0:00:03 > 0:00:06On the 26th of August 1537,
0:00:06 > 0:00:09the son of a Putney brewer came here
0:00:09 > 0:00:12to St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle
0:00:12 > 0:00:16to be initiated into England's highest order of chivalry
0:00:16 > 0:00:17by Henry VIII.
0:00:21 > 0:00:25As the King's chief minister and now a Knight of the Garter,
0:00:25 > 0:00:28Thomas Cromwell was at the pinnacle
0:00:28 > 0:00:31of one of the most notorious careers in British history.
0:00:35 > 0:00:39This was the man who pillaged and destroyed hundreds of monasteries...
0:00:41 > 0:00:44..drove a lasting wedge between England and Rome...
0:00:45 > 0:00:49..thought nothing of betraying his friends and allies...
0:00:51 > 0:00:55..and conspired to execute a queen - Anne Boleyn.
0:00:57 > 0:00:59While he was Henry VIII's chief minister,
0:00:59 > 0:01:03Thomas Cromwell was the second most powerful man in England.
0:01:03 > 0:01:07Historians have often seen him merely as cynical, corrupt,
0:01:07 > 0:01:10and manipulative, spreading fear and suspicion
0:01:10 > 0:01:13through the English court and across the nation.
0:01:13 > 0:01:17In many accounts, Thomas Cromwell is one of the nastiest people
0:01:17 > 0:01:19ever to hold power in England.
0:01:21 > 0:01:25But I don't think Cromwell's dark reputation is justified.
0:01:25 > 0:01:29Certainly, it's not the whole story.
0:01:29 > 0:01:32He was a pioneering and principled statesman,
0:01:32 > 0:01:36who set the country on the road to parliamentary democracy.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39A religious reformer, who persuaded the King to introduce
0:01:39 > 0:01:43the first authorised English translation of the Bible.
0:01:43 > 0:01:45And he risked his own life
0:01:45 > 0:01:50to smuggle the radical forces of the Reformation into the English Church.
0:01:51 > 0:01:53I believe that Thomas Cromwell,
0:01:53 > 0:01:56far from being just a cynical power-broker,
0:01:56 > 0:01:58was motivated by genuine religious zeal
0:01:58 > 0:02:01and a yearning to serve his country.
0:02:01 > 0:02:04This much-maligned brewer's boy from Putney
0:02:04 > 0:02:06was a self-educated visionary,
0:02:06 > 0:02:09who in his six years as chief royal minister,
0:02:09 > 0:02:13helped to lay the foundations of the modern British state.
0:02:43 > 0:02:48Thomas Cromwell was born in obscurity, here in Putney.
0:02:50 > 0:02:53There isn't even a record of when he was born,
0:02:53 > 0:02:57but the year was probably 1485.
0:03:01 > 0:03:04This is Brewhouse Lane where his family lived
0:03:04 > 0:03:06and ran a small brewery.
0:03:06 > 0:03:08It's only six miles up the Thames
0:03:08 > 0:03:10from the centre of power in Westminster,
0:03:10 > 0:03:14but young Thomas might as well have been a universe away.
0:03:17 > 0:03:22Cromwell grew up in an England where everyone knew their place.
0:03:24 > 0:03:27Ordinary people looked up to a hereditary nobility.
0:03:31 > 0:03:34The nobility supported a divinely appointed monarch.
0:03:37 > 0:03:42And even the monarch deferred to the Pope in Rome on religious matters.
0:03:47 > 0:03:51Cromwell's family was near the bottom of this hierarchy.
0:03:51 > 0:03:54His father, Walter,
0:03:54 > 0:03:57was a scoundrel who always seemed to be looking for trouble.
0:03:59 > 0:04:03I wouldn't have recommended drinking from Walter Cromwell's beer barrels.
0:04:03 > 0:04:06He ran the sort of pub you don't go to twice.
0:04:06 > 0:04:10I have here some copies of the court records
0:04:10 > 0:04:12of the manor of Wimbledon,
0:04:12 > 0:04:17and here, under Putney, for 17 October 1501,
0:04:17 > 0:04:20I see, "Walter Cromwell, common brewer of beer,
0:04:20 > 0:04:23"fined for breaking the assizes of ale." In other words,
0:04:23 > 0:04:28he is watering his beer. Fine eight pence.
0:04:28 > 0:04:31There's another one here - "Putney, Walter Cromwell,
0:04:31 > 0:04:34"breaking the assize of beer, six pence."
0:04:34 > 0:04:38And if you look through the rolls, there are at least 48 entries
0:04:38 > 0:04:39of fines for Walter Cromwell.
0:04:39 > 0:04:42And he is also fined for assaulting his neighbours,
0:04:42 > 0:04:44so, he is clearly handy with his fists.
0:04:44 > 0:04:45I think young Thomas Cromwell
0:04:45 > 0:04:49had some hard lessons in life here in Putney.
0:04:49 > 0:04:52He later boasted to his old friend, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer,
0:04:52 > 0:04:55what a ruffian he was in his young days.
0:04:55 > 0:04:59He even told his eminent friends that he had spent some time in jail.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02It all added to the colourful reputation.
0:05:09 > 0:05:12Around 1502, aged about 17 years old,
0:05:12 > 0:05:14with no prospects or education,
0:05:14 > 0:05:18Cromwell left Putney - and England - behind.
0:05:18 > 0:05:20What he did next is a bit of a mystery.
0:05:24 > 0:05:26The great Elizabethan historian, John Foxe,
0:05:26 > 0:05:30reveals Cromwell serving as a mercenary in the French army,
0:05:30 > 0:05:35which was utterly defeated in battle against the Holy Roman Emperor.
0:05:35 > 0:05:39But the future politician was already developing a useful skill -
0:05:39 > 0:05:42making friends in high places.
0:05:43 > 0:05:47According to an Italian author, Cromwell popped up in Florence
0:05:47 > 0:05:50and somehow got employed by a wealthy financier,
0:05:50 > 0:05:56Francisco Frescobaldi, in one of Europe's biggest banks.
0:06:05 > 0:06:0914 years later, a very different Thomas Cromwell came back to London.
0:06:09 > 0:06:11Somehow, mysteriously,
0:06:11 > 0:06:16the Putney ruffian was now as well-educated as any Tudor nobleman,
0:06:16 > 0:06:18in languages and the law.
0:06:18 > 0:06:22He was accepted into London society and was now respectable enough
0:06:22 > 0:06:27to marry the wealthy widow of a financier, Elizabeth.
0:06:27 > 0:06:29He was on his way up.
0:06:37 > 0:06:40Here in Boston, in Lincolnshire,
0:06:40 > 0:06:44Cromwell was to make his reputation as a skilled operator and fixer
0:06:44 > 0:06:46who could get things done.
0:06:48 > 0:06:52This wealthy town was controlled by trade associations of merchants,
0:06:52 > 0:06:54called guilds.
0:06:55 > 0:06:58In 1517, they had a problem
0:06:58 > 0:07:02and Thomas Cromwell was sent in to sort it out.
0:07:03 > 0:07:06The guilds had made their money from sheep's wool,
0:07:06 > 0:07:07but by the 16th century,
0:07:07 > 0:07:11most of their revenue came from a different flock -
0:07:11 > 0:07:13church congregations.
0:07:13 > 0:07:18The Boston merchants had built one of the greatest parish churches
0:07:18 > 0:07:22in the land. It's known locally as the Boston Stump.
0:07:26 > 0:07:30Many of the guilds had their own chapels here.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33The place of honour went to the richest and most powerful -
0:07:33 > 0:07:38the Guild of St Mary, and it's here that they made their money.
0:07:41 > 0:07:44This was the guild chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary
0:07:44 > 0:07:47in the parish church in Boston.
0:07:47 > 0:07:49Successive popes had granted the guild
0:07:49 > 0:07:53the right to offer a special spiritual pardon, an indulgence,
0:07:53 > 0:07:57called the Scala Coeli, the stairway to heaven.
