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Thomas Cromwell
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Portrait painting by Hans Holbein the Younger of Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex, seated at a desk holding a paper, wearing dark robes and a black cap. Mark Rylance as Thomas Cromwell in Wolf Hall, wearing a black cap and dark fur-trimmed cloak, standing against a plain background.
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Thomas Cromwell, earl of Essex summary
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Portrait painting by Hans Holbein the Younger of Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex, seated at a desk holding a paper, wearing dark robes and a black cap.
Thomas Cromwell Thomas Cromwell, engraving after a painting by Hans Holbein the Younger, c. 1537.

Thomas Cromwell

English statesman
Also known as: Thomas Cromwell, earl of Essex, Baron Cromwell of Okeham(Show More)
Written by
Geoffrey R. Elton
Regius Professor of Modern History, University of Cambridge, 1983–88; Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, 1954–93. Author of The Tudor Revolution in Government and others.
Geoffrey R. Elton
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Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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History

Thomas Cromwell (born c. 1485, Putney, near London—died July 28, 1540, probably London) was the principal adviser (1532–40) to England’s Henry VIII, chiefly responsible for establishing the Reformation in England, for the dissolution of the monasteries, and for strengthening the royal administration. At the instigation of his enemies, he was eventually arrested for heresy and treason and executed. Cromwell’s early life is obscure. It appears that he went abroad at an early age and spent...

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