many of Cromwell's own letters have vanished from his vast surviving archive.

Speaker: Revd Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch Kt FBA, Professor of the History of the Church, University of Oxford; Fellow, St Cross College, Oxford

The world’s leading professors explain the latest thinking in the humanities and social sciences in just 10 minutes.

For a transcript of this talk, visit our website:

© Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex by Hans Holbein the Younger / CC National Portrait Gallery, London

[seanalexandermcgrath]

Just completed Diarmaid's biography on Cromwell. An excellent read. I also attended a talk on Cromwell given by Diarmaid at last Summer's BBC in conversation programmes at Mount Stewart, Northern Ireland. An enjoyable day. Thanks British Academy for these 10 minute talks, such a great idea.

[poppymarenge]

Ten minutes is just about right to give a taste of the subject and then we can study it further if we wish. Looking forward to it.

[Chipoo]

Thank you. What a fountain of knowledge!

[TheBritishAcademy]

Question via YouTube: I was wondering why you think Cromwell never remarried? Wouldn't that have been quite unusual at the time?
Answer: You’re absolutely right. He could have had the pick of any eligible lady in Tudor England. I may be an old romantic, but I think it perfectly possible that he could not face remarriage after the death of his first wife in an epidemic of infectious disease. Instead, he concentrated on finding the right marriage for his beloved son Gregory, and that couldn’t have been better for founding a great dynasty, because the
marriage was to the sister of Queen Jane Seymour.

[prolixx]

Excellent presentation! You have to respect genuine historians!

[philliphamilton]

Wow, fascinating, this brief introduction has already answered several difficult questions. Thank you. I can not wait to purchase this book.

[remotecutts]

Just spent a wonderful time absorbed in 'The Mirror and the Light'. Looking forward to another perspective.

[TheBritishAcademy]

Question via YouTube: In your opinion, as so many of his own letters have gone missing, who reflects Thomas Cromwell's personality best in their archives?
Answer: A good question! I would say his great friend and eventual protégé, Rowland Lee, who became bishop of Coventry and Lichfield and Lord President of the Council of the Marches of Wales. They were genuine friends, and Lee became an honorary uncle to Cromwell’s son Gregory. Lee’s letters sparkle with a savage wit. You wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of him, as many a dodgy Welshman could testify.

[gwynwellliver]

After reading HM's trilogy, I will have to add Diarmaid's book to my list. I once learned that Holbein may have liked More better than Cromwell, because he painted a more flattering portrait of More. Love that Cromwell respected Holbein enough to hang the portrait anyway.

[louiseglynne-walton]

I was really looking forward to this and it certainly didn't disappoint. Thank you very much Professor MacCulloch for a fascinating insight into a very complex man.

[TheBritishAcademy]

Question via YouTube: Where are the papers housed?
Answer: Cromwell’s archive is now divided between the National Archives at Kew and the British Library. That’s because some of his papers, which were in the royal archive in the 16th century, were pinched by a historian called Sir Robert Cotton, and they now form the basis of the Cottonian collections in the BL. His own letters to other people are virtually all in the scattered fragments of other peoples’ archives, including another National Archives cache in the confiscated papers of Arthur Plantagenet, Lord Lisle.

[TheBritishAcademy]

Question via YouTube: To what extent do you think the King acted through Cromwell or do you think there were times Cromwell acted through the King?
Answer: It’s a fascinating relationship, in which Cromwell always acknowledged the King as boss, but also knew his psychology very well. That meant that he could choose the right moment to promote his own policy when the King would be receptive. Undoubtedly, Cromwell promoted his own religious agenda, which was not the King’s.

[TheBritishAcademy]

Question via email: You mention several times that, earlier in Cromwell's career, Henry VIII gave Cromwell increasing powers without accompanying titles to provide formal status within the Court or in public life. What do you think were Henry's motives in being slow to promote Cromwell socially?
Answer: I think two-fold: first that he was wary of promoting a man of humble birth after the experience of Thomas Wolsey. There would be members of the nobility who would always resent Thomas Cromwell’s position. But more particularly, too open a promotion of Thomas Cromwell would have infuriated Henry’s mistress and then second wife, Anne Boleyn. It is clear that she was no slouch in staging screaming rows, and Henry VIII was a distinct coward where rows were concerned. So it was easier to give Cromwell powers quietly without formal title. Certainly, his powers became really very great by the mid-1530s.

[TheBritishAcademy]

Question via email: What was the most surprising discovery you made?
Answer: The likelihood that Thomas Cromwell’s father, Walter, was Irish. I have been passed even more evidence of that since finishing the book: a Thomas ‘Cromell’ was an inhabitant of Dublin in the mid-15th century, and is well placed to be Thomas Cromwell’s grandfather. This has the interesting consequence that Oliver Cromwell, who was a descendant of Thomas Cromwell’s sister, was also of Irish descent. This
usefully complicates Irish history.

[TheBritishAcademy]

Question via YouTube: How significant do you think was the failure of the marriage of Anne of Cleves to Henry VIII in bringing about Cromwell's downfall?
Answer: That’s a good question on which to end. The Anne of Cleves business was crucial to Cromwell’s downfall and execution, because it involved the humiliation of the King. He could only get out of the Cleves marriage by declaring that he could not sexually perform with her. The marriage had been Cromwell’s plan. It was the perfect excuse for his enemies to do what they had wanted to do for a long time: to turn the King against him. Henry soon changed his mind after Cromwell’s execution, but by then it was too late.

[everhippiewillow]

Very interesting content, I only wish it could have gone on longer; very enjoyable. Thank you.

[TheBritishAcademy]

Question via email: What is the episode in Cromwell's life you’d most like to know more about?
Answer: When Thomas Cromwell married his son to Elizabeth Seymour, he set them up in a magnificent estate in Sussex, at Lewes. Within a year, he hastily moved them out of Sussex and placed them in Kent. Gregory had clearly caused a huge local scandal, but we don’t know what it was. There is another interesting problem for someone.

[lindawhitehead]

I am in fact reading the biography, having read the novels. But I shrink from getting to the end and the downfall. Thanks for the book.

[KatieEllenH]

I read Mantel's trilogy, and before that was familiar with the mainstream history- the merciless Thomas Cromwell...though always with these abiding caveats. His continuing loyalty to Wolsey after his fall, and his generous ways and protection of people in his employment, and a certain sense of humour. This is a sensitive analysis. And that grumpy, unsmiling face in the portrait also has a certain sensitivity- almost delicacy around the mouth.

[mooshimi]

I’m studying Thomas Cromwell as part of my ALevel History course. The parts where he specifically addresses question to do with the relations between Henry VIII and Cromwell were informative and I managed to get some good notes in just 10 minutes !!😄