0:07:57 > 0:07:59And it did what it says on the tin.
0:07:59 > 0:08:03You pay your money, and the soul of your dear old deceased mother
0:08:03 > 0:08:05flies out of purgatory into heaven.
0:08:05 > 0:08:12Look! Here is the Pope with SC, for scala coeli, on his vestments.
0:08:12 > 0:08:16And this is part of a great, luxury tomb, which is carefully placed,
0:08:16 > 0:08:19prime position, near the altar where the guild masses are said.
0:08:19 > 0:08:22And there are the three seats
0:08:22 > 0:08:24where the priests who'd sing the mass would sit.
0:08:24 > 0:08:28Now the chief wealth of the guild
0:08:28 > 0:08:30came from the sale of this indulgence.
0:08:32 > 0:08:37But in 1517, the licence for the indulgence was about to expire,
0:08:37 > 0:08:40which threatened the guild's revenues.
0:08:40 > 0:08:45From their Guildhall, the merchants and Cromwell hatched a plan
0:08:45 > 0:08:50to renew and extend the indulgence and so save the guild.
0:08:50 > 0:08:54Cromwell would lead an impressive delegation, on an ambitious trip
0:08:54 > 0:08:59to Italy, to negotiate directly with Pope Leo X himself.
0:09:01 > 0:09:06Well, this is a copy of the guild accounts for that trip to Italy,
0:09:06 > 0:09:10and I see Cromwell's expenses, Calais to Rome,
0:09:10 > 0:09:12three weeks, £47,
0:09:12 > 0:09:15I think that's about £28,000 in our money.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18But then you look at the scale of the whole project,
0:09:18 > 0:09:21it's £1,200 they are spending on this,
0:09:21 > 0:09:24that's around £600,000 in modern money.
0:09:24 > 0:09:29And that is the mark of the trust which the merchants of Boston
0:09:29 > 0:09:31were placing in Thomas Cromwell.
0:09:36 > 0:09:39Once in Rome, Cromwell set to work.
0:09:40 > 0:09:43Instead of observing protocol
0:09:43 > 0:09:46and joining the long queue of petitioners at the Vatican,
0:09:46 > 0:09:50he arranged a chance encounter with the head of the Roman Church(!)
0:09:50 > 0:09:53As Leo X finished a day's hunting,
0:09:53 > 0:09:55he came across Cromwell and his entourage.
0:09:57 > 0:10:01He was transfixed by the sound of English singers
0:10:01 > 0:10:03performing a beautiful three-note harmony.
0:10:06 > 0:10:08The Pope was on the hook.
0:10:08 > 0:10:11Now Cromwell started to reel him in.
0:10:14 > 0:10:18The Pope was well known for his sweet tooth, so Cromwell tempted him
0:10:18 > 0:10:21with various English delicacies and dainty dishes.
0:10:21 > 0:10:24You might call them indulgences for indulgences.
0:10:24 > 0:10:28But the Pope granted the renewal of the licence for the guild,
0:10:28 > 0:10:30and their future was secure.
0:10:30 > 0:10:33It was a triumph for Cromwell's strategy.
0:10:33 > 0:10:36He had shown just what an extraordinary fixer he could be.
0:10:44 > 0:10:46When he returned to England,
0:10:46 > 0:10:49Cromwell's reputation continued to grow.
0:10:51 > 0:10:54The man who'd successfully negotiated with the Pope
0:10:54 > 0:10:56was offered legal work in London
0:10:56 > 0:11:00and given the opportunity to sharpen his fixing skills in the City.
0:11:00 > 0:11:03And he soon came to the attention of the men
0:11:03 > 0:11:07with power and influence in the court of Henry VIII.
0:11:12 > 0:11:15Henry VIII came to the throne in 1509.
0:11:15 > 0:11:20He wanted all the power and glory of a great European monarch,
0:11:20 > 0:11:22but it quickly became apparent
0:11:22 > 0:11:24that he wasn't prepared to do the legwork
0:11:24 > 0:11:26of running the kingdom himself.
0:11:26 > 0:11:30What he needed was a close adviser to get things done.
0:11:30 > 0:11:34And he found just the man in Cardinal Thomas Wolsey,
0:11:34 > 0:11:37who became the King's principal minister.
0:11:37 > 0:11:40His cardinal's hat and initials
0:11:40 > 0:11:43still grace the great palace at Hampton Court,
0:11:43 > 0:11:48which he built and where he kept a household to rival the King's.
0:11:48 > 0:11:53Cromwell was called here to serve Henry's powerful first minister.
0:11:55 > 0:11:59Like Cromwell, Wolsey had a humble start in life,
0:11:59 > 0:12:01but his intelligence and energy quickly made him
0:12:01 > 0:12:05the servant that Henry couldn't do without.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08Cromwell watched and learned.
0:12:11 > 0:12:14Wolsey was a self-made man of the Renaissance.
0:12:14 > 0:12:18On his way up he'd benefited from an Oxford education.
0:12:18 > 0:12:23Now he wanted other boys from poor backgrounds to get the same opportunities.
0:12:24 > 0:12:27He decided to set up a college at Oxford University
0:12:27 > 0:12:31and a school in his home town, Ipswich in Suffolk.
0:12:31 > 0:12:36Both would be named Cardinal College as a twin memorial to Wolsey.
0:12:38 > 0:12:40For three years,
0:12:40 > 0:12:43Cromwell had been rising through the ranks of Wolsey's household,
0:12:43 > 0:12:49now he was given the chance to show that he could make things happen.
0:12:49 > 0:12:51As Wolsey's lawyer,
0:12:51 > 0:12:54Cromwell was in charge of setting up the new school and college.
0:12:54 > 0:12:56And to finance Ipswich School,
0:12:56 > 0:12:59he dissolved 12 monasteries and priories.
0:12:59 > 0:13:03The biggest of which was here, the Augustinian Canons of St Peter and St Paul.
0:13:03 > 0:13:06And their church became the new school chapel,
0:13:06 > 0:13:10with a few improvements like these Tudor roses round the door.
0:13:10 > 0:13:14And behind, six acres of buildings and fields,
0:13:14 > 0:13:16just right for school sports.
0:13:22 > 0:13:26Cromwell evicted the canons and used the wealth of the monastery
0:13:26 > 0:13:29to create the first Cardinal College.
0:13:29 > 0:13:34The school opened with a grand ceremony in this church in 1528.
0:13:37 > 0:13:42And this letter from the dean of the college to Wolsey describes it all.
0:13:42 > 0:13:47"Upon our lady's even, I, with all the company of your grace's college,
0:13:47 > 0:13:51"sung evensong as solemnly and devoutly as we could.
0:13:51 > 0:13:56"And there accompanied by Master Cromwell.
0:13:56 > 0:13:59"Also all the honourable gentlemen of the shire were there,
0:13:59 > 0:14:02"and took repast at dinner in your grace's college
0:14:02 > 0:14:07"and, as I trust, were entertained with good fare."
0:14:12 > 0:14:15To finance Cardinal College Oxford,
0:14:15 > 0:14:18Cromwell dissolved another 12 monasteries.
0:14:18 > 0:14:23An object lesson in what you could do with the Church's wealth.
0:14:23 > 0:14:25He got a taste for dissolving monasteries.
0:14:33 > 0:14:37Now he became fixer-in-chief to the King's fixer.
0:14:37 > 0:14:40In 1523 he had been elected to Parliament as an MP,
0:14:40 > 0:14:43possibly with the Cardinal's help.
0:14:46 > 0:14:51But the Cardinal was fast being embroiled in the defining royal crisis of the age.
0:14:52 > 0:14:56It was known as "the King's Great Matter".
0:14:58 > 0:15:02Henry had been married to Catherine of Aragon since 1509.
