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On the 26th of August 1537,

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the son of a Putney brewer came here

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to St George's Chapel
in Windsor Castle

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to be initiated into England's
highest order of chivalry

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by Henry VIII.

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As the King's chief minister
and now a Knight of the Garter,

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Thomas Cromwell was at the pinnacle

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of one of the most notorious
careers in British history.

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This was the man who pillaged and
destroyed hundreds of monasteries...

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..drove a lasting wedge
between England and Rome...

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..thought nothing of betraying
his friends and allies...

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..and conspired to execute a queen -
Anne Boleyn.

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While he was Henry VIII's
chief minister,

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Thomas Cromwell was the second
most powerful man in England.

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Historians have often seen him
merely as cynical, corrupt,

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and manipulative, spreading fear
and suspicion

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through the English court
and across the nation.

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In many accounts, Thomas Cromwell
is one of the nastiest people

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ever to hold power in England.

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But I don't think Cromwell's
dark reputation is justified.

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Certainly, it's not the whole story.

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He was a pioneering
and principled statesman,

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who set the country on the road
to parliamentary democracy.

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A religious reformer,
who persuaded the King to introduce

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the first authorised English
translation of the Bible.

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And he risked his own life

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to smuggle the radical forces of the
Reformation into the English Church.

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I believe that Thomas Cromwell,

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far from being
just a cynical power-broker,

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was motivated by genuine
religious zeal

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and a yearning to serve his country.

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This much-maligned
brewer's boy from Putney

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was a self-educated visionary,

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who in his six years
as chief royal minister,

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helped to lay the foundations
of the modern British state.

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Thomas Cromwell was born
in obscurity, here in Putney.

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There isn't even a record
of when he was born,

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but the year was probably 1485.

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This is Brewhouse Lane
where his family lived

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and ran a small brewery.

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It's only six miles up the Thames

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from the centre of power
in Westminster,

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but young Thomas might
as well have been a universe away.

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Cromwell grew up in an England
where everyone knew their place.

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Ordinary people looked up
to a hereditary nobility.

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The nobility supported
a divinely appointed monarch.

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And even the monarch deferred to the
Pope in Rome on religious matters.

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Cromwell's family was
near the bottom of this hierarchy.

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His father, Walter,

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was a scoundrel who always seemed
to be looking for trouble.

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I wouldn't have recommended drinking
from Walter Cromwell's beer barrels.

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He ran the sort of pub
you don't go to twice.

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I have here some copies
of the court records

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of the manor of Wimbledon,

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and here, under Putney,
for 17 October 1501,

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I see, "Walter Cromwell,
common brewer of beer,

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"fined for breaking the assizes of
ale." In other words,

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he is watering his beer.
Fine eight pence.

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There's another one here -
"Putney, Walter Cromwell,

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"breaking the assize of beer,
six pence."

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And if you look through the rolls,
there are at least 48 entries

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of fines for Walter Cromwell.

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And he is also fined
for assaulting his neighbours,

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so, he is clearly handy
with his fists.

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I think young Thomas Cromwell

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had some hard lessons in life
here in Putney.

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He later boasted to his old friend,
Archbishop Thomas Cranmer,

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what a ruffian
he was in his young days.

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He even told his eminent friends
that he had spent some time in jail.

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It all added
to the colourful reputation.

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Around 1502,
aged about 17 years old,

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with no prospects or education,

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Cromwell left Putney -
and England - behind.

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What he did next
is a bit of a mystery.

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The great Elizabethan historian,
John Foxe,

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reveals Cromwell serving
as a mercenary in the French army,

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which was utterly defeated in battle
against the Holy Roman Emperor.

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But the future politician was
already developing a useful skill -

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making friends in high places.

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According to an Italian author,
Cromwell popped up in Florence

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and somehow got employed
by a wealthy financier,

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Francisco Frescobaldi,
in one of Europe's biggest banks.

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14 years later, a very different
Thomas Cromwell came back to London.

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Somehow, mysteriously,

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the Putney ruffian was now as
well-educated as any Tudor nobleman,

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in languages and the law.

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He was accepted into London society
and was now respectable enough

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to marry the wealthy widow
of a financier, Elizabeth.

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He was on his way up.

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Here in Boston, in Lincolnshire,

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Cromwell was to make his reputation
as a skilled operator and fixer

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who could get things done.

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This wealthy town was controlled
by trade associations of merchants,

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called guilds.

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In 1517, they had a problem

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and Thomas Cromwell was
sent in to sort it out.

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The guilds had
made their money from sheep's wool,

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but by the 16th century,

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most of their revenue
came from a different flock -

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church congregations.

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The Boston merchants had built one
of the greatest parish churches

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in the land. It's known locally
as the Boston Stump.

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Many of the guilds
had their own chapels here.

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The place of honour went to the
richest and most powerful -

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the Guild of St Mary, and it's
here that they made their money.

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This was the guild chapel
of the Blessed Virgin Mary

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in the parish church in Boston.

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Successive popes had granted
the guild

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the right to offer a special
spiritual pardon, an indulgence,

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called the Scala Coeli,
the stairway to heaven.

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And it did what it says on the tin.

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You pay your money, and the soul
of your dear old deceased mother

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flies out of purgatory into heaven.

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Look! Here is the Pope with SC,
for scala coeli, on his vestments.

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And this is part of a great, luxury
tomb, which is carefully placed,

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prime position, near the altar
where the guild masses are said.

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And there are the three seats

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where the priests
who'd sing the mass would sit.

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Now the chief wealth of the guild

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came from the sale
of this indulgence.

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But in 1517, the licence for the
indulgence was about to expire,

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which threatened
the guild's revenues.

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From their Guildhall, the merchants
and Cromwell hatched a plan

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to renew and extend the indulgence
and so save the guild.

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Cromwell would lead an impressive
delegation, on an ambitious trip

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to Italy, to negotiate directly
with Pope Leo X himself.

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Well, this is a copy of the guild
accounts for that trip to Italy,

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and I see Cromwell's expenses,
Calais to Rome,

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three weeks, £47,

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I think that's about £28,000
in our money.

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But then you look at the scale
of the whole project,

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it's £1,200
they are spending on this,

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that's around £600,000
in modern money.

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And that is the mark of the trust
which the merchants of Boston

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were placing in Thomas Cromwell.

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Once in Rome, Cromwell set to work.

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Instead of observing protocol

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and joining the long queue
of petitioners at the Vatican,

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he arranged a chance encounter
with the head of the Roman Church(!)

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As Leo X finished a day's hunting,

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he came across Cromwell
and his entourage.

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He was transfixed
by the sound of English singers

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performing a beautiful
three-note harmony.

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The Pope was on the hook.

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Now Cromwell started to reel him in.

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The Pope was well known for his
sweet tooth, so Cromwell tempted him

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with various English delicacies
and dainty dishes.

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You might call them
indulgences for indulgences.

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But the Pope granted the renewal
of the licence for the guild,

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and their future was secure.

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It was a triumph
for Cromwell's strategy.

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He had shown just what
an extraordinary fixer he could be.

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When he returned to England,

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Cromwell's reputation
continued to grow.

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The man who'd successfully
negotiated with the Pope

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was offered legal work in London

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and given the opportunity to sharpen
his fixing skills in the City.

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And he soon came to the
attention of the men

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with power and influence
in the court of Henry VIII.

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Henry VIII came to the throne
in 1509.

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He wanted all the power and glory
of a great European monarch,

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but it quickly became apparent

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that he wasn't prepared to do
the legwork

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of running the kingdom himself.

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What he needed was a close adviser
to get things done.

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And he found just the man
in Cardinal Thomas Wolsey,

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who became
the King's principal minister.

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His cardinal's hat and initials

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still grace the great palace
at Hampton Court,

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which he built and where he kept
a household to rival the King's.

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Cromwell was called here to serve
Henry's powerful first minister.

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Like Cromwell, Wolsey had
a humble start in life,

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but his intelligence
and energy quickly made him

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the servant
that Henry couldn't do without.

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Cromwell watched and learned.

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Wolsey was a self-made
man of the Renaissance.

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On his way up he'd benefited
from an Oxford education.

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Now he wanted other boys from poor
backgrounds to get the same
opportunities.

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He decided to set up
a college at Oxford University

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and a school in his home town,
Ipswich in Suffolk.

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Both would be named Cardinal College
as a twin memorial to Wolsey.

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For three years,

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Cromwell had been rising through
the ranks of Wolsey's household,

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now he was given the chance to show
that he could make things happen.

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As Wolsey's lawyer,

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Cromwell was in charge of setting up
the new school and college.

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And to finance Ipswich School,

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he dissolved 12 monasteries
and priories.

