Cromwell, Thomas (c. 1485-1540)

Thomas Cromwell succeeded his mentor, Cardinal Wolsey, as chief minister to Henry VIII. He fell from power after he arranged Henry's fourth marriage to Anne of Cleves, which Henry found less than satisfactory.

English politician who drafted the legislation that made the Church of England independent of Rome. Originally in Lord Chancellor Wolsey's service, he became secretary to Henry VIII in 1534 and the real director of government policy; he was executed for treason. He was created a baron in 1536.

Cromwell had Henry divorced from Catherine of Aragon by a series of acts that proclaimed him head of the church. From 1536 to 1540 Cromwell suppressed the monasteries, ruthlessly crushed all opposition, and favoured Lutheranism. His mistake in arranging Henry's marriage to Anne of Cleves (to cement an alliance with the German Protestant princes against France and the Holy Roman Empire) led to his being accused of treason and beheaded.