0:15:02 > 0:15:06But as she was already the widow of his elder brother Arthur,
0:15:06 > 0:15:10many lawyers believed the marriage to be illegal.
0:15:10 > 0:15:14It only went ahead after a special dispensation from the Pope.
0:15:16 > 0:15:18But now there was a problem.
0:15:19 > 0:15:23After 18 years, the marriage had only produced one living child,
0:15:23 > 0:15:25and that a daughter, Mary.
0:15:25 > 0:15:27Henry, a pious man,
0:15:27 > 0:15:30decided that the supposed marriage was against God's will.
0:15:30 > 0:15:34And he also had his eye on a lady-in-waiting, Anne Boleyn.
0:15:35 > 0:15:38This was a job for the Cardinal.
0:15:38 > 0:15:41Wolsey had to persuade the Pope that the royal marriage was illegal
0:15:41 > 0:15:43and should be annulled.
0:15:44 > 0:15:47In Church law there were arguments both for
0:15:47 > 0:15:49and against marrying your dead brother's wife.
0:15:49 > 0:15:51Henry's case wasn't bad,
0:15:51 > 0:15:55but international politics were poisonously against him.
0:15:57 > 0:16:00Catherine of Aragon was very well connected.
0:16:00 > 0:16:05Her nephew was Emperor Charles V, the most powerful monarch in Europe.
0:16:05 > 0:16:10With his support, she appealed against the annulment to the Pope.
0:16:10 > 0:16:13Henry's cause looked hopeless.
0:16:15 > 0:16:17Still Wolsey kept trying.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20His best shot was to find a subtle legal technicality
0:16:20 > 0:16:22in the original dispensation to marry.
0:16:22 > 0:16:25That would have saved the Pope's face
0:16:25 > 0:16:27if he declared the marriage void.
0:16:27 > 0:16:31It could have worked. But it was Henry who scuppered that plan.
0:16:31 > 0:16:35Playing around with legal detail wouldn't make God any less angry.
0:16:37 > 0:16:39Henry's new love, Anne Boleyn,
0:16:39 > 0:16:43taunted the King for his failure to solve the problem.
0:16:43 > 0:16:46And she managed to convince him that Wolsey was in league
0:16:46 > 0:16:51with the Pope, that he was deliberately slowing proceedings.
0:16:53 > 0:16:57Henry was losing faith in his cardinal.
0:16:59 > 0:17:03In 1529 Wolsey was arrested, charged with exercising
0:17:03 > 0:17:06a foreign authority against the King,
0:17:06 > 0:17:08purely because he was doing his job
0:17:08 > 0:17:11as the Pope's representative in England.
0:17:11 > 0:17:13It was hugely unfair.
0:17:18 > 0:17:22Thomas Cromwell has a reputation for being selfish and treacherous,
0:17:22 > 0:17:25but when Wolsey fell from grace
0:17:25 > 0:17:28and most of his household disowned him, Cromwell stayed loyal.
0:17:30 > 0:17:34And at the Ipswich School, he went on to defend his patron's
0:17:34 > 0:17:38educational legacy, despite the personal risk.
0:17:40 > 0:17:43When the King threatened to destroy both Cardinal Colleges,
0:17:43 > 0:17:47Cromwell stepped in to make sure that the good folk of Ipswich
0:17:47 > 0:17:51still had some sort of school, even if it wasn't the mega-college that Wolsey had planned.
0:17:51 > 0:17:56And he persuaded the King not to destroy Cardinal College Oxford.
0:17:56 > 0:17:59Later Henry renamed it Christ Church,
0:17:59 > 0:18:00and that's what it's still called.
0:18:00 > 0:18:03But they've not forgotten the Cardinal there.
0:18:09 > 0:18:12Thomas Cromwell's own position was also in jeopardy.
0:18:12 > 0:18:16As a man of humble birth, he knew he was entirely
0:18:16 > 0:18:20dependent on the Cardinal for support and career advancement.
0:18:24 > 0:18:27Another member of Wolsey's household, George Cavendish,
0:18:27 > 0:18:30described how he found Cromwell quietly crying by a window.
0:18:30 > 0:18:32And Cavendish asked,
0:18:32 > 0:18:35"Why, Master Cromwell? What meaneth all this sorrow?"
0:18:35 > 0:18:40"Nay, nay," replied Cromwell "It is my unhappy adventure.
0:18:40 > 0:18:44"I am like to lose all I have toiled for all my life,
0:18:44 > 0:18:48"for doing my master true and diligent service."
0:18:49 > 0:18:51Wolsey's fall meant Cromwell's fall.
0:18:56 > 0:18:59Cromwell's future looked bleak.
0:18:59 > 0:19:01His wife Elizabeth died in the same year,
0:19:01 > 0:19:06leaving him with three children - two daughters and a lacklustre son
0:19:06 > 0:19:10called Gregory, who never showed a talent for anything.
0:19:12 > 0:19:14But a year later,
0:19:14 > 0:19:18the King was still searching for a solution to his "Great Matter"
0:19:18 > 0:19:23and Cromwell would use this as a way to claw his way back to favour.
0:19:25 > 0:19:29The crisis that destroyed Wolsey, now opened the door for Cromwell
0:19:29 > 0:19:32to show the King what a valuable operator he could be.
0:19:36 > 0:19:39The King was trying to find a way to prove that English monarchs
0:19:39 > 0:19:43were beyond papal authority.
0:19:43 > 0:19:46He'd sent researchers to libraries across the land
0:19:46 > 0:19:50to find evidence in support of a startling new history of the English monarchy.
0:19:55 > 0:19:58And one of the chief books they used was the 12th century
0:19:58 > 0:20:01"History of the Kings of Britain" by Geoffrey of Monmouth,
0:20:01 > 0:20:04and it was actually a series of myths.
0:20:04 > 0:20:08No historian anywhere else in Europe believed Geoffrey.
0:20:08 > 0:20:13This is a finely decorated Medieval copy.
0:20:13 > 0:20:17In it Geoffrey invents the story of King Arthur,
0:20:17 > 0:20:21Merlin and the Knights of the Round Table.
0:20:23 > 0:20:26And here is one of those myths.
0:20:27 > 0:20:30Arthur, the king of ancient Britain,
0:20:30 > 0:20:33was involved in an epic struggle against the Roman Empire.
0:20:33 > 0:20:38One of his followers reminds him of an ancient Roman prophecy.
0:20:39 > 0:20:42"For a third time one born of British blood
0:20:42 > 0:20:44"will rule the Roman State.
0:20:44 > 0:20:47"You stand before us as the third,
0:20:47 > 0:20:50"to whom that title has been vouchsafed."
0:20:51 > 0:20:54In other words, King Arthur was an emperor
0:20:54 > 0:20:56and so was his successor, King Henry.
0:20:56 > 0:21:02In fact, England was an empire and emperors are beholden to no-one,
0:21:02 > 0:21:04not even the Pope.
0:21:06 > 0:21:09After 1,000 years of obedience to Rome,
0:21:09 > 0:21:14the King was asking his people to reject the papacy.
0:21:16 > 0:21:20Only King Henry could have come up with this extraordinary idea,
0:21:20 > 0:21:25not even Cromwell would have had the gall to rewrite European history like this.
0:21:25 > 0:21:29But Cromwell's unique contribution was to show the King
0:21:29 > 0:21:34how to sell this idea to nobility and the rest of the English people.
0:21:40 > 0:21:43Cromwell's proven skills as a fixer,
0:21:43 > 0:21:45would now be deployed on behalf of the King.
0:21:46 > 0:21:49Thomas Cromwell was back in the game.
0:21:49 > 0:21:52Cromwell knew there was only one institution that could
0:21:52 > 0:21:57galvanise enough support for Henry's revolution, Parliament.
0:21:57 > 0:22:01By 1532, it was nine years since he had first sat as an MP.