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The biggest of which was here,
the Augustinian Canons of St Peter
and St Paul.

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And their church became the new
school chapel,

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with a few improvements like these
Tudor roses round the door.

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And behind, six acres
of buildings and fields,

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just right for school sports.

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Cromwell evicted the canons
and used the wealth of the monastery

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to create the first
Cardinal College.

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The school opened with a grand
ceremony in this church in 1528.

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And this letter from the dean of the
college to Wolsey describes it all.

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"Upon our lady's even, I, with all
the company of your grace's college,

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"sung evensong as solemnly
and devoutly as we could.

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"And there accompanied
by Master Cromwell.

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"Also all the honourable
gentlemen of the shire were there,

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"and took repast at dinner
in your grace's college

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"and, as I trust, were
entertained with good fare."

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To finance Cardinal College Oxford,

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Cromwell dissolved
another 12 monasteries.

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An object lesson in what you could
do with the Church's wealth.

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He got a taste for dissolving
monasteries.

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Now he became fixer-in-chief
to the King's fixer.

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In 1523 he had been elected
to Parliament as an MP,

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possibly with the Cardinal's help.

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But the Cardinal was fast being
embroiled in the defining royal
crisis of the age.

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It was known as
"the King's Great Matter".

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Henry had been married to
Catherine of Aragon since 1509.

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But as she was already the widow
of his elder brother Arthur,

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many lawyers believed
the marriage to be illegal.

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It only went ahead after a special
dispensation from the Pope.

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But now there was a problem.

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After 18 years, the marriage had
only produced one living child,

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and that a daughter, Mary.

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Henry, a pious man,

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decided that the supposed marriage
was against God's will.

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And he also had his eye on a
lady-in-waiting, Anne Boleyn.

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This was a job for the Cardinal.

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Wolsey had to persuade the Pope
that the royal marriage was illegal

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and should be annulled.

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In Church law there were
arguments both for

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and against marrying your dead
brother's wife.

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Henry's case wasn't bad,

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but international politics
were poisonously against him.

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Catherine of Aragon
was very well connected.

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Her nephew was Emperor Charles V,
the most powerful monarch in Europe.

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With his support, she appealed
against the annulment to the Pope.

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Henry's cause looked hopeless.

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Still Wolsey kept trying.

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His best shot was to find
a subtle legal technicality

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in the original
dispensation to marry.

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That would have saved
the Pope's face

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00:16:25,280 --> 00:16:27,360
if he declared the marriage void.

239
00:16:27,360 --> 00:16:31,400
It could have worked. But it was
Henry who scuppered that plan.

240
00:16:31,400 --> 00:16:35,280
Playing around with legal detail
wouldn't make God any less angry.

241
00:16:37,760 --> 00:16:40,240
Henry's new love, Anne Boleyn,

242
00:16:40,240 --> 00:16:43,400
taunted the King for his failure
to solve the problem.

243
00:16:43,400 --> 00:16:47,000
And she managed to convince him
that Wolsey was in league

244
00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:51,720
with the Pope, that he was
deliberately slowing proceedings.

245
00:16:53,880 --> 00:16:57,400
Henry was losing
faith in his cardinal.

246
00:16:59,840 --> 00:17:03,720
In 1529 Wolsey was arrested,
charged with exercising

247
00:17:03,720 --> 00:17:06,760
a foreign authority
against the King,

248
00:17:06,760 --> 00:17:08,800
purely because he was doing his job

249
00:17:08,800 --> 00:17:11,440
as the Pope's representative
in England.

250
00:17:11,440 --> 00:17:13,920
It was hugely unfair.

251
00:17:18,760 --> 00:17:22,600
Thomas Cromwell has a reputation
for being selfish and treacherous,

252
00:17:22,600 --> 00:17:25,160
but when Wolsey fell from grace

253
00:17:25,160 --> 00:17:28,920
and most of his household disowned
him, Cromwell stayed loyal.

254
00:17:30,720 --> 00:17:35,000
And at the Ipswich School,
he went on to defend his patron's

255
00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:38,600
educational legacy,
despite the personal risk.

256
00:17:40,480 --> 00:17:43,840
When the King threatened
to destroy both Cardinal Colleges,

257
00:17:43,840 --> 00:17:47,200
Cromwell stepped in to make
sure that the good folk of Ipswich

258
00:17:47,200 --> 00:17:52,040
still had some sort of school,
even if it wasn't the mega-college
that Wolsey had planned.

259
00:17:52,040 --> 00:17:56,560
And he persuaded the King not to
destroy Cardinal College Oxford.

260
00:17:56,560 --> 00:17:59,320
Later Henry renamed it
Christ Church,

261
00:17:59,320 --> 00:18:01,200
and that's what it's still called.

262
00:18:01,200 --> 00:18:03,440
But they've not forgotten
the Cardinal there.

263
00:18:09,280 --> 00:18:12,640
Thomas Cromwell's own position
was also in jeopardy.

264
00:18:12,640 --> 00:18:16,360
As a man of humble birth,
he knew he was entirely

265
00:18:16,360 --> 00:18:20,480
dependent on the Cardinal for
support and career advancement.

266
00:18:24,560 --> 00:18:27,280
Another member of Wolsey's
household, George Cavendish,

267
00:18:27,280 --> 00:18:30,800
described how he found Cromwell
quietly crying by a window.

268
00:18:30,800 --> 00:18:32,560
And Cavendish asked,

269
00:18:32,560 --> 00:18:35,920
"Why, Master Cromwell?
What meaneth all this sorrow?"

270
00:18:35,920 --> 00:18:40,800
"Nay, nay," replied Cromwell
"It is my unhappy adventure.

271
00:18:40,800 --> 00:18:44,480
"I am like to lose all
I have toiled for all my life,

272
00:18:44,480 --> 00:18:48,280
"for doing my master true
and diligent service."

273
00:18:49,520 --> 00:18:51,840
Wolsey's fall meant Cromwell's fall.

274
00:18:56,640 --> 00:18:59,240
Cromwell's future looked bleak.

275
00:18:59,240 --> 00:19:01,920
His wife Elizabeth
died in the same year,

276
00:19:01,920 --> 00:19:06,960
leaving him with three children -
two daughters and a lacklustre son

277
00:19:06,960 --> 00:19:10,040
called Gregory, who never showed
a talent for anything.

278
00:19:12,480 --> 00:19:14,640
But a year later,

279
00:19:14,640 --> 00:19:18,520
the King was still searching for
a solution to his "Great Matter"

280
00:19:18,520 --> 00:19:23,040
and Cromwell would use this as a way
to claw his way back to favour.

281
00:19:25,760 --> 00:19:29,760
The crisis that destroyed Wolsey,
now opened the door for Cromwell

282
00:19:29,760 --> 00:19:33,000
to show the King what
a valuable operator he could be.

283
00:19:36,560 --> 00:19:40,120
The King was trying to find a way
to prove that English monarchs

284
00:19:40,120 --> 00:19:43,160
were beyond papal authority.

285
00:19:43,160 --> 00:19:46,560
He'd sent researchers to
libraries across the land

286
00:19:46,560 --> 00:19:50,960
to find evidence in support of a
startling new history of the English
monarchy.

287
00:19:55,360 --> 00:19:58,560
And one of the chief books
they used was the 12th century

288
00:19:58,560 --> 00:20:01,480
"History of the Kings of Britain"
by Geoffrey of Monmouth,

289
00:20:01,480 --> 00:20:04,320
and it was actually
a series of myths.

290
00:20:04,320 --> 00:20:08,680
No historian anywhere else
in Europe believed Geoffrey.

291
00:20:08,680 --> 00:20:13,320
This is a finely decorated
Medieval copy.

292
00:20:13,320 --> 00:20:17,480
In it Geoffrey invents
the story of King Arthur,

293
00:20:17,480 --> 00:20:21,160
Merlin and the Knights
of the Round Table.

294
00:20:23,160 --> 00:20:26,240
And here is one of those myths.

295
00:20:27,840 --> 00:20:30,440
Arthur, the king of ancient Britain,

296
00:20:30,440 --> 00:20:33,840
was involved in an epic
struggle against the Roman Empire.

297
00:20:33,840 --> 00:20:38,600
One of his followers reminds him
of an ancient Roman prophecy.

298
00:20:39,840 --> 00:20:42,840
"For a third time one born
of British blood

299
00:20:42,840 --> 00:20:45,080
"will rule the Roman State.

300
00:20:45,080 --> 00:20:47,520
"You stand before us as the third,

301
00:20:47,520 --> 00:20:50,200
"to whom that title
has been vouchsafed."

