Thomas Cromwell

The Truth and Myths of Thomas Cromwell (Guest Post)

2 Comments

The Truth and Myths of Thomas Cromwell Guest Post by Caroline Angus Baker Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex, Lord Privy Seal of England, has enjoyed a revival as a popular Tudor character in recent years after being reshaped into a hero. But was Thomas Cromwell ever a villain? After his execution in 1540, all mention of Cromwell falls away, only to be plucked from the archives in the 1950s and made in the villain who brought about all the Protestant changes made by [More]

Thomas Cromwell: Rags to Riches to the Scaffold

Leave a Comment

Guest post by Diarmaid MacCulloch Thomas Cromwell has rarely had a good press, even in Protestant England’s triumphant island story, in which the Pope’s deluded followers were repeatedly put in their place so that the British Empire could flourish and spread Christian civilisation far and wide.  In that tale, Henry VIII could take all the credit for making Tudor England walk tall, and he had the glamour which his most effective minister notoriously lacked.  Various survi [More]

Anne Boleyn’s Last Pregnancy: The Beginning of the End?

2 Comments

When Anne Boleyn miscarried what her midwife called a boy it was also reported by the midwife that the child was malformed*. In Tudor England, at the time, a malformed baby meant that the mother had gravely sinned, whether it be witchcraft, adultery or incest. Are these the events that began the downfall of Anne Boleyn? Henry was an extremely religious man and this miscarriage caused him to question everything. What had he done wrong to not be given a healthy, legitimate [More]

Book Review: “The Raven’s Widow” by Adrienne Dillard

1 Comment

It is through my connections to the Tudor world online that I ran into author Adrienne Dillard. Adrienne is a total sweetheart and sent me her book to review after I asked her to write an article about Jane Boleyn for my site. I already had a growing "To Be Read" pile going on but I moved her book closer to the top because I was reading about Katheryn Howard at the time and I thought Jane Boleyn would be a great follow-up book. I wasn't sure what to expect since this is the [More]

Katheryn Howard: Part One

3 Comments

The story of Katheryn Howard intertwines with many other notable figures of the time but none more than Anne of Cleves and Thomas Cromwell. We’ll start with Katheryn’s childhood and attempt to chronologically move through time until her execution in 1542. After writing Part One, I realized her story deserves multiple parts. Part One, will start from Katheryn’s childhood up to her marriage to King Henry VIII. Part Two will cover her downfall. That part of her life definit [More]

The Life of Jane Seymour – Third Wife of Henry VIII

Leave a Comment

Described by Polydore Vergil as “A woman of the utmost charm both in appearance and character” and Sir John Russell as, “the fairest of all his wives”. Eustace Chapuys described Jane as “of middle stature and no great beauty”. Jane was of a natural sweet-nature, unlike her predecessor Anne Boleyn and had also been considered virtuous. Before you continue reading, if you'd prefer, you can listen to the podcast of this article instead - just click the [More]

The Life of Anne of Cleves (Part Three)

Leave a Comment

She has gone down in history as the lucky fourth wife of Henry VIII...but as we've discovered in the first two parts of this series, Anne of Cleves was anything but lucky. Anne was patient, intelligent and kind. She was human, like you and me. Unlike her predecessors Anne was able to maneuver through a failed marriage to become the longest surviving of all of Henry's wives. READ PART ONE - CLICK HERE READ PART TWO - CLICK HERE At the end of Anne of Cleves, Part Two - [More]

The Life of Anne of Cleves (Part Two)

2 Comments

At the end of The Life of Anne of Cleves (Part One) we had covered Anne's lineage, her education and the negotiations for her marriage with Henry VIII. We also covered the wedding, as well as the wedding night, and how Henry VIII was unhappy with their union - he had claimed he could not consummate the marriage but felt he definitely could perform the task with other women. And then there was Anne of Cleves who was still completely unaware of the gravity of the situation but [More]

The Life of Anne of Cleves (Part One)

4 Comments

Listen to the Tudors Dynasty Podcast about Anne of Cleves here: Born on the 22nd of September 1515 in Dusseldorf, Anne of Cleves was the daughter of John III, Duke of Cleves and Maria of Julich Berg. Like Katherine of Aragon, Anne of Cleves had the grandest lineage of any of his other wives. She was descended from Edward I of England and on her father's idea was closely related to Louis XII of France as well as the dukes of Burgundy. Anne's education was not that of a [More]

The Fall of a Queen: Anne of Cleves

2 Comments

After the death of his third wife, Henry VIII was in mourning for at least a couple of months. Once he came out of his very brief period of mourning it was time to consider a fourth bride - a foreign bride this time. Thomas Cromwell understood that is was important for Henry to have an alliance with a European nation. There were several attempts made for the king to consider a French wife and then there was the niece of Charles V, Christina of Denmark, dowager Duchess of [More]