0:22:01 > 0:22:06He knew how to work the system from the inside and how to change it.
0:22:07 > 0:22:11Until now, Parliament's main role had been to pass on petitions
0:22:11 > 0:22:13from the people and raise taxation.
0:22:13 > 0:22:17Cromwell set out to persuade Parliament that it had the power
0:22:17 > 0:22:20to change the nature of the constitution
0:22:20 > 0:22:25and create laws that would destroy the Pope's power over the King.
0:22:29 > 0:22:32Only Parliament could convince the people that England
0:22:32 > 0:22:35had always been an empire and the King an emperor.
0:22:35 > 0:22:39And it could pass the legislation to make the fiction a reality.
0:22:47 > 0:22:51All surviving Acts of Parliament since 1497 are stored here,
0:22:51 > 0:22:54in the Parliamentary Archives at Westminster.
0:22:54 > 0:22:57This includes a key bill written by Thomas Cromwell.
0:22:59 > 0:23:02In it he persuaded Parliament to begin the legal process
0:23:02 > 0:23:05of setting up the Empire of England.
0:23:07 > 0:23:10This is the Act in Restraint of Appeals.
0:23:10 > 0:23:13It forbids legal appeals from England to Rome.
0:23:13 > 0:23:17That was purely to stop Catherine of Aragon appealing to the Pope
0:23:17 > 0:23:19but we are still living with the consequences.
0:23:19 > 0:23:22This document creates the breach
0:23:22 > 0:23:24between English monarchs and the papacy.
0:23:24 > 0:23:29And bizarrely, it justifies it through the patriotic fantasies
0:23:29 > 0:23:31of authors like Geoffrey of Monmouth.
0:23:31 > 0:23:36Now it claims, "By divers sundry old authentic histories
0:23:36 > 0:23:40"and chronicles, it is manifestly declared and expressed
0:23:40 > 0:23:44"that this realm of England is an empire and so hath been
0:23:44 > 0:23:50"accepted in the world, governed by its one supreme head and king."
0:23:51 > 0:23:54What had once been myth was now law.
0:23:56 > 0:23:59For the first time in English history,
0:23:59 > 0:24:02Thomas Cromwell had given Parliament the power to intervene
0:24:02 > 0:24:06in the fundamental constitutional affairs of the nation.
0:24:06 > 0:24:09This power has never been surrendered.
0:24:12 > 0:24:15Over the next few centuries, most European monarchs
0:24:15 > 0:24:17came to rule without their ancient parliaments,
0:24:17 > 0:24:20with fewer and fewer restraints on their power.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23But from now on English kings and queens
0:24:23 > 0:24:27had to include Parliament in all the great decisions of state.
0:24:28 > 0:24:32Thomas Cromwell would not have understood the meaning of parliamentary democracy,
0:24:32 > 0:24:36but if you want to see where our democracy has come from, you start here.
0:24:40 > 0:24:46In 1532, Cromwell was rewarded for his work by a grateful king.
0:24:46 > 0:24:49He was granted the honorary title
0:24:49 > 0:24:52Master of the Jewels and invited to enter the royal court.
0:24:57 > 0:25:01This portrait of Cromwell, painted in 1533 by Hans Holbein,
0:25:01 > 0:25:05shows a serious and attentive man.
0:25:07 > 0:25:11His determination to transform the relationship between Church and State
0:25:11 > 0:25:16was motivated by much more than just a desire to please the King.
0:25:28 > 0:25:32At this time a religious revolution was sweeping through Europe...
0:25:35 > 0:25:37..the Reformation.
0:25:41 > 0:25:45It had been ignited by the German cleric Martin Luther
0:25:45 > 0:25:49and it would overturn centuries of Christian belief.
0:25:54 > 0:25:57Luther's followers called themselves Evangelicals
0:25:57 > 0:26:01because they turned to the Gospels, "Evangelia" in Latin.
0:26:01 > 0:26:06They sought a simpler Christianity, based on God's word in the Bible
0:26:06 > 0:26:10and they rejected any other church teaching as superstition.
0:26:10 > 0:26:15They said, "Away with the wealth and corruption of the Church hierarchy."
0:26:15 > 0:26:18And that threatened the power of the Pope,
0:26:18 > 0:26:21political, as well as religious.
0:26:21 > 0:26:25Merchants from Germany and the Low Countries were among the first
0:26:25 > 0:26:29to bring the ideas that fuelled the Reformation in England.
0:26:31 > 0:26:34It's highly likely that Cromwell was introduced to Protestantism
0:26:34 > 0:26:39here in Boston and that turning point didn't just change his life,
0:26:39 > 0:26:42it transformed the future of this country.
0:26:46 > 0:26:52In 1533 Cromwell was starting to reveal his Reformist credentials.
0:26:52 > 0:26:57And he found a growing number of powerful Evangelical allies in the royal court.
0:27:00 > 0:27:05Cromwell's most important ally was the new Queen-in-waiting, Anne Boleyn.
0:27:05 > 0:27:11In 1533, she persuaded the King to appoint an obscure clergyman,
0:27:11 > 0:27:14Thomas Cranmer, as Archbishop of Canterbury.
0:27:16 > 0:27:19He was another Evangelical Reformer.
0:27:19 > 0:27:23Immediately, he agreed to annul Henry's marriage to Catherine.
0:27:23 > 0:27:28Five days later he married the King to Anne Boleyn.
0:27:29 > 0:27:33Both the King and his Chief Minister were getting what they wanted.
0:27:36 > 0:27:40Cromwell had now made sure that the King was recognised as supreme head
0:27:40 > 0:27:44of the Church of England, with power to determine all religious matters.
0:27:44 > 0:27:46That same year,
0:27:46 > 0:27:50Cromwell was promoted again to be the King's principal secretary.
0:27:50 > 0:27:54Only Henry himself had more political power.
0:28:00 > 0:28:04And he was given new powers over the Church and its monasteries.
0:28:06 > 0:28:09He knew from dissolving monasteries for Cardinal Wolsey
0:28:09 > 0:28:11that they were a source of great wealth.
0:28:16 > 0:28:19Places like Hailes Abbey, in Gloucestershire,
0:28:19 > 0:28:22had dominated people's lives for centuries.
0:28:23 > 0:28:25Their combined annual income
0:28:25 > 0:28:28was double that of the King's own estates.
0:28:29 > 0:28:32And they were influential centres of papal power.
0:28:34 > 0:28:38Cromwell could now raise vast revenues for Henry
0:28:38 > 0:28:43and advance his own Evangelical agenda in a single stroke.
0:28:45 > 0:28:49This monastery was once one of the greatest pilgrimage centres of the
0:28:49 > 0:28:54West Country because it housed the shrine of the Holy Blood of Christ.
0:28:54 > 0:29:00Look at these foundations, an extraordinary ring of five chapels,
0:29:00 > 0:29:03so that crowds of pilgrims could come down the north side,
0:29:03 > 0:29:07hear a mass, and then out the south side.
0:29:08 > 0:29:11They had come to see the Blood of Christ,
0:29:11 > 0:29:14said to have been taken as he died on the cross.
0:29:14 > 0:29:18Verified by the Pope himself, the relic was displayed
0:29:18 > 0:29:22in a two-foot high shrine which stood on this mound.
0:29:24 > 0:29:27What I have got here is one of the souvenir brochures
0:29:27 > 0:29:29that you would have bought in Hailes in the 1520s.
0:29:29 > 0:29:32It's actually got the precious blood on the front cover,
0:29:32 > 0:29:36in its little glass display case, being opened by angels.
0:29:36 > 0:29:40And when you open it up there are the stories of all the miracles done at the shrine.
0:29:40 > 0:29:43And my favourite is John Marshall and his mates,
0:29:43 > 0:29:46they were merchants who had been miraculously
0:29:46 > 0:29:48released from prison in France, at Mont Saint-Michel.
0:29:48 > 0:29:51So they came here to give thanks.