302
00:20:51,840 --> 00:20:54,640
In other words, King Arthur
was an emperor

303
00:20:54,640 --> 00:20:57,080
and so was his successor,
King Henry.

304
00:20:57,080 --> 00:21:02,680
In fact, England was an empire and
emperors are beholden to no-one,

305
00:21:02,680 --> 00:21:04,880
not even the Pope.

306
00:21:07,040 --> 00:21:09,880
After 1,000 years
of obedience to Rome,

307
00:21:09,880 --> 00:21:14,600
the King was asking his people
to reject the papacy.

308
00:21:16,320 --> 00:21:20,280
Only King Henry could have come up
with this extraordinary idea,

309
00:21:20,280 --> 00:21:25,880
not even Cromwell would have had
the gall to rewrite European
history like this.

310
00:21:25,880 --> 00:21:29,720
But Cromwell's unique contribution
was to show the King

311
00:21:29,720 --> 00:21:34,440
how to sell this idea to nobility
and the rest of the English people.

312
00:21:40,560 --> 00:21:43,240
Cromwell's proven skills as a fixer,

313
00:21:43,240 --> 00:21:45,760
would now be deployed
on behalf of the King.

314
00:21:46,640 --> 00:21:49,520
Thomas Cromwell
was back in the game.

315
00:21:49,520 --> 00:21:52,960
Cromwell knew there was only one
institution that could

316
00:21:52,960 --> 00:21:57,280
galvanise enough support for Henry's
revolution, Parliament.

317
00:21:57,280 --> 00:22:01,920
By 1532, it was nine years
since he had first sat as an MP.

318
00:22:01,920 --> 00:22:06,160
He knew how to work the system from
the inside and how to change it.

319
00:22:07,600 --> 00:22:11,440
Until now, Parliament's main
role had been to pass on petitions

320
00:22:11,440 --> 00:22:13,640
from the people and raise taxation.

321
00:22:13,640 --> 00:22:18,120
Cromwell set out to persuade
Parliament that it had the power

322
00:22:18,120 --> 00:22:21,200
to change the nature
of the constitution

323
00:22:21,200 --> 00:22:25,240
and create laws that would destroy
the Pope's power over the King.

324
00:22:29,520 --> 00:22:32,360
Only Parliament could convince
the people that England

325
00:22:32,360 --> 00:22:35,840
had always been an empire
and the King an emperor.

326
00:22:35,840 --> 00:22:39,880
And it could pass the legislation
to make the fiction a reality.

327
00:22:47,280 --> 00:22:51,280
All surviving Acts of Parliament
since 1497 are stored here,

328
00:22:51,280 --> 00:22:54,520
in the Parliamentary Archives
at Westminster.

329
00:22:54,520 --> 00:22:57,960
This includes a key bill
written by Thomas Cromwell.

330
00:22:59,360 --> 00:23:02,840
In it he persuaded Parliament
to begin the legal process

331
00:23:02,840 --> 00:23:05,480
of setting up
the Empire of England.

332
00:23:07,440 --> 00:23:11,000
This is the Act
in Restraint of Appeals.

333
00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:14,000
It forbids legal
appeals from England to Rome.

334
00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:17,280
That was purely to stop Catherine
of Aragon appealing to the Pope

335
00:23:17,280 --> 00:23:19,960
but we are still living
with the consequences.

336
00:23:19,960 --> 00:23:22,160
This document creates the breach

337
00:23:22,160 --> 00:23:25,000
between English monarchs
and the papacy.

338
00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:29,240
And bizarrely, it justifies
it through the patriotic fantasies

339
00:23:29,240 --> 00:23:31,840
of authors like Geoffrey
of Monmouth.

340
00:23:31,840 --> 00:23:36,960
Now it claims, "By divers sundry
old authentic histories

341
00:23:36,960 --> 00:23:40,360
"and chronicles, it is
manifestly declared and expressed

342
00:23:40,360 --> 00:23:45,080
"that this realm of England
is an empire and so hath been

343
00:23:45,080 --> 00:23:50,160
"accepted in the world, governed
by its one supreme head and king."

344
00:23:51,800 --> 00:23:54,640
What had once been myth was now law.

345
00:23:57,080 --> 00:23:59,520
For the first time
in English history,

346
00:23:59,520 --> 00:24:02,920
Thomas Cromwell had given Parliament
the power to intervene

347
00:24:02,920 --> 00:24:06,640
in the fundamental constitutional
affairs of the nation.

348
00:24:06,640 --> 00:24:09,440
This power has never been
surrendered.

349
00:24:12,480 --> 00:24:15,440
Over the next few centuries,
most European monarchs

350
00:24:15,440 --> 00:24:17,760
came to rule without
their ancient parliaments,

351
00:24:17,760 --> 00:24:20,840
with fewer and fewer restraints
on their power.

352
00:24:20,840 --> 00:24:23,680
But from now on English
kings and queens

353
00:24:23,680 --> 00:24:27,320
had to include Parliament
in all the great decisions of state.

354
00:24:28,480 --> 00:24:32,440
Thomas Cromwell would not have
understood the meaning of
parliamentary democracy,

355
00:24:32,440 --> 00:24:36,680
but if you want to see where our
democracy has come from,
you start here.

356
00:24:40,760 --> 00:24:46,640
In 1532, Cromwell was rewarded
for his work by a grateful king.

357
00:24:46,640 --> 00:24:49,280
He was granted the honorary title

358
00:24:49,280 --> 00:24:52,920
Master of the Jewels and invited
to enter the royal court.

359
00:24:57,560 --> 00:25:02,040
This portrait of Cromwell,
painted in 1533 by Hans Holbein,

360
00:25:02,040 --> 00:25:05,320
shows a serious and attentive man.

361
00:25:07,600 --> 00:25:12,000
His determination to transform
the relationship
between Church and State

362
00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:16,480
was motivated by much more than
just a desire to please the King.

363
00:25:28,680 --> 00:25:32,720
At this time a religious revolution
was sweeping through Europe...

364
00:25:35,800 --> 00:25:37,800
..the Reformation.

365
00:25:41,160 --> 00:25:45,680
It had been ignited by
the German cleric Martin Luther

366
00:25:45,680 --> 00:25:49,680
and it would overturn
centuries of Christian belief.

367
00:25:54,480 --> 00:25:57,640
Luther's followers called
themselves Evangelicals

368
00:25:57,640 --> 00:26:01,880
because they turned to the Gospels,
"Evangelia" in Latin.

369
00:26:01,880 --> 00:26:06,680
They sought a simpler Christianity,
based on God's word in the Bible

370
00:26:06,680 --> 00:26:10,960
and they rejected any other church
teaching as superstition.

371
00:26:10,960 --> 00:26:15,400
They said, "Away with the wealth and
corruption of the Church hierarchy."

372
00:26:15,400 --> 00:26:18,640
And that threatened
the power of the Pope,

373
00:26:18,640 --> 00:26:21,720
political, as well as religious.

374
00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:25,960
Merchants from Germany and the
Low Countries were among the first

375
00:26:25,960 --> 00:26:29,760
to bring the ideas that fuelled
the Reformation in England.

376
00:26:31,240 --> 00:26:34,680
It's highly likely that Cromwell
was introduced to Protestantism

377
00:26:34,680 --> 00:26:39,560
here in Boston and that turning
point didn't just change his life,

378
00:26:39,560 --> 00:26:42,840
it transformed
the future of this country.

379
00:26:47,120 --> 00:26:52,360
In 1533 Cromwell was starting to
reveal his Reformist credentials.

380
00:26:52,360 --> 00:26:58,000
And he found a growing number
of powerful Evangelical allies
in the royal court.

381
00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:06,160
Cromwell's most important ally
was the new Queen-in-waiting,
Anne Boleyn.

382
00:27:06,160 --> 00:27:11,640
In 1533, she persuaded the King
to appoint an obscure clergyman,

383
00:27:11,640 --> 00:27:14,560
Thomas Cranmer,
as Archbishop of Canterbury.

384
00:27:16,720 --> 00:27:19,800
He was another Evangelical Reformer.

385
00:27:19,800 --> 00:27:23,640
Immediately, he agreed to annul
Henry's marriage to Catherine.

386
00:27:23,640 --> 00:27:28,120
Five days later he married
the King to Anne Boleyn.

387
00:27:29,720 --> 00:27:33,800
Both the King and his Chief Minister
were getting what they wanted.

388
00:27:36,840 --> 00:27:40,720
Cromwell had now made sure that the
King was recognised as supreme head

389
00:27:40,720 --> 00:27:45,240
of the Church of England, with power
to determine all religious matters.

