Thomas Cromwell Research Paper
When living in the court of King Henry VIII, one must be cautious at all times. A single wrong move, and the overly paranoid King would have your head in a basket before you had the chance to make your case. This lesson was learned by the King’s closest advisor, Thomas Cromwell in the early half of the 16th century. “Class was everything at the court of Henry VIII. You were born into greatness. You did not work your way up.” English society has always been notoriously classist, and this was especially true during the time of the Tudor throne. Despite the odds however, Cromwell managed to quickly rise through the ranks of English society. He worked his way through the English upper classes and made both himself, and his station essential to
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Coming from lower class beginnings it is no surprise that more information about his formative years was not documented. He was born in the year 1485 to a cloth-worker and alehouse keeper in the small village of Putney; just outside of London. Information regarding the years after his birth does not appear again until he decides to travel Europe as a teenager. The reasoning behind his sudden want to travel is not known, but it was most likely that his ambitions no longer fit in with the rural life he led it Putney. Cromwell’s travels as a teen led him through the Netherlands and then eventually to Italy. First battling in Garigliano in 1503 as a soldier, and then working in the Venetian banking house of Frescobaldi. By the year 1514, he had once again made the journey from Rome, back through the Netherlands, and to London. There, he married a widow and lived a quiet life while working in his law practice. A few years later though, he assists the town of Boston in their quest to secure “a bull of indulgence from Pope Leo X.” (historyofparliament.com) These events were only the beginning of Thomas Cromwell’s ambitious nature. Later, in the year 1520, Cromwell earned himself one of the most coveted and feared positions in the kingdom—working under Cardinal Thomas
Coming from lower class beginnings it is no surprise that more information about his formative years was not documented. He was born in the year 1485 to a cloth-worker and alehouse keeper in the small village of Putney; just outside of London. Information regarding the years after his birth does not appear again until he decides to travel Europe as a teenager. The reasoning behind his sudden want to travel is not known, but it was most likely that his ambitions no longer fit in with the rural life he led it Putney. Cromwell’s travels as a teen led him through the Netherlands and then eventually to Italy. First battling in Garigliano in 1503 as a soldier, and then working in the Venetian banking house of Frescobaldi. By the year 1514, he had once again made the journey from Rome, back through the Netherlands, and to London. There, he married a widow and lived a quiet life while working in his law practice. A few years later though, he assists the town of Boston in their quest to secure “a bull of indulgence from Pope Leo X.” (historyofparliament.com) These events were only the beginning of Thomas Cromwell’s ambitious nature. Later, in the year 1520, Cromwell earned himself one of the most coveted and feared positions in the kingdom—working under Cardinal Thomas