0:29:51 > 0:29:55And it's the ending which is good because they went in procession around the church and then it says,
0:29:55 > 0:29:58"The men had little to spend, when they had offered up
0:29:58 > 0:30:02"with good devotion their candles that they had borne in procession."
0:30:02 > 0:30:05You see the point that you come here,
0:30:05 > 0:30:07you leave as much money as possible in offerings.
0:30:10 > 0:30:13In return, the pilgrims were assured by the Church
0:30:13 > 0:30:17that their eternal souls' entry into heaven would be guaranteed.
0:30:18 > 0:30:21Reformers like Cromwell saw these relics as unholy
0:30:21 > 0:30:23and superstitious,
0:30:23 > 0:30:26and another form of Church corruption.
0:30:26 > 0:30:30So Evangelicals would not just see this shrine as an abomination -
0:30:30 > 0:30:32they would also see the wealth that had been
0:30:32 > 0:30:34produced by the likes of John Marshall.
0:30:37 > 0:30:40Cromwell wanted to discredit the monasteries.
0:30:40 > 0:30:45In 1538, he sent the Holy Blood to be examined.
0:30:45 > 0:30:49After centuries of veneration, it was then publicly denounced as,
0:30:49 > 0:30:53"honey clarified and coloured with saffron."
0:30:55 > 0:30:59A year later, the monastery at Hailes was closed down.
0:31:00 > 0:31:03Overall, Cromwell was responsible for dissolving
0:31:03 > 0:31:09up to 800 monasteries and religious houses across England and Wales.
0:31:10 > 0:31:13Their wealth poured into the royal coffers.
0:31:19 > 0:31:21Many people have never forgiven
0:31:21 > 0:31:24Thomas Cromwell for the dissolution of the monasteries.
0:31:24 > 0:31:29He's often portrayed as a mindless thug, trashing the Catholic Church
0:31:29 > 0:31:33and looting the monasteries simply for material gain.
0:31:34 > 0:31:37But he was also proving himself to be a committed
0:31:37 > 0:31:41religious reformer, driven by deeply-held principle.
0:31:43 > 0:31:46He closed the monasteries to end what he saw
0:31:46 > 0:31:49as the superstitious practices and corruption of the Church.
0:31:49 > 0:31:53And he made sure that the monks got pensions.
0:31:53 > 0:31:56The buildings, themselves, had various fates -
0:31:56 > 0:32:00stripped of anything valuable, yes - but sometimes deliberately
0:32:00 > 0:32:05left as ruins, just to show that the Reformation had won.
0:32:08 > 0:32:11The dissolution of the monasteries will be
0:32:11 > 0:32:15remembered as Cromwell's most destructive act.
0:32:15 > 0:32:19His radical reforms reveal the King's Fixer-in-Chief to be
0:32:19 > 0:32:24both evangelical reformer and merciless politician.
0:32:26 > 0:32:28There's no denying that Cromwell's politics
0:32:28 > 0:32:30could get dirty and ruthless.
0:32:30 > 0:32:35He fell out with his evangelical ally, Queen Anne Boleyn.
0:32:35 > 0:32:37They clashed bitterly
0:32:37 > 0:32:40because she wanted the money from the monasteries used for
0:32:40 > 0:32:43good causes rather than filling the King's coffers.
0:32:45 > 0:32:49But the Queen was losing her value as an ally.
0:32:49 > 0:32:53After three years of marriage, Henry had fallen out of love with her.
0:32:54 > 0:32:56When she miscarried her second child,
0:32:56 > 0:33:00he'd decided Anne wasn't going to produce his longed for son.
0:33:00 > 0:33:03And now he wanted to discard her.
0:33:03 > 0:33:06Cromwell was only too willing to help
0:33:06 > 0:33:10by intimidating those nearest to her.
0:33:10 > 0:33:12He even tortured false confessions out of them.
0:33:14 > 0:33:16He cooked up evidence for Anne's treason,
0:33:16 > 0:33:21and incest with her own brother, and so Anne was beheaded, leaving
0:33:21 > 0:33:25the King to marry the latest beauty who had caught his eye,
0:33:25 > 0:33:27Jane Seymour.
0:33:27 > 0:33:30This does seem to me to be the darkest deed of the man.
0:33:30 > 0:33:32It's good evidence for the prosecution.
0:33:35 > 0:33:38Cromwell is always remembered for conspiring to kill a Queen
0:33:38 > 0:33:40and looting the monasteries.
0:33:42 > 0:33:47And this has overshadowed the legacy of his evangelical principles
0:33:47 > 0:33:49and statesmanship.
0:33:49 > 0:33:52For Cromwell was also a great defender of what was
0:33:52 > 0:33:55known as the "common weal" - you might say "public good."
0:33:58 > 0:34:01Monasteries like Hailes had been served by lay brothers, who
0:34:01 > 0:34:05lived in this West Range here, but also had a swarm of other servants.
0:34:05 > 0:34:09The dissolution just added to an already growing problem
0:34:09 > 0:34:13of homelessness and unemployment, right across the realm.
0:34:13 > 0:34:16This was new and frightening.
0:34:16 > 0:34:18And the growing poverty also offended Cromwell's
0:34:18 > 0:34:20evangelical ideals.
0:34:20 > 0:34:25So he set up a sort of think tank of young reformers to dream up
0:34:25 > 0:34:28ideas for improving the "common weal".
0:34:29 > 0:34:32With their help, he was able to bring a parliamentary bill to
0:34:32 > 0:34:35require local communities to force
0:34:35 > 0:34:38able-bodied, homeless beggars to work.
0:34:40 > 0:34:43Well, it was tough love - but you might see it as coming from a man
0:34:43 > 0:34:47of principle who had started with nothing, got on his bike and made it,
0:34:47 > 0:34:51and was now determined that the state should look after the poor.
0:34:53 > 0:34:55Cromwell's Act was the first step towards
0:34:55 > 0:34:58a comprehensive poor law plan,
0:34:58 > 0:35:02which was finally passed in 1597 by an Elizabethan Parliament.
0:35:04 > 0:35:07This national system of poor relief was not replaced
0:35:07 > 0:35:09until the 19th century.
0:35:09 > 0:35:12You might not like the sound of it, but you can't deny that
0:35:12 > 0:35:16Thomas Cromwell showed the way to a new kind of welfare state.
0:35:27 > 0:35:32Cromwell's evangelical convictions have also had a long-lasting,
0:35:32 > 0:35:35unforeseen impact on our ideas of public morality.
0:35:41 > 0:35:46He regarded the monasteries as centres of homosexuality,
0:35:46 > 0:35:49and so, as part of his campaign against the monasteries,
0:35:49 > 0:35:53he persuaded parliament to pass an Act for the punishment
0:35:53 > 0:35:54of the vice of buggery.
0:35:57 > 0:36:02The Act was no more than 16 lines long,
0:36:02 > 0:36:06but it represented the first time that the state had tried to
0:36:06 > 0:36:09control private sexual behaviour or morality.
0:36:09 > 0:36:12Before that, the Church had a monopoly on deciding what was
0:36:12 > 0:36:15moral or immoral.
0:36:15 > 0:36:20Now Cromwell had paved the way to a huge extension of state power.
0:36:20 > 0:36:23And the results are still at the heart of our politics.
0:36:31 > 0:36:33Here at St John's College, Cambridge,
0:36:33 > 0:36:36we can see further evidence that Thomas Cromwell was more than
0:36:36 > 0:36:38just a cynical manipulator.
0:36:39 > 0:36:43It proves that he was prepared to risk his hard won place
0:36:43 > 0:36:46at the side of the King to follow his principles
0:36:46 > 0:36:49and take England down the path of evangelical Protestantism.
