The Rise & Fall of Thomas Cromwell: Henry VIII's Most Faithful Servant

by John Schofield

This is a major biography of Henry's VIII's right hand man, revealing for the first time that the image of a blood stained henchman is largely fictional. Thomas Cromwell was the Henry's VIII's chief minister and principal reformer of the church in one of the most eventful eras in English history. Contemporary sources reveal a brilliant mind and expansive heart, a lover and patron of the arts and humanities, while short case studies shed new light on his relations with, and his reputation among, the Tudor populace. The final part narrates the drama of his downfall, and the king’s posthumous exoneration of the "most faithful servant he ever had."

Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction, Biography Memoir, Tudor Period, Politics, Historical

336 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Rise and Fall of Thomas Cromwell– John Schofield 4*

This is a much better book than Robert Hutchinson’s book on the same subject. Schofield actually seems to have done his research and not just rehashed the same old material which portrays Cromwell as a tyrant, bully etc.

Most of the things that Cromwell gets the blame for either started before he entered the King’s service or before he was high enough up the food chain to influence them, most of the evidence against Cromwell comes from the Spanish Chronicle which should be discounted as it has some very important details wrong e.g. it has Cromwell investigating the accusations of adultery against Catherine Howard which would be fine if he hadn’t been executed the year before.

Schofield does a very good job of presenting Cromwell as a human being, warts and all. This is a very good read for anybody interested in Cromwell’s life, it is a real page turner. I couldn’t put it down.

[Kristina · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading Wolf Hall, I wanted to read a nonfiction account of Thomas Cromwell. There didn't seem to be many choices (at least not available instantly via Kindle!); I waffled between reading this one, which is favorable toward its subject, and another by Robert Hutchinson, who seemed to think Cromwell was basically the Stalin of his day. I think it would be amusing to read both, to see how differently two authors interpret the same facts, but I don't know if I have the stamina for that much Tudor political history at once. In the end, after reading the first few chapters of each, I decided on this one, because history has for the most part judged Cromwell pretty harshly, and I wanted to get the other side of the story.

I mostly enjoyed this book, but there were a few flaws. At times, this book read like a master's thesis (and in fact, the notes at the end indicate that a few chapters were in fact part of the author's thesis), rather than a biography. And occasionally the author jumps to conclusions-- sometimes plausibly, sometimes less so. Also, I was slightly troubled at how quickly the "Pilgrimage of Grace" is glossed over--was Cromwell really not that involved, as the author claims, or were any of his actions at that time left out because they would have hurt the author's case for image rehabilitation? I would have to do more reading to fill in the blanks here.

But on the whole, this was very thorough and well-referenced, with many primary sources seemingly making it clear that Cromwell, while opportunistic and unsentimental, was not quite the antichrist he's often made out to be. It seems likely that he was just a brilliant and pragmatic statesman who knew how to be exactly what his king needed him to be, until it all went horribly wrong. There were many (too many, really) examples of his kindness for ordinary folk, and much discussion about his religious (and not merely monetary) motivations for religious reformation. And from the available evidence, it seems that most of the violence and cruelty commonly blamed on Cromwell was really the king's doing. Which makes more sense, really-- which one of the two lost his head in the end, after all?

Though this was a bit dry at times (several endless pages are devoted to random correspondence from farmers complaining about their neighbors or wives complaining about their husbands), and it's definitely biased, at the author's own admission, this was generally interesting and illuminating.

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you feel Thomas Cromwell has been hard done by historically, then this is the book for you! Schofield looks predominantly at the seven years of Cromwell's service to Henry VIII and redefines his major political and religious actions purely as a result of Henry's decisions. He denies Cromwell ever kept Henry in the dark about any decisions and posits that his downfall could not be attributed to Henry's marriage to Anne of Cleves (it was 6 months before he was indicted).

Certainly an interesting point of view on this period of history - although he stresses that all actions were carried out with the full knowledge and support, and even at the instigation, of Henry, Schofield later makes out that Henry was extremely naive in religious matters, and did not fully understand the basis of Lutherism.

[Alisa Kester · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars for Thomas Cromwell (I have a new hero!) and also for the way the author tore down the negative myths of Cromwell's character that have grown around him over the years. The writing style was pretty dry, but the information itself was fascinating.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a lover of Tudor history, I greatly enjoyed this alternative look at Cromwell's role in 16th century England during the reformation. Schofield may be a bit too eager to paint Cromwell as largely innocent in the machinations of Henry VIII's court, but at least it seems to be much more balanced than other histories of the period and the author backs up his claims with well-researched and thoughtful reasoning.
All in all, he makes a very convincing case that Thomas Cromwell was not the all powerful monster he has been made out to be.

[Colin Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very readable and well researched. He debunks a lot of popular history myths about Cromwell and Henry Vlll's court - in fact he "doth protest too much" and is a little fanatically pro-Cromwell at times. Overall a good read indeed, though.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this to be an excellent book. It gave me a new perspective on this controversial figure.

