Thomas Cromwell - Downfall and Execution

Downfall and Execution

On 18 April 1540, Henry granted Cromwell the earldom of Essex and the senior court office of Lord Great Chamberlain. Despite these signs of royal favour, Cromwell's tenure as the King's chief minister was almost over. The King's anger at being forced to marry Anne of Cleves was the opportunity Cromwell's conservative opponents, most notably the Duke of Norfolk, needed to topple him.

At a Council meeting on 10 June 1540, Cromwell was arrested and imprisoned in the Tower. A bill of attainder containing a long list of indictments, including treason, heresy, corruption, and plotting to marry Princess Mary, was introduced into the House of Lords a week later, and was passed on 29 June 1540. All Cromwell's honours were forfeited. The King deferred the execution until his marriage to Anne of Cleves could be annulled. Hoping for clemency, Cromwell wrote in support of the annulment in his last personal address to the King.

Cromwell was condemned to death without trial and beheaded on Tower Hill on 28 July 1540, the day of the King's marriage to Katherine Howard. After the execution, his head was set on a spike on London Bridge. Edward Halle, a contemporary chronicler, records that Cromwell made a speech on the scaffold, professing to die, "in the traditional faith" and then "so paciently suffered the stroke of the axe, by a ragged Boocherly miser whiche very ungoodly perfourmed the Office". Halle said of Cromwell's downfall:

Many lamented but more rejoiced, and specially such as either had been religious men, or favoured religious persons; for they banqueted and triumphed together that night, many wishing that that day had been seven year before; and some fearing lest he should escape, although he were imprisoned, could not be merry. Others who knew nothing but truth by him both lamented him and heartily prayed for him. But this is true that of certain of the clergy he was detestably hated, & specially of such as had borne swynge, and by his means was put from it; for in dead he was a man that in all his doings seemed not to favour any kind of Popery, nor could not abide the snoffyng pride of some prelates, which undoubtedly, whatsoever else was the cause of his death, did shorten his life and procured the end that he was brought unto.

Henry came to regret Cromwell's execution, and later accused his ministers of bringing about Cromwell's downfall by false charges. On 3 March 1541, the French Ambassador, Charles de Marillac, reported in a letter that the King was now said to be lamenting that "under pretext of some slight offences which he had committed, they had brought several accusations against him, on the strength of which he had put to death the most faithful servant he ever had."

Cromwell's life and legacy have aroused enormous controversy. However his effectiveness and creativity as a royal minister cannot be denied, nor can his loyalty to the King. During Cromwell's years in power, he skillfully managed Crown finances and extended royal authority. In 1536, he established the Court of Augmentations to handle the massive windfall to the royal coffers occasioned by the dissolution of the monasteries. Two other important financial institutions, the Court of Wards and the Court of First Fruits and Tenths, owed their existence to him, although they were not set up until after his death. He strengthened royal authority in the north of England through reform of the Council of the North, extended royal power and introduced religious reform in Ireland, and was the architect of legislation, the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542, which promoted stability and gained acceptance for the royal supremacy in Wales. He also introduced important social and economic reforms in England in the 1530s, including action against enclosures, the promotion of English cloth exports, and the poor relief legislation of 1536.