0:36:53 > 0:36:57Of course, the very term "evangelical" means "getting back to the gospel",
0:36:57 > 0:37:00but the Bible in use in Henry's England was still in Latin -
0:37:00 > 0:37:03and you need education to understand Latin,
0:37:03 > 0:37:07so the Bible wasn't there for ordinary people to read,
0:37:07 > 0:37:10it was there for the clergy to interpret for them.
0:37:10 > 0:37:14Evangelicals demanded that the Bible should be in English,
0:37:14 > 0:37:18so that everyone could read the Word of God for themselves.
0:37:18 > 0:37:20It was a revolutionary idea at the time
0:37:20 > 0:37:23and it was certainly a step too far for King Henry.
0:37:26 > 0:37:30There had been various efforts to translate the Bible into English.
0:37:31 > 0:37:34The most successful was by William Tyndale.
0:37:36 > 0:37:40But Henry hated the idea of translation.
0:37:40 > 0:37:45He forced Tyndale into exile and colluded in his arrest
0:37:45 > 0:37:48and execution as a heretic in 1536.
0:37:52 > 0:37:53Despite Tyndale's fate,
0:37:53 > 0:37:57Thomas Cromwell had the courage to stick his neck out...
0:37:57 > 0:38:00though it must be said that his timing was perfect.
0:38:01 > 0:38:05Henry had just married Jane Seymour and she was pregnant -
0:38:05 > 0:38:08with what he hoped was the longed-for male heir.
0:38:10 > 0:38:13Henry was in a generous mood, and Cromwell seized the moment.
0:38:13 > 0:38:17He took the enormous risk of giving the King
0:38:17 > 0:38:19a copy of the Bible in English.
0:38:19 > 0:38:21And within ten days, Henry had approved it,
0:38:21 > 0:38:25one of the greatest royal U-turns of the reign.
0:38:25 > 0:38:27Now Cromwell had the opportunity.
0:38:27 > 0:38:31He issued an order that every parish in the land should get
0:38:31 > 0:38:35a copy of the Bible in English.
0:38:35 > 0:38:38And in St John's College library in Cambridge, there it is -
0:38:38 > 0:38:41Thomas Cromwell's own copy.
0:38:41 > 0:38:45And this great title page is like a Tudor strip cartoon
0:38:45 > 0:38:47of what's just happened.
0:38:47 > 0:38:50We've got King Henry as the supreme head of the Church of England
0:38:50 > 0:38:51on his throne.
0:38:51 > 0:38:55I notice he is rather bigger than the figure of God above him.
0:38:55 > 0:39:00And he's handing out copies of the English Bible, on the one hand, to
0:39:00 > 0:39:03Archbishop Cranmer and the bishops,
0:39:03 > 0:39:05and on the other, to Thomas Cromwell.
0:39:05 > 0:39:10And Cranmer then hands the English Bible to his clergy below.
0:39:10 > 0:39:14Thomas Cromwell hands a copy to lay people in England.
0:39:14 > 0:39:19Now, the clergy have got to preach the message of obedience to King Henry out of the Bible.
0:39:19 > 0:39:21And the congregation has got the message
0:39:21 > 0:39:25because they're all shouting loyally, "Vivat rex, vivat rex",
0:39:25 > 0:39:27except for one little boy down here,
0:39:27 > 0:39:29who hasn't learnt his Latin, so he loyally shouts,
0:39:29 > 0:39:31"God save the King".
0:39:31 > 0:39:34And then in the corner, there is a little dark note,
0:39:34 > 0:39:36because it's a prison.
0:39:36 > 0:39:38And in the prison are all the people
0:39:38 > 0:39:40who don't listen to King Henry's Bible
0:39:40 > 0:39:42either because they are papists
0:39:42 > 0:39:46or because they are protestants who have gone too far.
0:39:48 > 0:39:52With a copy of the Bible in English in every parish church, everyone
0:39:52 > 0:39:57now had the chance of reading the Bible in their own language.
0:39:57 > 0:40:03Cromwell had cemented the great divide between the Church of England and the Church of Rome.
0:40:12 > 0:40:14But Cromwell didn't stop there.
0:40:14 > 0:40:18He was prepared to risk his own life for the evangelical cause.
0:40:25 > 0:40:30His greatest contribution to reforming the Church of England started in Switzerland.
0:40:33 > 0:40:36As the Reformation swept through Europe, Martin Luther was
0:40:36 > 0:40:39joined by other more radical voices.
0:40:40 > 0:40:44One of the most extreme lived here in Zurich -
0:40:44 > 0:40:46he was called Huldrych Zwingli.
0:40:55 > 0:40:59Zwingli was pastor of Zurich's greatest church, the Grossmunster.
0:40:59 > 0:41:01And like Luther in Germany,
0:41:01 > 0:41:04he preached against the corruption of the Pope and his Church.
0:41:06 > 0:41:08Zwingli went one step further.
0:41:08 > 0:41:13He rejected the Church's teaching on the most sacred Christian ceremony - the mass.
0:41:13 > 0:41:15Catholics believe that in the mass,
0:41:15 > 0:41:20bread and wine become the living body and blood of Jesus Christ.
0:41:20 > 0:41:22Zwingli said they didn't.
0:41:23 > 0:41:27The layout of the Grossmunster demonstrates his beliefs.
0:41:28 > 0:41:30Zwingli removed the high altar
0:41:30 > 0:41:36where the transformation of the bread and wine traditionally took place, and replaced it with a table,
0:41:36 > 0:41:39in the middle of the church among the people.
0:41:40 > 0:41:43That's because Zwingli's church celebrated not a mass,
0:41:43 > 0:41:45but a Holy Communion.
0:41:45 > 0:41:48The bread and wine were purely a sacred sign that Christ
0:41:48 > 0:41:53died for all our sins - they are not the body and blood of Christ,
0:41:53 > 0:41:55but remain bread and wine still.
0:41:56 > 0:41:59It's difficult, in our secular age, to imagine the fury that this
0:41:59 > 0:42:01unleashed in the 16th century.
0:42:01 > 0:42:04Henry VIII thought it the worst sort of blasphemy.
0:42:04 > 0:42:06He burned at the stake,
0:42:06 > 0:42:09people who had taken up Zwingli's ideas in England.
0:42:11 > 0:42:12Until this time,
0:42:12 > 0:42:16England had no official connections with Switzerland.
0:42:16 > 0:42:19But this changed in 1537,
0:42:19 > 0:42:23when a group of talented young Oxford graduates arrived at this
0:42:23 > 0:42:28house in Zurich, to meet Zwingli's successor, Heinrich Bullinger.
0:42:28 > 0:42:33They seemed to be an official delegation from the Church of England.
0:42:38 > 0:42:41But who really sent them? Certainly not the King.
0:42:41 > 0:42:43And Archbishop Cranmer,
0:42:43 > 0:42:46if anything, shared Henry's opinion that Zwingli was a heretic.
0:42:46 > 0:42:51But all the Oxford visitors had close links to Cromwell.
0:42:51 > 0:42:53Only Cromwell had both the power
0:42:53 > 0:42:56and the motivation to authorise a mission like this.
0:42:56 > 0:42:59And the link to Zurich would make sure that the breach
0:42:59 > 0:43:02between Rome and England would never be healed.
0:43:06 > 0:43:09I am certain that Thomas Cromwell had accepted Zwingli's
0:43:09 > 0:43:11radical reformist teaching.
0:43:11 > 0:43:16He knew the King wouldn't change his mind about the Mass, and that if his
0:43:16 > 0:43:21Swiss connections were discovered, he would be burned as a heretic.
0:43:21 > 0:43:25But ever the strategist, Cromwell was playing a long game.
0:43:25 > 0:43:31The Oxford graduates returned to England as devout and determined protestants -
0:43:31 > 0:43:34evangelical time-bombs in the Church of England.
0:43:40 > 0:43:45We break this bread to share in the body of Christ.
0:43:45 > 0:43:49Five years after Henry's death, the Church of England adopted
0:43:49 > 0:43:52Zwingli's symbolic interpretation of Holy Communion.