390
00:27:45,240 --> 00:27:47,080
That same year,

391
00:27:47,080 --> 00:27:50,440
Cromwell was promoted again to be
the King's principal secretary.

392
00:27:50,440 --> 00:27:54,120
Only Henry himself had more
political power.

393
00:28:00,440 --> 00:28:04,680
And he was given new powers over
the Church and its monasteries.

394
00:28:06,360 --> 00:28:09,840
He knew from dissolving monasteries
for Cardinal Wolsey

395
00:28:09,840 --> 00:28:12,000
that they were a source
of great wealth.

396
00:28:16,240 --> 00:28:19,280
Places like Hailes Abbey,
in Gloucestershire,

397
00:28:19,280 --> 00:28:22,240
had dominated people's
lives for centuries.

398
00:28:23,840 --> 00:28:25,800
Their combined annual income

399
00:28:25,800 --> 00:28:28,160
was double that
of the King's own estates.

400
00:28:29,640 --> 00:28:32,720
And they were influential
centres of papal power.

401
00:28:35,120 --> 00:28:38,200
Cromwell could now raise vast
revenues for Henry

402
00:28:38,200 --> 00:28:43,280
and advance his own Evangelical
agenda in a single stroke.

403
00:28:45,480 --> 00:28:49,840
This monastery was once one of the
greatest pilgrimage centres of the

404
00:28:49,840 --> 00:28:54,360
West Country because it housed the
shrine of the Holy Blood of Christ.

405
00:28:54,360 --> 00:29:00,320
Look at these foundations, an
extraordinary ring of five chapels,

406
00:29:00,320 --> 00:29:03,800
so that crowds of pilgrims
could come down the north side,

407
00:29:03,800 --> 00:29:07,440
hear a mass, and then out
the south side.

408
00:29:08,680 --> 00:29:11,280
They had come to see
the Blood of Christ,

409
00:29:11,280 --> 00:29:14,320
said to have been
taken as he died on the cross.

410
00:29:14,320 --> 00:29:18,360
Verified by the Pope himself,
the relic was displayed

411
00:29:18,360 --> 00:29:22,080
in a two-foot high shrine
which stood on this mound.

412
00:29:25,120 --> 00:29:27,480
What I have got here is one
of the souvenir brochures

413
00:29:27,480 --> 00:29:30,000
that you would have bought
in Hailes in the 1520s.

414
00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:33,040
It's actually got the precious
blood on the front cover,

415
00:29:33,040 --> 00:29:36,520
in its little glass display case,
being opened by angels.

416
00:29:36,520 --> 00:29:40,720
And when you open it up there are
the stories of all the miracles done
at the shrine.

417
00:29:40,720 --> 00:29:44,000
And my favourite is John Marshall
and his mates,

418
00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:46,480
they were merchants who had
been miraculously

419
00:29:46,480 --> 00:29:49,080
released from prison in France,
at Mont Saint-Michel.

420
00:29:49,080 --> 00:29:51,160
So they came here to give thanks.

421
00:29:51,160 --> 00:29:55,400
And it's the ending which is good
because they went in procession
around the church and then it says,

422
00:29:55,400 --> 00:29:58,640
"The men had little to spend,
when they had offered up

423
00:29:58,640 --> 00:30:02,880
"with good devotion their candles
that they had borne in procession."

424
00:30:02,880 --> 00:30:05,360
You see the point
that you come here,

425
00:30:05,360 --> 00:30:07,960
you leave as much money as possible
in offerings.

426
00:30:10,400 --> 00:30:13,240
In return, the pilgrims were
assured by the Church

427
00:30:13,240 --> 00:30:17,320
that their eternal souls' entry
into heaven would be guaranteed.

428
00:30:18,600 --> 00:30:21,720
Reformers like Cromwell saw
these relics as unholy

429
00:30:21,720 --> 00:30:23,400
and superstitious,

430
00:30:23,400 --> 00:30:26,440
and another
form of Church corruption.

431
00:30:26,440 --> 00:30:30,320
So Evangelicals would not just see
this shrine as an abomination -

432
00:30:30,320 --> 00:30:32,720
they would also see
the wealth that had been

433
00:30:32,720 --> 00:30:34,840
produced by the likes
of John Marshall.

434
00:30:37,880 --> 00:30:40,680
Cromwell wanted to discredit
the monasteries.

435
00:30:40,680 --> 00:30:46,000
In 1538, he sent the Holy Blood
to be examined.

436
00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:49,920
After centuries of veneration,
it was then publicly denounced as,

437
00:30:49,920 --> 00:30:53,680
"honey clarified
and coloured with saffron."

438
00:30:56,040 --> 00:30:59,760
A year later, the monastery
at Hailes was closed down.

439
00:31:01,000 --> 00:31:04,040
Overall, Cromwell was
responsible for dissolving

440
00:31:04,040 --> 00:31:09,080
up to 800 monasteries and religious
houses across England and Wales.

441
00:31:10,520 --> 00:31:13,120
Their wealth
poured into the royal coffers.

442
00:31:19,840 --> 00:31:21,680
Many people have never forgiven

443
00:31:21,680 --> 00:31:24,360
Thomas Cromwell for the dissolution
of the monasteries.

444
00:31:24,360 --> 00:31:29,840
He's often portrayed as a mindless
thug, trashing the Catholic Church

445
00:31:29,840 --> 00:31:33,120
and looting the monasteries
simply for material gain.

446
00:31:34,320 --> 00:31:37,440
But he was also proving himself to
be a committed

447
00:31:37,440 --> 00:31:41,160
religious reformer,
driven by deeply-held principle.

448
00:31:44,040 --> 00:31:46,480
He closed the monasteries
to end what he saw

449
00:31:46,480 --> 00:31:50,160
as the superstitious practices
and corruption of the Church.

450
00:31:50,160 --> 00:31:53,840
And he made sure that
the monks got pensions.

451
00:31:53,840 --> 00:31:56,240
The buildings, themselves,
had various fates -

452
00:31:56,240 --> 00:32:00,360
stripped of anything valuable, yes -
but sometimes deliberately

453
00:32:00,360 --> 00:32:05,160
left as ruins, just to show that
the Reformation had won.

454
00:32:08,800 --> 00:32:11,360
The dissolution
of the monasteries will be

455
00:32:11,360 --> 00:32:15,360
remembered as Cromwell's most
destructive act.

456
00:32:15,360 --> 00:32:19,800
His radical reforms reveal
the King's Fixer-in-Chief to be

457
00:32:19,800 --> 00:32:24,200
both evangelical reformer
and merciless politician.

458
00:32:26,240 --> 00:32:29,080
There's no denying that
Cromwell's politics

459
00:32:29,080 --> 00:32:31,000
could get dirty and ruthless.

460
00:32:31,000 --> 00:32:35,640
He fell out with his evangelical
ally, Queen Anne Boleyn.

461
00:32:35,640 --> 00:32:37,720
They clashed bitterly

462
00:32:37,720 --> 00:32:40,720
because she wanted the money
from the monasteries used for

463
00:32:40,720 --> 00:32:43,920
good causes rather than filling
the King's coffers.

464
00:32:45,520 --> 00:32:49,200
But the Queen was losing her
value as an ally.

465
00:32:49,200 --> 00:32:53,120
After three years of marriage, Henry
had fallen out of love with her.

466
00:32:54,200 --> 00:32:57,080
When she miscarried her
second child,

467
00:32:57,080 --> 00:33:01,080
he'd decided Anne wasn't going to
produce his longed for son.

468
00:33:01,080 --> 00:33:03,440
And now he wanted to discard her.

469
00:33:03,440 --> 00:33:06,720
Cromwell was only too willing
to help

470
00:33:06,720 --> 00:33:10,200
by intimidating those
nearest to her.

471
00:33:10,200 --> 00:33:12,960
He even tortured false
confessions out of them.

472
00:33:14,520 --> 00:33:17,080
He cooked up evidence
for Anne's treason,

473
00:33:17,080 --> 00:33:21,760
and incest with her own brother,
and so Anne was beheaded, leaving

474
00:33:21,760 --> 00:33:25,400
the King to marry the latest beauty
who had caught his eye,

475
00:33:25,400 --> 00:33:27,240
Jane Seymour.

476
00:33:27,240 --> 00:33:30,600
This does seem to me
to be the darkest deed of the man.

477
00:33:30,600 --> 00:33:32,840
It's good evidence
for the prosecution.

478
00:33:35,680 --> 00:33:38,920
Cromwell is always remembered
for conspiring to kill a Queen

479
00:33:38,920 --> 00:33:40,640
and looting the monasteries.

