[12] His grandfather, John, had moved to the area from Nottinghamshire[c] to run a fulling mill (for wool processing) leased to him by the archbishop of Canterbury,[15] who had a mansion further upstream at Mortlake and was lord of the local manor of Wimbledon.

[16] His father, Walter (c. 1450 – c. 1514[17]), was an ambitious yeoman landowner who plied various trades, operating as a sheep farmer and wool processor ("fuller" and "shearman"),[18] while also running a tavern and a brewery.

[6] The tradition that he quickly became a mercenary and marched with the French army to Italy, where in 1503 he fought in the Battle of Garigliano, stems from a novella by the contemporary Italian writer Matteo Bandello in which Cromwell is portrayed as a page to a foot-soldier, carrying his pike and helmet.

[31] Despite the obvious exaggerations contained in Bandello's novella, MacCulloch points out that the "picaresque" narrative provides the best available clues to shine some light on the obscurity of Cromwell's first Italian trip.

[36] In 1517–1518, he travelled to Rome again, this time to gain Pope Leo X's approval for plenary indulgences to be sold by the St Mary's Guild, Boston[6] as part of a thriving trade.

There is no record of when Cromwell actually delivered the speech in the chamber and some modern historians, including Michael Everett and Robert Woods, have suggested that the whole episode was no more than a ploy, sanctioned by Henry himself, to allow him to withdraw graciously from his rash threat of war.

After Parliament had been dissolved, Cromwell wrote a letter to a friend, jesting about the session's lack of productivity:I amongst other have indured a parlyament which contenwid by the space of xvii hole wekes wher we communyd of warre pease Stryffe contencyon debatte murmure grudge Riches poverte penurye trowth falshode Justyce equyte dicayte [deceit] opprescyon Magnanymyte actyvyte foce [force] attempraunce [moderation] Treason murder Felonye consyli... [conciliation] and also how a commune welth myght be ediffyed and a[lso] contenewid within our Realme.

[6] Cromwell had made enemies by aiding Wolsey to suppress the monasteries, but was determined not to fall with his master, as he told George Cavendish, then a Gentleman Usher and later Wolsey's biographer:I do entend (god wyllyng) this after none, whan my lord hathe dyned to ride to london and so to the Court, where I wyll other make or marre, or ere [before] I come agayn, I wyll put my self in the prese [press] to se what any man is Able to lay to my charge of ontrouthe or mysdemeanor.

[6] Early in this short session of Parliament (November to December 1529) Cromwell involved himself with legislation to restrict absentee clergy from collecting stipends from multiple parishes ("clerical farming") and to abolish the power of Rome to award dispensations for the practice.

Cromwell favoured the assertion of royal supremacy over the recalcitrant Church, and he manipulated support in the House of Commons for the measure by resurrecting anti-clerical grievances expressed earlier, in the session of 1529.

On 18 March 1532, the Commons delivered a supplication to the King, denouncing clerical abuses and the power of the ecclesiastical courts, and describing Henry as "the only head, sovereign lord, protector and defender" of the Church.

Cromwell further increased his control over parliament through his management of by-elections: since the previous summer, assisted by Thomas Wriothesley, then Clerk of the Signet, he had prepared a list of suitably amenable "burgesses, knights and citizens" for the vacant parliamentary seats.

[93] The parliamentary session began on 4 February 1533, and Cromwell introduced a new bill restricting the right to make appeals to Rome, reasserting the long-standing contention that England was an "empire" and thus not subject to external jurisdiction.

The trial began on 10 May 1533 at Dunstable Priory (near to where Catherine was staying at Ampthill Castle) and on 23 May the Archbishop pronounced the court's verdict, declaring the marriage "null and invalid…contrary to the law of God".

Although intended as a means to identify Anabaptists (dissenting religious refugees from the Low Countries and elsewhere who did not practise infant baptism) the measure proved to be of great benefit to the posterity of English historians.

[107] Anne instructed her chaplains to preach against the Vicegerent, and in a blistering sermon on Passion Sunday, 2 April 1536, her almoner, John Skypp, denounced Cromwell and his fellow Privy Councillors before the entire court.

Skypp was called before the council and accused of malice, slander, presumption, lack of charity, sedition, treason, disobedience to the gospel, attacking "the great posts, pillars and columns sustaining and holding up the commonwealth" and inviting anarchy.

[110][111] The Imperial Ambassador, Eustace Chapuys, wrote to Charles V that: he himself [Cromwell] has been authorised and commissioned by the king to prosecute and bring to an end the mistress's trial, to do which he had taken considerable trouble...

Some historians, such as Alison Weir and Susan Bordo, are convinced that her fall and execution were engineered by Cromwell,[115][116] while others, such as Diarmaid MacCulloch and John Schofield, accept that the King instigated the process.

[6] In January 1538, Cromwell pursued an extensive campaign against what the opponents of the old religion termed "idolatry"; statues, rood screens, and images were attacked, culminating in September with the dismantling of the shrine of St. Thomas Becket at Canterbury.

A Parliamentary committee was established to examine doctrine, and the Duke of Norfolk presented six questions on 16 May 1539 for the House to consider, which were duly passed as the Act of Six Articles shortly before the session ended on 28 June.

In early October 1539, the King finally accepted Cromwell's suggestion that he should marry Anne of Cleves, the sister of William, Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg, partly on the basis of a portrait which Hans Holbein had painted of her.

[133][134] However, Nicholas Wotton, one of the envoys sent to Cleves, considered Holbein's portrait a good likeness; according to the depositions of witnesses assembled for Henry's divorce hearing, it was this first disastrous meeting with Anne that caused him to dislike his fourth wife.

Back home at Austin Friars, and uncertain how to deal with this new problem, Cromwell also told Thomas Wriothesley, his principal secretary (who also served the King in various important positions).

This changed the balance of power in England's favour and demonstrated that Cromwell's earlier foreign policy of wooing support from the Duchy of Cleves had unnecessarily caused his king's conjugal difficulty.

"[159] Cromwell was condemned to death without trial, lost all his titles and property and was publicly beheaded on Tower Hill on 28 July 1540, on the same day as the King's marriage to Catherine Howard.

But this is true that of certain of the clergy he was detestably hated, & specially of such as had borne swynge [beaten hard], and by his means was put from it; for in deed he was a man that in all his doings seemed not to favour any kind of Popery, nor could not abide the snoffyng pride of some prelates, which undoubtedly, whatsoever else was the cause of his death, did shorten his life and procured the end that he was brought unto.

[157][166] On 3 March 1541, the French ambassador, Charles de Marillac, reported in a letter that the King was now said to be lamenting that, under pretext of some slight offences which he had committed, they had brought several accusations against him, on the strength of which he had put to death the most faithful servant he ever had.

"[6] Diarmaid MacCulloch credits the advancement of the most significant politicians and administrators of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, including William Cecil and Nicholas Bacon, to the influence and guidance of Thomas Cromwell at the start of their careers.

The site of Cromwell's birthplace is still pointed out by tradition and is in some measure confirmed by the survey of Wimbledon Manor ... for it describes on that spot 'an ancient cottage called the smith's shop, lying west of the highway from Richmond to Wandsworth, being the sign of the Anchor'.