0:43:53 > 0:43:57This theological revolution, which enshrined
0:43:57 > 0:43:59the divide between England and Rome,
0:43:59 > 0:44:02is Thomas Cromwell's greatest legacy.
0:44:13 > 0:44:16Cromwell must have felt unstoppable.
0:44:24 > 0:44:27He'd already been well-rewarded with wealth and property.
0:44:27 > 0:44:30And now his great patron was to give him
0:44:30 > 0:44:33a prize no money could buy -
0:44:33 > 0:44:35social status.
0:44:38 > 0:44:40St George's Chapel, Windsor,
0:44:40 > 0:44:43is the mother chapel of the most ancient and honourable
0:44:43 > 0:44:47of the English chivalric orders - the Knighthood of the Garter.
0:44:53 > 0:44:57Only 24 people, personally chosen by the monarch,
0:44:57 > 0:44:59can hold the honour at any one time.
0:45:04 > 0:45:07To this day, the banners of the Knights hang high
0:45:07 > 0:45:10in this chapel and you see the great families of the realm.
0:45:10 > 0:45:14There, the Duke of Westminster, there, the Duke of Wellington,
0:45:14 > 0:45:18and below them their helms complete with family crests.
0:45:18 > 0:45:24In 1537, Henry invited the publican's son from Putney
0:45:24 > 0:45:26to join this noble circle.
0:45:26 > 0:45:30He created Cromwell a Knight of the Garter.
0:45:30 > 0:45:33The upstart had used royal patronage to force his way into this
0:45:33 > 0:45:35rigid hierarchy.
0:45:35 > 0:45:38Many people would have been satisfied with this honour -
0:45:38 > 0:45:40but not Thomas Cromwell.
0:45:42 > 0:45:46This is the stall in which Thomas Cromwell eventually
0:45:46 > 0:45:48took his place as Knight of the Garter.
0:45:48 > 0:45:50On it is a plaque.
0:45:50 > 0:45:52It's for Henry Bourchier, Earl of Essex.
0:45:53 > 0:45:57Henry Bourchier was the holder of one of the most ancient
0:45:57 > 0:46:00titles in England, but he died without an heir.
0:46:00 > 0:46:04The King took the opportunity to bestow this Earldom
0:46:04 > 0:46:08on his Chief Minister, who now became Earl of Essex.
0:46:09 > 0:46:13Thomas Cromwell had now joined the hereditary nobility.
0:46:13 > 0:46:16Intelligence and ruthless determination had brought him
0:46:16 > 0:46:18huge wealth and great status.
0:46:18 > 0:46:21He must have felt invincible.
0:46:21 > 0:46:25But the political skill and evangelical drive which had
0:46:25 > 0:46:29taken Thomas Cromwell so far, would also tear him down.
0:46:30 > 0:46:35In 1537, Jane Seymour, Henry's third wife, had died,
0:46:35 > 0:46:39just after giving birth to Edward, the long-awaited heir.
0:46:40 > 0:46:43Now the King was in need of another wife.
0:46:48 > 0:46:51Cromwell came here, to Archbishop Cranmer's country palace
0:46:51 > 0:46:55at Croydon, to perform his fixer's magic one more time.
0:46:56 > 0:47:00He wanted to arrange a marriage for the King which would ally
0:47:00 > 0:47:03England with the forces of the Reformation.
0:47:03 > 0:47:07He hoped to enlist the Archbishop's support in persuading Henry
0:47:07 > 0:47:12to marry a German princess - Anne of Cleves.
0:47:12 > 0:47:14But the Archbishop wasn't convinced.
0:47:16 > 0:47:21This manuscript is a 17th century summary of a lost contemporary
0:47:21 > 0:47:24account of the conversation between Cranmer and Cromwell.
0:47:24 > 0:47:27It's a fascinating glimpse into the relationship between
0:47:27 > 0:47:30these two most powerful men in Tudor England.
0:47:30 > 0:47:35Cranmer, ever mindful of King Henry's happiness, bless him, said
0:47:35 > 0:47:39that he "thought it most expedient the King to marry where that he had
0:47:39 > 0:47:44"his fantasy and love, for that would be most comfort for his Grace".
0:47:44 > 0:47:47And Cromwell, furious at this political naivety,
0:47:47 > 0:47:52snapped back that there was "none meet for him within this realm".
0:47:52 > 0:47:54And Cranmer replied that it would be
0:47:54 > 0:48:00"very strange to be married with her that he could not talk with".
0:48:00 > 0:48:02In other words, speak English to.
0:48:05 > 0:48:08Anne of Cleves might not speak much English, but Cromwell was
0:48:08 > 0:48:11determined to show the King she possessed other virtues.
0:48:13 > 0:48:17He dispatched his favourite artist, Hans Holbein,
0:48:17 > 0:48:20to paint a portrait of the 24-year-old German princess.
0:48:25 > 0:48:28Well this is rather lovely, isn't it?
0:48:28 > 0:48:33This is the actual miniature which Hans Holbein sent to England.
0:48:33 > 0:48:37So you and I are in the same position as King Henry
0:48:37 > 0:48:40viewing his bride to be.
0:48:40 > 0:48:43Portraits of this date would often have the face slightly
0:48:43 > 0:48:45turned away, but this is full face
0:48:45 > 0:48:49so that he could be sure there were no blemishes.
0:48:49 > 0:48:53And the headdress is painted to be in the English fashion,
0:48:53 > 0:48:55not the German style she'd actually have worn,
0:48:55 > 0:48:59so that the King could compare her with the ladies he knew.
0:48:59 > 0:49:04Standards of beauty do change over time, but we can be pretty sure
0:49:04 > 0:49:08that the King saw a beautiful lady staring back at him.
0:49:08 > 0:49:11So he agreed to Cromwell's choice.
0:49:16 > 0:49:21A great ceremony for Henry to meet Anne was planned for January 3rd 1540.
0:49:21 > 0:49:22But the King couldn't wait
0:49:22 > 0:49:25and impatiently rushed off three days early to surprise her.
0:49:25 > 0:49:29Henry burst into his future wife's chambers.
0:49:30 > 0:49:34But the King didn't like what he saw.
0:49:34 > 0:49:38The Princess failed to live up to her painted image.
0:49:38 > 0:49:41When Henry got back to London he rounded on Cromwell.
0:49:41 > 0:49:44"Is there no remedy but that against my will,
0:49:44 > 0:49:46"I must put my neck in the yoke?"
0:49:46 > 0:49:49And the wedding night only compounded his misery.
0:49:49 > 0:49:53He said to Cromwell, "I liked her before not well,
0:49:53 > 0:49:56"but now I like her much worse".
0:49:56 > 0:49:58The management of royal marriages
0:49:58 > 0:50:01and annulments had been the making of Cromwell.
0:50:01 > 0:50:03This one would prove to be his unmaking.
0:50:03 > 0:50:09There was no longer any need to appeal to the Pope for this annulment.
0:50:09 > 0:50:13Instead, Henry, the Supreme Head of the Church of England, was
0:50:13 > 0:50:17required to appear in a church court in front of his subjects
0:50:17 > 0:50:19and present intimate evidence of his failure
0:50:19 > 0:50:21to consummate the wedding night.
0:50:24 > 0:50:29For a proud monarch who gloried in his virility, to be forced into
0:50:29 > 0:50:34a public admission of impotence, was a dreadful humiliation.
0:50:34 > 0:50:36Henry needed someone to blame.
0:50:37 > 0:50:39Cromwell fell from the King's favour -
0:50:39 > 0:50:42and he had such a long way to fall.
0:50:42 > 0:50:47He was a self-made man with no noble, ancient lineage.
0:50:47 > 0:50:50Without the King's patronage he was nothing.
