July 28 - Death of Thomas Cromwell

This Day in History: 28 June 2020

 

28 June 1540

 

480 years ago, today, Thomas Cromwell, King Henry VIII's chief minister, was beheaded on the king's orders. Cromwell had been arrested at a Council meeting a month prior and accused of many charges. His enemies took every opportunity available to humiliate him, such as tearing off his Order of the Garter. They remarked that 'a traitor must not wear it', which Cromwell responded with by saying 'this then is my reward for faithful service!'. He was condemned to death without trial, lost all of his titles and property, and was publicly beheaded on Tower Hill, the same day as the king's marriage to Catherine Howard. Afterwards, his head was set on a spike on London Bridge. Henry came to regret Cromwell's death and later accused his ministers of bringing about Cromwell's downfall by false accusations.

 

Before his death, Cromwell was one of the strongest and most powerful proponents of the English Reformation, as he helped to engineer an annulment of Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon. This was in order for Henry to lawfully marry Anne Boleyn, who became Cromwell's enemy in his rise to power. In 1534, Henry failed to obtain the Pope's approval for the annulment, so Henry received the authority to annul the marriage himself when Parliament endorsed the king's claim to be Supreme Head of the Church of England. Although Cromwell always maintained a strong political outlook on general affairs, it is widely agreed that he was a Protestant with a Lutheran mindset.

 

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