480
00:33:42,800 --> 00:33:47,440
And this has overshadowed the legacy
of his evangelical principles

481
00:33:47,440 --> 00:33:49,400
and statesmanship.

482
00:33:49,400 --> 00:33:52,200
For Cromwell was also a great
defender of what was

483
00:33:52,200 --> 00:33:55,880
known as the "common weal" -
you might say "public good."

484
00:33:58,120 --> 00:34:01,560
Monasteries like Hailes had been
served by lay brothers, who

485
00:34:01,560 --> 00:34:06,040
lived in this West Range here, but
also had a swarm of other servants.

486
00:34:06,040 --> 00:34:09,840
The dissolution just added to
an already growing problem

487
00:34:09,840 --> 00:34:13,800
of homelessness and unemployment,
right across the realm.

488
00:34:13,800 --> 00:34:16,400
This was new and frightening.

489
00:34:16,400 --> 00:34:18,800
And the growing poverty also
offended Cromwell's

490
00:34:18,800 --> 00:34:20,800
evangelical ideals.

491
00:34:20,800 --> 00:34:26,000
So he set up a sort of think
tank of young reformers to dream up

492
00:34:26,000 --> 00:34:28,480
ideas for improving
the "common weal".

493
00:34:29,800 --> 00:34:33,080
With their help, he was able to
bring a parliamentary bill to

494
00:34:33,080 --> 00:34:35,880
require local communities to force

495
00:34:35,880 --> 00:34:38,840
able-bodied, homeless beggars
to work.

496
00:34:40,360 --> 00:34:43,840
Well, it was tough love - but you
might see it as coming from a man

497
00:34:43,840 --> 00:34:47,960
of principle who had started
with nothing,
got on his bike and made it,

498
00:34:47,960 --> 00:34:51,760
and was now determined that the
state should look after the poor.

499
00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:56,040
Cromwell's Act was the first step
towards

500
00:34:56,040 --> 00:34:58,440
a comprehensive poor law plan,

501
00:34:58,440 --> 00:35:02,640
which was finally passed in 1597 by
an Elizabethan Parliament.

502
00:35:04,720 --> 00:35:07,960
This national system of
poor relief was not replaced

503
00:35:07,960 --> 00:35:10,040
until the 19th century.

504
00:35:10,040 --> 00:35:12,640
You might not like the sound of it,
but you can't deny that

505
00:35:12,640 --> 00:35:17,040
Thomas Cromwell showed the way to
a new kind of welfare state.

506
00:35:27,920 --> 00:35:32,200
Cromwell's evangelical convictions
have also had a long-lasting,

507
00:35:32,200 --> 00:35:35,800
unforeseen impact on our ideas
of public morality.

508
00:35:41,560 --> 00:35:46,440
He regarded the monasteries
as centres of homosexuality,

509
00:35:46,440 --> 00:35:49,600
and so, as part of his campaign
against the monasteries,

510
00:35:49,600 --> 00:35:53,240
he persuaded parliament to pass
an Act for the punishment

511
00:35:53,240 --> 00:35:54,680
of the vice of buggery.

512
00:35:57,880 --> 00:36:02,800
The Act was no more than
16 lines long,

513
00:36:02,800 --> 00:36:06,480
but it represented the first
time that the state had tried to

514
00:36:06,480 --> 00:36:09,880
control private sexual
behaviour or morality.

515
00:36:09,880 --> 00:36:12,960
Before that, the Church had
a monopoly on deciding what was

516
00:36:12,960 --> 00:36:15,320
moral or immoral.

517
00:36:15,320 --> 00:36:20,280
Now Cromwell had paved the way to
a huge extension of state power.

518
00:36:20,280 --> 00:36:23,760
And the results are still
at the heart of our politics.

519
00:36:31,120 --> 00:36:33,520
Here at St John's College,
Cambridge,

520
00:36:33,520 --> 00:36:36,760
we can see further evidence that
Thomas Cromwell was more than

521
00:36:36,760 --> 00:36:38,400
just a cynical manipulator.

522
00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:43,440
It proves that he was prepared to
risk his hard won place

523
00:36:43,440 --> 00:36:46,280
at the side of the King
to follow his principles

524
00:36:46,280 --> 00:36:49,960
and take England down the path
of evangelical Protestantism.

525
00:36:53,440 --> 00:36:57,320
Of course, the very term
"evangelical" means
"getting back to the gospel",

526
00:36:57,320 --> 00:37:00,720
but the Bible in use in Henry's
England was still in Latin -

527
00:37:00,720 --> 00:37:04,040
and you need education
to understand Latin,

528
00:37:04,040 --> 00:37:07,440
so the Bible wasn't
there for ordinary people to read,

529
00:37:07,440 --> 00:37:10,840
it was there for the
clergy to interpret for them.

530
00:37:10,840 --> 00:37:14,840
Evangelicals demanded that
the Bible should be in English,

531
00:37:14,840 --> 00:37:18,160
so that everyone could read
the Word of God for themselves.

532
00:37:18,160 --> 00:37:20,200
It was a revolutionary
idea at the time

533
00:37:20,200 --> 00:37:23,240
and it was certainly a step
too far for King Henry.

534
00:37:26,320 --> 00:37:30,080
There had been various efforts to
translate the Bible into English.

535
00:37:31,560 --> 00:37:34,040
The most successful
was by William Tyndale.

536
00:37:37,080 --> 00:37:40,920
But Henry hated
the idea of translation.

537
00:37:40,920 --> 00:37:45,440
He forced Tyndale into exile
and colluded in his arrest

538
00:37:45,440 --> 00:37:48,840
and execution as a heretic in 1536.

539
00:37:52,080 --> 00:37:53,680
Despite Tyndale's fate,

540
00:37:53,680 --> 00:37:57,720
Thomas Cromwell had the courage to
stick his neck out...

541
00:37:57,720 --> 00:38:00,640
though it must be said
that his timing was perfect.

542
00:38:01,960 --> 00:38:05,920
Henry had just married Jane Seymour
and she was pregnant -

543
00:38:05,920 --> 00:38:08,760
with what he hoped was
the longed-for male heir.

544
00:38:10,360 --> 00:38:13,960
Henry was in a generous mood,
and Cromwell seized the moment.

545
00:38:13,960 --> 00:38:17,480
He took the enormous
risk of giving the King

546
00:38:17,480 --> 00:38:19,560
a copy of the Bible in English.

547
00:38:19,560 --> 00:38:22,040
And within ten days,
Henry had approved it,

548
00:38:22,040 --> 00:38:25,400
one of the greatest royal
U-turns of the reign.

549
00:38:25,400 --> 00:38:27,880
Now Cromwell had the opportunity.

550
00:38:27,880 --> 00:38:31,920
He issued an order that every
parish in the land should get

551
00:38:31,920 --> 00:38:35,200
a copy of the Bible in English.

552
00:38:35,200 --> 00:38:38,840
And in St John's College library
in Cambridge, there it is -

553
00:38:38,840 --> 00:38:42,040
Thomas Cromwell's own copy.

554
00:38:42,040 --> 00:38:45,840
And this great title page is
like a Tudor strip cartoon

555
00:38:45,840 --> 00:38:47,880
of what's just happened.

556
00:38:47,880 --> 00:38:50,800
We've got King Henry as the supreme
head of the Church of England

557
00:38:50,800 --> 00:38:52,040
on his throne.

558
00:38:52,040 --> 00:38:55,600
I notice he is rather bigger than
the figure of God above him.

559
00:38:55,600 --> 00:39:00,760
And he's handing out copies of the
English Bible, on the one hand, to

560
00:39:00,760 --> 00:39:03,280
Archbishop Cranmer and the bishops,

561
00:39:03,280 --> 00:39:05,880
and on the other,
to Thomas Cromwell.

562
00:39:05,880 --> 00:39:10,560
And Cranmer then hands the
English Bible to his clergy below.

563
00:39:10,560 --> 00:39:15,240
Thomas Cromwell hands a copy
to lay people in England.

564
00:39:15,240 --> 00:39:19,480
Now, the clergy have got to preach
the message of obedience to
King Henry out of the Bible.

565
00:39:19,480 --> 00:39:21,880
And the congregation
has got the message

566
00:39:21,880 --> 00:39:25,360
because they're all shouting
loyally, "Vivat rex, vivat rex",

567
00:39:25,360 --> 00:39:27,320
except for one little
boy down here,

568
00:39:27,320 --> 00:39:29,800
who hasn't learnt his Latin,
so he loyally shouts,

569
00:39:29,800 --> 00:39:32,040
"God save the King".

570
00:39:32,040 --> 00:39:34,880
And then in the corner,
there is a little dark note,

571
00:39:34,880 --> 00:39:36,520
because it's a prison.