0:50:50 > 0:50:53Cromwell had seen what had happened to Thomas Wolsey -
0:50:53 > 0:50:56he could have tried to retrieve the situation.
0:50:56 > 0:50:58But Cromwell couldn't stop himself.
0:51:14 > 0:51:17The priory here at Thetford, in Norfolk,
0:51:17 > 0:51:22was the scene of Thomas Cromwell's worst act of self-destruction.
0:51:22 > 0:51:26It was one of the last monasteries remaining in England.
0:51:26 > 0:51:29And that's because it had been protected by one of the most
0:51:29 > 0:51:31influential figures at the royal court -
0:51:31 > 0:51:34Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk.
0:51:35 > 0:51:38This was the great church of the Priory. We've just got one
0:51:38 > 0:51:42pillar standing to full height to show you how grand it all was.
0:51:42 > 0:51:47In a chapel over there was the tomb of the first Howard, Duke of Norfolk.
0:51:47 > 0:51:51And in front of the high altar here is one of the main vaults which
0:51:51 > 0:51:55housed the bodies of the Earls and Dukes of Norfolk and their families.
0:51:55 > 0:52:00This was a very special place for a very important, noble family.
0:52:04 > 0:52:09In 1539, the Duke of Norfolk tried to save the priory from dissolution.
0:52:10 > 0:52:14He lobbied the King for it to be converted into a secular college,
0:52:14 > 0:52:17which would preserve the sanctity of the family tombs.
0:52:19 > 0:52:23Thomas Cromwell was determined that it should all be destroyed.
0:52:23 > 0:52:27He let his evangelical zeal overcome his political nous.
0:52:27 > 0:52:33On 16th February 1540, the prior was forced to surrender his monastery.
0:52:33 > 0:52:37It was one of the last two to be dissolved in all England.
0:52:37 > 0:52:40There would be no college.
0:52:40 > 0:52:43Eventually, the Norfolks were forced to dig up
0:52:43 > 0:52:45and move the bones of their ancestors.
0:52:45 > 0:52:48It was the ultimate humiliation.
0:52:51 > 0:52:56The Duke of Norfolk returned to his family castle at Framlingham,
0:52:56 > 0:52:57in Suffolk.
0:52:58 > 0:53:04He would rebury the remains of his ancestors in the local parish church.
0:53:04 > 0:53:07He was already plotting his revenge.
0:53:13 > 0:53:15Throughout the 1530s,
0:53:15 > 0:53:18Cromwell's enemies had resented his extraordinary rise,
0:53:18 > 0:53:22but the King's patronage meant that they were powerless to stop him.
0:53:22 > 0:53:26Now, Henry was smarting from the fiasco of the Cleves marriage,
0:53:26 > 0:53:28while the whole nobility would loathe Cromwell
0:53:28 > 0:53:32parading around with the ancient title of Earl of Essex.
0:53:33 > 0:53:36The desecration of Thetford Priory had now infuriated
0:53:36 > 0:53:38the Duke of Norfolk.
0:53:38 > 0:53:42Lying here next to his wife is the man who was determined to
0:53:42 > 0:53:44destroy the mighty first minister.
0:53:46 > 0:53:50Cromwell knew better than most that the King had always been
0:53:50 > 0:53:53easily swayed by those closest to him.
0:53:55 > 0:53:59Now it was the Duke of Norfolk who whispered in Henry's ear.
0:54:02 > 0:54:05The King was easily persuaded that his chief minister was
0:54:05 > 0:54:07a heretic and a traitor.
0:54:07 > 0:54:12On 10th of June 1540, Cromwell was attending the King's Council.
0:54:12 > 0:54:14The Duke of Norfolk strode up to him and said,
0:54:14 > 0:54:17"Cromwell, do not sit there. That is no place for you.
0:54:17 > 0:54:20"Traitors do not sit amongst gentlemen."
0:54:20 > 0:54:23Cromwell replied, "I am no traitor."
0:54:23 > 0:54:26Then the Duke himself tore the insignia of the Garter
0:54:26 > 0:54:28from Cromwell's neck.
0:54:28 > 0:54:30"That's for Thetford Priory."
0:54:30 > 0:54:32The chief minister was arrested
0:54:32 > 0:54:35and taken straight to the Tower of London.
0:54:42 > 0:54:44Cromwell's enemies had waited years to strike.
0:54:46 > 0:54:50Within a week, the House of Lords passed a Bill of Attainder,
0:54:50 > 0:54:54stripping him of his rights and property and accusing him
0:54:54 > 0:54:56of treason, heresy and corruption.
0:54:57 > 0:55:01Cromwell made one final attempt to work his magic on the King.
0:55:03 > 0:55:06Sitting in the Tower of London, Cromwell wrote the King
0:55:06 > 0:55:10one last letter, and this is a copy of it, in his own handwriting.
0:55:10 > 0:55:14And he says, "Consider that I am a most woeful prisoner
0:55:14 > 0:55:17"and the death when it shall please God and you".
0:55:17 > 0:55:22What he's asking is, what sort of death - burning, beheading,
0:55:22 > 0:55:23hanging, drawing and quartering?
0:55:23 > 0:55:27And then he goes on, "And yet the frail flesh inciteth me
0:55:27 > 0:55:33"continually to call on your grace for mercy and pardon".
0:55:33 > 0:55:36And then pathetic postscript -
0:55:36 > 0:55:41"Most gracious prince I cry for mercy, mercy, mercy".
0:55:41 > 0:55:45And the signature - "Thomas Cromwell".
0:55:46 > 0:55:50Cromwell would have expected to see the King one last time,
0:55:50 > 0:55:54and then he could look him in the face and persuade him to save him.
0:55:54 > 0:55:55But it was not to be.
0:55:57 > 0:56:01Henry did show SOME mercy.
0:56:01 > 0:56:06He ordered that his former principal minister should simply be beheaded.
0:56:08 > 0:56:13On 28th July 1540 on Tower Hill, in front of a large crowd,
0:56:13 > 0:56:16Thomas Cromwell walked to the block.
0:56:16 > 0:56:19He asked the Axeman, "Pray, if possible,
0:56:19 > 0:56:23"cut off my head with one blow, so that I may not suffer".
0:56:23 > 0:56:27But the man botched the job. It took several blows.
0:56:27 > 0:56:30One account suggests that he hacked away for up to 30 minutes.
0:56:41 > 0:56:45Cromwell's head was displayed on a pike on London Bridge.
0:56:47 > 0:56:51His body was buried here in the chapel of St Peter ad Vincula,
0:56:51 > 0:56:53inside the Tower.
0:56:53 > 0:56:55The graveyard of traitors.
0:56:56 > 0:56:59It was yards away from the tomb of Anne Boleyn,
0:56:59 > 0:57:03the woman he had made sure died as a traitor...
0:57:03 > 0:57:04just like him.
0:57:10 > 0:57:13Within months, Henry was lamenting the death of the most
0:57:13 > 0:57:15faithful servant he ever had.
0:57:17 > 0:57:20But it's Cromwell's reputation as a ruthless thug that has
0:57:20 > 0:57:22endured for centuries.
0:57:26 > 0:57:30Thomas Cromwell was a supreme politician, and a ruthless operator
0:57:30 > 0:57:34who didn't shrink from using violence to achieve his ends.
0:57:34 > 0:57:37But we should also think of him as a great statesman
0:57:37 > 0:57:39and a man of principle.
0:57:39 > 0:57:42He used his talent to cut England off from 1,000 years
0:57:42 > 0:57:45of Roman obedience, forge a religious revolution,
0:57:45 > 0:57:49and lay down the foundations for our constitutional monarchy.
0:57:49 > 0:57:55This pub landlord's son from Putney reshaped our history for good.
0:57:55 > 0:58:00Not just a thug, not just even a Protestant thug.
0:58:00 > 0:58:04I give you Thomas Cromwell, re-maker of this realm.
0:58:27 > 0:58:28Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd