Thomas Cromwell's Fall

Question 1

Evangelicals/Reformers

Answer 1

Supported Church reform
Ascent during Henry VIII’s marriage to Anne Boleyn
Helped by disunity among conservatives
Cromwell, Hugh, Latimer, Cranmer, Seymour

Question 2

Conservatives

Answer 2

Critical of European Reformation but suspicious of higher clergy’s power over the nobility
Argued for Common law to supersede Cannon Law
Happy to give King power to control church
Lots of educated opinion e.g. Christopher St German a London lawyer

Question 3

Conservatives hostile to the annulment (Aragonese)

Answer 3

Fisher, More, Darcy, Hussey, Northumberland

Question 4

Conservatives in favour of the annulment

Answer 4

Seymour, Howard, Suffolk, Gardiner

Question 5

Small executive Council

Answer 5

A battleground for factional disputes between councillors
Broke down the distance with the Groom of the Stool by jousting with him

Question 6

The rise of the Seymours

Answer 6

Anne Boleyn becoming too headstrong for Henry and Catherine was dead
Jane was proposed as an alternate wife
Her brother, Edward, was promoted to the Privy Council in March 1536

Question 7

1536 and a new wife

Answer 7

Anne’s miscarriage = a sign from God that the marriage was cursed
Catherine dies = he could marry legitimately without alienating the Aragonese faction and relegitimise Mary

Question 8

Anne’s fall and Cromwell

Answer 8

Cromwell was worried he would also go down with her
So he procured evidence of her adultery and incest
Arrested and tortured Smeaton and Norris
Accused Rochford, Brereton, Weston
All were executed 1536

Question 9

Second Succession Act

Answer 9

1536
Elizabeth and Mary both illegitimate while any children with Jane Seymour would be legitimate
Conservative faction didn’t triumph as Mary was still illegitimate

Question 10

Cromwell in 1537

Answer 10

He had proved himself as Henry’s new ‘fixer’ through the marriage to Jane
He was made Baron of Wimbledon and Lord Privy Seal

Question 11

Cromwell and Foreign Policy 1539

Answer 11

The anticipation of a Franco-Spanish crusade against England enabled Cromwell to manoeuvre against the conservative faction by arguing for the need for alliances abroad
He arranged the Treaty of Hampton Court

Question 12

Treaty of Hampton Court

Answer 12

1539
Arranged by Cromwell
With the Duke of Cleves, a Catholic already allied to Protestants
Henry would marry Anne of Cleves

Question 13

Cromwell and Foreign Policy 1540

Answer 13

Henry did not like Anne
Resumption of the Hapsburg-Valois wars meant a Protestant alliance was no longer needed
Opportunity for his destruction

Question 14

Norfolk and Gardiner

Answer 14

Exploited events of 1540 to destroy Cromwell
Norfolk’s niece (Catherine Howard) was the answer to the issue of his marriage to Anne of Cleves

Question 15

Cromwell’s fall and religion

Answer 15

Reports e.g. from Lord Lyle that he had not enforcing the Act of Six Articles. He was accused of protecting Protestants who had been denounced as heretics

Question 16

Cromwell’s final fall

Answer 16

Arrested 10 June 1540 and executed 28 July
In between he supplied the evidence needed for the annulment to Anne
His work for the King had unsettled too many people for him to have much support but Cranmer pleaded for his life