572
00:39:36,520 --> 00:39:38,560
And in the prison are all the people

573
00:39:38,560 --> 00:39:40,760
who don't listen to
King Henry's Bible

574
00:39:40,760 --> 00:39:43,080
either because they are papists

575
00:39:43,080 --> 00:39:47,000
or because they are protestants
who have gone too far.

576
00:39:48,680 --> 00:39:52,960
With a copy of the Bible in English
in every parish church, everyone

577
00:39:52,960 --> 00:39:57,680
now had the chance of reading
the Bible in their own language.

578
00:39:57,680 --> 00:40:03,120
Cromwell had cemented the great
divide between the Church
of England and the Church of Rome.

579
00:40:12,920 --> 00:40:14,880
But Cromwell didn't stop there.

580
00:40:14,880 --> 00:40:18,960
He was prepared to risk his own
life for the evangelical cause.

581
00:40:25,320 --> 00:40:30,600
His greatest contribution to
reforming the Church of England
started in Switzerland.

582
00:40:33,400 --> 00:40:36,840
As the Reformation swept through
Europe, Martin Luther was

583
00:40:36,840 --> 00:40:39,280
joined by other more radical voices.

584
00:40:41,040 --> 00:40:44,160
One of the most extreme lived
here in Zurich -

585
00:40:44,160 --> 00:40:46,760
he was called Huldrych Zwingli.

586
00:40:55,160 --> 00:40:59,600
Zwingli was pastor of Zurich's
greatest church, the Grossmunster.

587
00:40:59,600 --> 00:41:01,280
And like Luther in Germany,

588
00:41:01,280 --> 00:41:04,880
he preached against the corruption
of the Pope and his Church.

589
00:41:06,280 --> 00:41:08,240
Zwingli went one step further.

590
00:41:08,240 --> 00:41:13,640
He rejected the Church's teaching
on the most sacred Christian
ceremony - the mass.

591
00:41:13,640 --> 00:41:15,960
Catholics believe
that in the mass,

592
00:41:15,960 --> 00:41:20,320
bread and wine become the living
body and blood of Jesus Christ.

593
00:41:20,320 --> 00:41:22,280
Zwingli said they didn't.

594
00:41:23,600 --> 00:41:27,000
The layout of the Grossmunster
demonstrates his beliefs.

595
00:41:28,840 --> 00:41:30,840
Zwingli removed the high altar

596
00:41:30,840 --> 00:41:36,880
where the transformation of the
bread and wine traditionally took
place, and replaced it with a table,

597
00:41:36,880 --> 00:41:39,360
in the middle of the church
among the people.

598
00:41:40,720 --> 00:41:43,680
That's because Zwingli's church
celebrated not a mass,

599
00:41:43,680 --> 00:41:45,280
but a Holy Communion.

600
00:41:45,280 --> 00:41:48,600
The bread and wine were purely
a sacred sign that Christ

601
00:41:48,600 --> 00:41:53,200
died for all our sins - they are not
the body and blood of Christ,

602
00:41:53,200 --> 00:41:55,440
but remain bread and wine still.

603
00:41:56,440 --> 00:42:00,000
It's difficult, in our secular age,
to imagine the fury that this

604
00:42:00,000 --> 00:42:01,880
unleashed in the 16th century.

605
00:42:01,880 --> 00:42:05,000
Henry VIII thought it the worst
sort of blasphemy.

606
00:42:05,000 --> 00:42:06,800
He burned at the stake,

607
00:42:06,800 --> 00:42:09,800
people who had taken up Zwingli's
ideas in England.

608
00:42:11,080 --> 00:42:12,440
Until this time,

609
00:42:12,440 --> 00:42:16,560
England had no official
connections with Switzerland.

610
00:42:16,560 --> 00:42:19,680
But this changed in 1537,

611
00:42:19,680 --> 00:42:23,640
when a group of talented young
Oxford graduates arrived at this

612
00:42:23,640 --> 00:42:29,000
house in Zurich, to meet Zwingli's
successor, Heinrich Bullinger.

613
00:42:29,000 --> 00:42:33,520
They seemed to be
an official delegation from
the Church of England.

614
00:42:38,520 --> 00:42:41,760
But who really sent them?
Certainly not the King.

615
00:42:41,760 --> 00:42:43,240
And Archbishop Cranmer,

616
00:42:43,240 --> 00:42:46,840
if anything, shared Henry's opinion
that Zwingli was a heretic.

617
00:42:46,840 --> 00:42:51,880
But all the Oxford visitors had
close links to Cromwell.

618
00:42:51,880 --> 00:42:54,120
Only Cromwell had both the power

619
00:42:54,120 --> 00:42:57,160
and the motivation to authorise
a mission like this.

620
00:42:57,160 --> 00:42:59,640
And the link to Zurich would
make sure that the breach

621
00:42:59,640 --> 00:43:02,600
between Rome and England
would never be healed.

622
00:43:06,160 --> 00:43:09,560
I am certain that Thomas Cromwell
had accepted Zwingli's

623
00:43:09,560 --> 00:43:12,120
radical reformist teaching.

624
00:43:12,120 --> 00:43:16,680
He knew the King wouldn't change his
mind about the Mass, and that if his

625
00:43:16,680 --> 00:43:21,520
Swiss connections were discovered,
he would be burned as a heretic.

626
00:43:21,520 --> 00:43:26,080
But ever the strategist,
Cromwell was playing a long game.

627
00:43:26,080 --> 00:43:31,360
The Oxford graduates returned to
England as devout and
determined protestants -

628
00:43:31,360 --> 00:43:34,560
evangelical time-bombs
in the Church of England.

629
00:43:40,280 --> 00:43:45,360
We break this bread to
share in the body of Christ.

630
00:43:45,360 --> 00:43:49,600
Five years after Henry's death,
the Church of England adopted

631
00:43:49,600 --> 00:43:52,640
Zwingli's symbolic
interpretation of Holy Communion.

632
00:43:54,040 --> 00:43:57,520
This theological revolution,
which enshrined

633
00:43:57,520 --> 00:44:00,000
the divide between England and Rome,

634
00:44:00,000 --> 00:44:02,520
is Thomas Cromwell's
greatest legacy.

635
00:44:13,360 --> 00:44:16,040
Cromwell must have felt unstoppable.

636
00:44:24,320 --> 00:44:28,120
He'd already been well-rewarded
with wealth and property.

637
00:44:28,120 --> 00:44:30,520
And now his great patron
was to give him

638
00:44:30,520 --> 00:44:33,480
a prize no money could buy -

639
00:44:33,480 --> 00:44:35,200
social status.

640
00:44:38,160 --> 00:44:40,760
St George's Chapel, Windsor,

641
00:44:40,760 --> 00:44:44,000
is the mother chapel of the most
ancient and honourable

642
00:44:44,000 --> 00:44:47,680
of the English chivalric orders -
the Knighthood of the Garter.

643
00:44:53,920 --> 00:44:57,520
Only 24 people,
personally chosen by the monarch,

644
00:44:57,520 --> 00:44:59,760
can hold the honour at any one time.

645
00:45:04,560 --> 00:45:07,600
To this day, the banners
of the Knights hang high

646
00:45:07,600 --> 00:45:10,720
in this chapel and you see the great
families of the realm.

647
00:45:10,720 --> 00:45:14,840
There, the Duke of Westminster,
there, the Duke of Wellington,

648
00:45:14,840 --> 00:45:19,000
and below them their helms complete
with family crests.

649
00:45:19,000 --> 00:45:24,640
In 1537, Henry invited
the publican's son from Putney

650
00:45:24,640 --> 00:45:26,600
to join this noble circle.

651
00:45:26,600 --> 00:45:30,160
He created Cromwell
a Knight of the Garter.

652
00:45:30,160 --> 00:45:33,960
The upstart had used royal patronage
to force his way into this

653
00:45:33,960 --> 00:45:36,040
rigid hierarchy.

654
00:45:36,040 --> 00:45:38,840
Many people would have been
satisfied with this honour -

655
00:45:38,840 --> 00:45:40,640
but not Thomas Cromwell.

656
00:45:46,160 --> 00:45:48,320
took his place as Knight
of the Garter.

657
00:45:48,320 --> 00:45:50,120
On it is a plaque.

658
00:45:50,120 --> 00:45:52,680
It's for Henry Bourchier,
Earl of Essex.

659
00:45:54,120 --> 00:45:57,200
Henry Bourchier was the holder
of one of the most ancient

660
00:45:57,200 --> 00:46:01,040
titles in England,
but he died without an heir.

661
00:46:01,040 --> 00:46:04,600
The King took the opportunity
to bestow this Earldom

662
00:46:04,600 --> 00:46:08,360
on his Chief Minister,
who now became Earl of Essex.

663
00:46:09,960 --> 00:46:13,440
Thomas Cromwell had now joined
the hereditary nobility.

664
00:46:13,440 --> 00:46:16,600
Intelligence and ruthless
determination had brought him

665
00:46:16,600 --> 00:46:18,880
huge wealth and great status.

666
00:46:18,880 --> 00:46:21,320
He must have felt invincible.

667
00:46:21,320 --> 00:46:25,440
But the political skill
and evangelical drive which had

668
00:46:25,440 --> 00:46:29,040
taken Thomas Cromwell so far,
would also tear him down.

669
00:46:30,680 --> 00:46:35,960
In 1537, Jane Seymour,
Henry's third wife, had died,

670
00:46:35,960 --> 00:46:39,200
just after giving birth to Edward,
the long-awaited heir.

671
00:46:41,040 --> 00:46:43,280
Now the King
was in need of another wife.

672
00:46:48,360 --> 00:46:52,000
Cromwell came here, to Archbishop
Cranmer's country palace

673
00:46:52,000 --> 00:46:56,080
at Croydon, to perform
his fixer's magic one more time.

674
00:46:57,080 --> 00:47:00,320
He wanted to arrange a marriage
for the King which would ally

675
00:47:00,320 --> 00:47:03,640
England with the forces
of the Reformation.

676
00:47:03,640 --> 00:47:07,840
He hoped to enlist the Archbishop's
support in persuading Henry

677
00:47:07,840 --> 00:47:12,320
to marry a German princess -
Anne of Cleves.

678
00:47:12,320 --> 00:47:14,840
But the Archbishop wasn't convinced.

679
00:47:17,040 --> 00:47:21,520
This manuscript is a 17th century
summary of a lost contemporary

680
00:47:21,520 --> 00:47:24,920
account of the conversation
between Cranmer and Cromwell.

681
00:47:24,920 --> 00:47:27,960
It's a fascinating glimpse
into the relationship between

682
00:47:27,960 --> 00:47:30,800
these two most powerful
men in Tudor England.

683
00:47:30,800 --> 00:47:35,400
Cranmer, ever mindful of King
Henry's happiness, bless him, said

684
00:47:35,400 --> 00:47:39,560
that he "thought it most expedient
the King to marry where that he had

685
00:47:39,560 --> 00:47:44,400
"his fantasy and love,
for that would be most comfort
for his Grace".

686
00:47:44,400 --> 00:47:47,480
And Cromwell,
furious at this political naivety,

687
00:47:47,480 --> 00:47:52,720
snapped back that there was "none
meet for him within this realm".

688
00:47:52,720 --> 00:47:54,960
And Cranmer replied that it would be

689
00:47:54,960 --> 00:48:00,240
"very strange to be married with
her that he could not talk with".

690
00:48:00,240 --> 00:48:02,200
In other words, speak English to.

691
00:48:05,360 --> 00:48:08,800
Anne of Cleves might not speak much
English, but Cromwell was

692
00:48:08,800 --> 00:48:11,920
determined to show the King
she possessed other virtues.

693
00:48:13,560 --> 00:48:17,200
He dispatched his favourite artist,
Hans Holbein,

694
00:48:17,200 --> 00:48:20,960
to paint a portrait of the
24-year-old German princess.

695
00:48:26,080 --> 00:48:29,040
Well this is rather lovely,
isn't it?

696
00:48:29,040 --> 00:48:33,360
This is the actual miniature which
Hans Holbein sent to England.

697
00:48:33,360 --> 00:48:37,400
So you and I are in the same
position as King Henry

698
00:48:37,400 --> 00:48:40,080
viewing his bride to be.

699
00:48:40,080 --> 00:48:43,720
Portraits of this date would
often have the face slightly

700
00:48:43,720 --> 00:48:45,960
turned away, but this is full face

701
00:48:45,960 --> 00:48:49,440
so that he could be sure there
were no blemishes.

702
00:48:49,440 --> 00:48:53,280
And the headdress is painted to
be in the English fashion,

703
00:48:53,280 --> 00:48:55,720
not the German style
she'd actually have worn,

704
00:48:55,720 --> 00:48:59,960
so that the King could compare her
with the ladies he knew.

705
00:48:59,960 --> 00:49:04,640
Standards of beauty do change over
time, but we can be pretty sure

706
00:49:04,640 --> 00:49:08,600
that the King saw a beautiful
lady staring back at him.

707
00:49:08,600 --> 00:49:11,920
So he agreed to Cromwell's choice.

708
00:49:16,240 --> 00:49:21,160
A great ceremony for Henry
to meet Anne was
planned for January 3rd 1540.

709
00:49:21,160 --> 00:49:22,720
But the King couldn't wait

710
00:49:22,720 --> 00:49:25,960
and impatiently rushed off
three days early to surprise her.

711
00:49:25,960 --> 00:49:29,200
Henry burst into his
future wife's chambers.

712
00:49:30,680 --> 00:49:34,200
But the King didn't like what
he saw.

713
00:49:34,200 --> 00:49:38,280
The Princess failed to live up to
her painted image.

714
00:49:38,280 --> 00:49:41,600
When Henry got back to London
he rounded on Cromwell.

715
00:49:41,600 --> 00:49:44,840
"Is there no remedy
but that against my will,

716
00:49:44,840 --> 00:49:47,080
"I must put my neck in the yoke?"

717
00:49:47,080 --> 00:49:49,720
And the wedding night only
compounded his misery.

718
00:49:49,720 --> 00:49:53,400
He said to Cromwell,
"I liked her before not well,

719
00:49:53,400 --> 00:49:56,320
"but now I like her much worse".

720
00:49:56,320 --> 00:49:58,280
The management of royal marriages

721
00:49:58,280 --> 00:50:01,200
and annulments had been
the making of Cromwell.

722
00:50:01,200 --> 00:50:03,800
This one would prove to
be his unmaking.

723
00:50:03,800 --> 00:50:09,360
There was no longer
any need to appeal to the Pope
for this annulment.

724
00:50:09,360 --> 00:50:13,400
Instead, Henry, the Supreme Head
of the Church of England, was

725
00:50:13,400 --> 00:50:17,320
required to appear in a church court
in front of his subjects

726
00:50:17,320 --> 00:50:20,000
and present intimate evidence
of his failure

727
00:50:20,000 --> 00:50:21,880
to consummate the wedding night.

728
00:50:24,880 --> 00:50:29,480
For a proud monarch who gloried
in his virility, to be forced into

729
00:50:29,480 --> 00:50:34,240
a public admission of impotence,
was a dreadful humiliation.

730
00:50:34,240 --> 00:50:36,160
Henry needed someone to blame.

731
00:50:37,360 --> 00:50:39,520
Cromwell fell from
the King's favour -

732
00:50:39,520 --> 00:50:42,360
and he had such a long way to fall.

733
00:50:42,360 --> 00:50:47,400
He was a self-made man with
no noble, ancient lineage.

734
00:50:47,400 --> 00:50:51,080
Without the King's patronage
he was nothing.

735
00:50:51,080 --> 00:50:53,520
Cromwell had seen what had
happened to Thomas Wolsey -

736
00:50:53,520 --> 00:50:56,360
he could have tried to
retrieve the situation.

737
00:50:56,360 --> 00:50:58,840
But Cromwell couldn't stop himself.

738
00:51:14,880 --> 00:51:17,880
The priory here at Thetford,
in Norfolk,

739
00:51:17,880 --> 00:51:22,920
was the scene of Thomas Cromwell's
worst act of self-destruction.

740
00:51:22,920 --> 00:51:26,240
It was one of the last monasteries
remaining in England.

741
00:51:26,240 --> 00:51:29,480
And that's because it had been
protected by one of the most

742
00:51:29,480 --> 00:51:32,080
influential
figures at the royal court -

743
00:51:32,080 --> 00:51:34,360
Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk.

744
00:51:35,560 --> 00:51:38,800
This was the great church
of the Priory. We've just got one

745
00:51:38,800 --> 00:51:42,920
pillar standing to full height to
show you how grand it all was.

746
00:51:42,920 --> 00:51:47,600
In a chapel over there
was the tomb of the first
Howard, Duke of Norfolk.

747
00:51:47,600 --> 00:51:51,240
And in front of the high altar here
is one of the main vaults which

748
00:51:51,240 --> 00:51:55,400
housed the bodies of the Earls and
Dukes of Norfolk and their families.

749
00:51:55,400 --> 00:52:00,640
This was a very special place
for a very important, noble family.

