Thomas Cromwell

November 10, 2014
Borman, CEO of the U.K. Heritage Education Trust and joint chief curator of the British historic royal palaces, commendably delves into primary and secondary sources in piecing together the remarkable life of a “commoner who had risen far beyond his rightful station in life” to become the king’s chief minister. Best known for engineering the fall of Anne Boleyn and easing the way for the Protestant Reformation in England, Thomas Cromwell remains in these pages just as enigmatic as he has always been to historians. Some of Borman’s conclusions are based on flimsy evidence, and she relies too much on accounts written by those with obvious political agendas. However, she makes a strong argument that Cromwell’s fall from power was engineered by elites who despised him for being a commoner upstart, especially when she points out an incident often overlooked by historians: Cromwell arranged for his son to marry Queen Jane Seymour’s sister. Considering the brutality the Tudors inflicted on those whom they perceived as overstepping their bounds, the perception that Cromwell did not know his place, compounded by his arranging Henry’s short-lived marriage with Anne of Cleves, sealed his fate. Agent: Jason Bartholomew, Hodder & Stoughton (U.K.).

November 15, 2014

The past decade has provided a bumper crop of material on Thomas Cromwell (1485-1540), with Hilary Mantel's Booker-winning novels and no less than three biographies that provide various evaluations and reestimations of Henry VIII's most famous (and notorious) minister. Borman (Elizabeth's Women) pens a new biography that falls squarely in the reestimation camp, but while the author is on the side of Cromwell's sympathizers, she resists the urge to shy away completely from his more ruthless deeds. The dedication to her subject is apparent, as she delves into every aspect of Cromwell's life and career--his early days in Italy, his political beginnings under Cardinal Wolsey, and his meteoric rise and fall at Henry VIII's court--in an attempt to uncover the person behind the public facade. Unfortunately, concrete evidence for Cromwell's thoughts is somewhat sparse, necessitating some guesswork on Borman's part and an excellent portrait of Cromwell the statesman, but a murky one of Cromwell the man. VERDICT Though it breaks little new ground, Borman's chronicle is a thorough and pleasantly readable study, much in line with John Schofield's The Rise and Fall of Thomas Cromwell. [See Prepub Alert, 7/21/14.]--Kathleen McCallister, Univ. of South Carolina, Columbia

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November 1, 2014
A mildly revisionist biography of Thomas Cromwell (1485-1540).Long reviled as the evil genius who secured Henry VIII's divorce from Catharine of Aragon and oversaw the looting of Catholic monasteries, Cromwell received spectacular rehabilitation in Hilary Mantel's novel Wolf Hall (2009) and its sequel, Bring Up the Bodies (2012). Agreeing that Mantel was onto something, Borman (Queen of the Conqueror: The Life of Matilda, Wife of William I, 2012, etc.), joint chief curator of historic royal palaces and chief executive of Britain's Heritage Education Trust, writes an engrossing biography of a ruthless man who rose and fell in the service of a ruthless king, a path followed by dozens close to Henry. Son of a blacksmith, Cromwell traveled and worked on the continent as a young man. At age 30, as a successful London merchant and lawyer, he entered the household of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, Henry VIII's leading adviser, and prospered. When Henry turned against Wolsey in 1529 (largely due to his reluctance to promote the king's divorce), Cromwell stepped in. Fiercely dedicated to fulfilling Henry's desires, Cromwell switched from appeals to the pope to manipulating Parliament and browbeating England's clerical establishment. After years of political arm-twisting, he succeeded. Henry married Anne Boleyn and, far more significant, replaced the pope as head of the English church. Cromwell presided over the dissolution of church property, a windfall for the king, and successfully distanced himself from Anne as she fell from favor. His luck and life ran out in 1540 when enemies took advantage of Henry's growing conservatism in matters of religious doctrine (he had less interest than Cromwell in Protestant reforms) and he disastrously supported Henry's marriage to Anne of Cleves. A fine rags-to-riches-to-executioner's-block story of a major figure of the English Reformation.

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December 15, 2014
Hilary Mantel's fictional blockbusters Wolf Hall (2009) and Bring Up the Bodies (2012) have reinvigorated interest in Thomas Cromwell. Penning a new biography of Cromwell, Borman follows the current trend, revising the common historical view of her subject as a cunningly cruel power broker. The portrait she paints of this complex man, who rose from humble origins to extraordinaryand ultimately untenableheights, is more subtly nuanced. Though no one can deny Cromwell's ruthless lust for power, she puts it into perspective, analyzing both his personal and public relationships and viewing his actions and motivations through a sixteenth-century lens. An ambitious man of his time and place, he nevertheless intimately enjoyed a rich and varied domestic life. Neglecting neither the public persona nor the private man, Borman provides an insightful biography of a much-maligned historical figure.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)