Thomas Cromwell, Tudor minister

It is a measure of the importance of Thomas Cromwell, servant of Henry VIII, that his character and achievements have always aroused controversy. He has been seen as a valiant soldier of Christ and as an emissary of Satan, as a champion of despotism and as a parliamentary statesman, as the father of modern bureaucracy and as the creator of Tudor monarchy, as a Machiavellian manipulator of religion and as the founder of the Anglican Church, as merely the King's shadow and as the originator of royal policy. Such an array of contradictory verdicts is a challenge to every student and teacher of Tudor history.

Drawing upon modern researches, the author has provided a judicious introduction to the personality and career of Thomas Cromwell. The topics of each chapter contribute to a broad picture which outlines the salient aspects of Cromwell's character and achievements against the sixteenth-century background. The final chapter suggests how some of the interpretations of Cromwell have arisen and deals with various problems of assessment.

The Cromwell who emerges from this book matches the judgement of his friend Thomas Cranmer who wrote of him to the King that he was a man 'who loved your majesty (as I ever thought) no less than God'. What Cromwell's political and religious activism achieved is presented as much in the light of tradition as in the glare of change. The result is a portrait which clarifies the motives and actions of Cromwell without obscuring their complexities.