[Florence Penrice · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating re-appraisal of the much-maligned Thomas Cromwell. Well written and a real page turner. Only let down by the poor quality of the illustrations.

[Maddie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t normally write book reviews, but I simply have to for this one. Before reading this, I only knew Thomas Cromwell by popular propagandised accounts of him, painting him as a Tudor villain. But John Schofield tosses that notion right out the window. Not only is the research thoroughly in depth, but he has used his research to open people’s eyes to the fact that Cromwell was merely a scapegoat for people around him, and he was often blamed by his peers for things that should have actually been laid squarely at Henry’s door.




Well worth picking up, if you want to learn about Tudor history, or about the man Thomas Cromwell really was.

[Kristen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book but I didn't. It's not the first book on Thomas Cromwell I've read but I didn't enjoy it like I did with the other biographies. However, at times I thought the author was a bit too eager to defend or justify Cromwell's actions. In the author eyes Thomas Cromwell could do no wrong. The entire book is just a praise to Thomas Cromwell and I feel like the author ignore facts and twists some parts of the story to make Cromwell look better.

[Kara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found it to be a little dry for my tastes, but was well stuffed with facts and makes a good argument that ultimately Henry VIII made the decisions - not Cromwell.

[Dorothy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to give it a four but the writing was so stultifying that I could not. The research deserved a five and the earnestness and respect for the truth are impeccable. But it is tedious. No anecdote is unexplored and no rumor unexamined. There was simply an excess of accounts that didn't add immeasurably to our knowledge of the man.

This was a fair follow-up to Peter Ackroyd's brilliant Thomas More.

That said, I was grateful to learn so much about Cromwell and how inspired he was by the Reformation. The author fairly undresses Cromwell from the evil Machiavellian cloak that so often clothes him. He was the Everyman who rose to the pinnacle of success and fell to its greatest depths at the hands of the master he served. He was a polymath and a most loyal servant to his Tudor king. Henry VIII is quite fairly consigned to his place as the inconstant and despotic bully that he became after his serious injury in 1536.

This was a fascinating time in history, this nexus between Medievalism and the Renaissance in England. Thomas More finally allowed Medievalism triumph over Humanism while Cromwell embraced the Renaissance Humanism implicit in the Reformation

Thomas Moore and Thomas Cromwell both died at the hand of Henry VIII. More, because of his unshakeable belief in the Medieval Catholic Church and his very real terror that the Reformation and Henry's role as Supreme Head of the Church presaged the coming of anti-Christ. (Please read Ackroyd). Cromwell died because of his conviction that the Reformation was the true gospel route back to the true Church and the role of faith in salvation and free will. Henry simply was convinced of his own rightness and righteousness.

The judicial murder of both of these Thomas's present us with a remarkable view into a fascinating period in human history.

Fun Fact in History: Martin Luther called Henry VIII a "buffoon", "big sissy" and "stupid king."

[Gareth Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

To a great extent reactions to the this book will be governed by how the reader likes their history to be presented. A reader who like popular histories to read like novels with the dry parts weeded out will be very disappointed with this.
This book is painstaking, very detailed and is very, very dry. That's not a criticism, the details provide plenty of colour and there is much to enjoy in this book. Religion and governance are very well-handled and the accumulation of small detail set against a bigger picture is quite enthralling, especially as Schofield writes clearly and lucidly.
For me the downside with the book is that is a haigography - for Schofield Cromwell can do no wrong. The slightest criticism of Cromwell is explained away in pages of detail. I do understand that Cromwell has been unfairly treated over the years, but Schofield can't seem to allow his hero to bear the smallest stain. This gets tiresome after a while and rather spoilt the book for me - especially as Schofield does not extend the same courtesy to anyone else.
Overall, it's a very interesting book - just a littlespoiled by the overly defensive attitude of the author.

[Bonnie Staughton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started reading "The Rise & Fall of Thomas Cromwell" after I saw the first season of "Wolf Hall" on PBS. I didn't know Thomas Cromwell's story and was very curious. I really enjoyed this book by John Schofield because the author only uses actual documents & letters from Cromwell's time to verify his story. If the letters aren't complete and there is no "solution" made to problems brought before Cromwell, Mr. Schofield uses his facts to explain how he thinks things resolved. He always lets you know that this is strictly his opinion. Sometimes he will say that there is no way to know how things turned out. Many of the documents of this time were lost or destroyed and Cromwell apparently didn't leave a diary of his life. I still have some questions in my mind about this man Thomas Cromwell, favored by King Henry VIII, but I know a lot more about him after reading this book.

[Jane Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Schofield's aim is to present Cromwell not as a monster but as a more nuanced and sympathetic human being. The research is impeccable. But for me it's difficult to be sympathetic towards anyone in power in this period.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent, well researched and informative. Good to see an alternative view of Thomas Cromwell. Maybe a little long in places but oversell superb.

[Niinak · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is tidiously boring - the writing has too many dead ends and the author's patronising tone is a constant gag.

[Debby Phielix · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book a while ago. It's a nice read, but becomes boring from time to time. I found it hard to keep my attention with it.