750
00:52:04,800 --> 00:52:09,880
In 1539, the Duke of Norfolk tried
to save the priory from dissolution.

751
00:52:11,120 --> 00:52:14,880
He lobbied the King for it to be
converted into a secular college,

752
00:52:14,880 --> 00:52:18,000
which would preserve
the sanctity of the family tombs.

753
00:52:19,680 --> 00:52:23,440
Thomas Cromwell was determined
that it should all be destroyed.

754
00:52:23,440 --> 00:52:27,360
He let his evangelical zeal
overcome his political nous.

755
00:52:27,360 --> 00:52:33,320
On 16th February 1540, the prior was
forced to surrender his monastery.

756
00:52:33,320 --> 00:52:37,520
It was one of the last two
to be dissolved in all England.

757
00:52:37,520 --> 00:52:40,160
There would be no college.

758
00:52:40,160 --> 00:52:43,280
Eventually, the Norfolks were
forced to dig up

759
00:52:43,280 --> 00:52:45,960
and move the bones
of their ancestors.

760
00:52:45,960 --> 00:52:48,240
It was the ultimate humiliation.

761
00:52:51,800 --> 00:52:56,400
The Duke of Norfolk returned
to his family castle at Framlingham,

762
00:52:56,400 --> 00:52:57,840
in Suffolk.

763
00:52:59,080 --> 00:53:04,520
He would rebury the remains
of his ancestors
in the local parish church.

764
00:53:04,520 --> 00:53:07,120
He was already plotting his revenge.

765
00:53:13,680 --> 00:53:15,160
Throughout the 1530s,

766
00:53:15,160 --> 00:53:18,200
Cromwell's enemies had
resented his extraordinary rise,

767
00:53:18,200 --> 00:53:22,240
but the King's patronage meant that
they were powerless to stop him.

768
00:53:22,240 --> 00:53:26,160
Now, Henry was smarting from the
fiasco of the Cleves marriage,

769
00:53:26,160 --> 00:53:28,920
while the whole nobility would
loathe Cromwell

770
00:53:28,920 --> 00:53:32,360
parading around with the ancient
title of Earl of Essex.

771
00:53:34,000 --> 00:53:37,040
The desecration of Thetford Priory
had now infuriated

772
00:53:37,040 --> 00:53:39,040
the Duke of Norfolk.

773
00:53:39,040 --> 00:53:42,120
Lying here next to his wife is
the man who was determined to

774
00:53:42,120 --> 00:53:44,760
destroy the mighty first minister.

775
00:53:46,800 --> 00:53:50,440
Cromwell knew better than
most that the King had always been

776
00:53:50,440 --> 00:53:53,600
easily swayed by those
closest to him.

777
00:53:55,200 --> 00:53:59,240
Now it was the Duke of Norfolk who
whispered in Henry's ear.

778
00:54:02,240 --> 00:54:05,400
The King was easily persuaded
that his chief minister was

779
00:54:05,400 --> 00:54:07,560
a heretic and a traitor.

780
00:54:07,560 --> 00:54:12,200
On 10th of June 1540, Cromwell
was attending the King's Council.

781
00:54:12,200 --> 00:54:14,840
The Duke of Norfolk strode up to him
and said,

782
00:54:14,840 --> 00:54:17,840
"Cromwell, do not sit there.
That is no place for you.

783
00:54:17,840 --> 00:54:20,920
"Traitors do not sit amongst
gentlemen."

784
00:54:20,920 --> 00:54:23,440
Cromwell replied, "I am no traitor."

785
00:54:23,440 --> 00:54:26,800
Then the Duke himself tore
the insignia of the Garter

786
00:54:26,800 --> 00:54:28,400
from Cromwell's neck.

787
00:54:28,400 --> 00:54:30,840
"That's for Thetford Priory."

788
00:54:30,840 --> 00:54:33,000
The chief minister was arrested

789
00:54:33,000 --> 00:54:35,800
and taken straight to
the Tower of London.

790
00:54:42,240 --> 00:54:45,000
Cromwell's enemies had waited
years to strike.

791
00:54:46,920 --> 00:54:50,440
Within a week, the House of Lords
passed a Bill of Attainder,

792
00:54:50,440 --> 00:54:54,200
stripping him of his rights
and property and accusing him

793
00:54:54,200 --> 00:54:56,680
of treason, heresy and corruption.

794
00:54:57,880 --> 00:55:01,360
Cromwell made one final attempt to
work his magic on the King.

795
00:55:03,440 --> 00:55:06,720
Sitting in the Tower of London,
Cromwell wrote the King

796
00:55:06,720 --> 00:55:10,560
one last letter, and this is a copy
of it, in his own handwriting.

797
00:55:10,560 --> 00:55:14,760
And he says, "Consider that
I am a most woeful prisoner

798
00:55:14,760 --> 00:55:18,040
"and the death
when it shall please God and you".

799
00:55:18,040 --> 00:55:22,080
What he's asking is, what
sort of death - burning, beheading,

800
00:55:22,080 --> 00:55:23,680
hanging, drawing and quartering?

801
00:55:23,680 --> 00:55:28,120
And then he goes on,
"And yet the frail flesh inciteth me

802
00:55:28,120 --> 00:55:33,440
"continually to call on your grace
for mercy and pardon".

803
00:55:33,440 --> 00:55:36,280
And then pathetic postscript -

804
00:55:36,280 --> 00:55:42,080
"Most gracious prince
I cry for mercy, mercy, mercy".

805
00:55:42,080 --> 00:55:45,200
And the signature -
"Thomas Cromwell".

806
00:55:47,080 --> 00:55:50,640
Cromwell would have expected to see
the King one last time,

807
00:55:50,640 --> 00:55:54,560
and then he could look him in the
face and persuade him to save him.

808
00:55:54,560 --> 00:55:55,840
But it was not to be.

809
00:55:58,000 --> 00:56:01,440
Henry did show SOME mercy.

810
00:56:01,440 --> 00:56:06,520
He ordered that his former principal
minister should simply be beheaded.

811
00:56:08,800 --> 00:56:13,520
On 28th July 1540 on Tower Hill,
in front of a large crowd,

812
00:56:13,520 --> 00:56:16,320
Thomas Cromwell walked to the block.

813
00:56:16,320 --> 00:56:19,920
He asked the Axeman,
"Pray, if possible,

814
00:56:19,920 --> 00:56:23,440
"cut off my head with one blow,
so that I may not suffer".

815
00:56:23,440 --> 00:56:27,120
But the man botched the job.
It took several blows.

816
00:56:27,120 --> 00:56:30,480
One account suggests that he
hacked away for up to 30 minutes.

817
00:56:41,680 --> 00:56:45,040
Cromwell's head was displayed
on a pike on London Bridge.

818
00:56:47,840 --> 00:56:52,040
His body was buried here in
the chapel of St Peter ad Vincula,

819
00:56:52,040 --> 00:56:53,440
inside the Tower.

820
00:56:53,440 --> 00:56:55,360
The graveyard of traitors.

821
00:56:57,240 --> 00:56:59,920
It was yards away from the tomb
of Anne Boleyn,

822
00:56:59,920 --> 00:57:03,400
the woman he had made sure
died as a traitor...

823
00:57:03,400 --> 00:57:05,000
just like him.

824
00:57:10,720 --> 00:57:13,960
Within months, Henry was lamenting
the death of the most

825
00:57:13,960 --> 00:57:16,000
faithful servant he ever had.

826
00:57:17,440 --> 00:57:20,800
But it's Cromwell's reputation
as a ruthless thug that has

827
00:57:20,800 --> 00:57:22,280
endured for centuries.

828
00:57:26,400 --> 00:57:30,920
Thomas Cromwell was a supreme
politician, and a ruthless operator

829
00:57:30,920 --> 00:57:34,720
who didn't shrink from
using violence to achieve his ends.

830
00:57:34,720 --> 00:57:37,760
But we should also think of him
as a great statesman

831
00:57:37,760 --> 00:57:39,760
and a man of principle.

832
00:57:39,760 --> 00:57:42,640
He used his talent to
cut England off from 1,000 years

833
00:57:42,640 --> 00:57:46,080
of Roman obedience,
forge a religious revolution,

834
00:57:46,080 --> 00:57:49,960
and lay down the foundations
for our constitutional monarchy.

835
00:57:49,960 --> 00:57:55,440
This pub landlord's son from Putney
reshaped our history for good.

836
00:57:55,440 --> 00:58:00,480
Not just a thug,
not just even a Protestant thug.

837
00:58:00,480 --> 00:58:04,360
I give you Thomas Cromwell,
re-maker of this realm.

838
00:58:27,280 --> 00:58:28,920
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