page_title: Gregory Cromwell, 1st Baron Cromwell
section_title: Arrest
hierarchical_section_title: Gregory Cromwell, 1st Baron Cromwell / The Fall of Thomas Cromwell, 1540 / Arrest
caption_attribution_description: English: according to parliament.uk: A reconstructed perspective drawing by Brewer giving a detailed description of the Old Palace in the time of Henry VIII. Seen from the east, from the south entrance on the left to the clock tower in New Palace Yard on the right. Westminster Abbey, St Margaret's and the Holbein Gateway in the background. Published by The Builder magazine in 1884.
context_page_description: Gregory Cromwell, 1st Baron Cromwell, KB was an English peer. He was the only son of the Tudor statesman Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex and Elizabeth Wyckes.
  Gregory's father Thomas Cromwell rose from obscurity to become the chief minister of Henry VIII, who attempted to modernize government at the expense of the privileges of the nobility and church. He used his office to promote religious reform and was one of the strongest advocates of the English Reformation.
  In 1537, Gregory married Elizabeth, Lady Ughtred, widow of Sir Anthony Ughtred, sister to Jane Seymour and therefore became brother-in-law to Henry VIII and uncle to Edward VI. Gregory survived the dramatic fall from royal favour and subsequent execution of his father in 1540, as well as the ousting of his brother-in-law and patron, Edward Seymour in 1549. He became a wealthy landowner, owning land and property in several counties in England, mainly in Rutland and Leicestershire.
context_section_description: Thomas Cromwell was arrested suddenly at a council meeting at 3.00 p.m. on the afternoon of 10 June 1540, on trumped up charges of treason and heresy, taken to the Tower and his possessions seized. 
  The French Ambassador Charles de Marillac described his arrest in the Council Chamber at Westminster.
  As soon as the Captain of the Guard declared his charge to make him prisoner, Cromwell in a rage cast his bonnet on the ground, saying to the duke of Norfolk and others of the Privy Council assembled there that this was the reward of his services, and that he appealed to their consciences as to whether he was a traitor; but since he was treated thus he renounced all pardon, as he had never thought to have offended, and only asked the King not to make him languish long. Thereupon some said he was a traitor, others that he should be judged according to the laws he had made, which were so sanguinary that often words spoken inadvertently with good intention had been constituted high treason. The duke of Norfolk having reproached him with some “villennyes” done by him, snatched off the order of St George which he bore on his neck, and the Admiral, to show himself as great an enemy in adversity as he had been thought a friend in prosperity, untied the Garter. Then, by a door which opens upon the water, he was put in a boat and taken to the Tower without the people of this town suspecting it until they saw all the King's archers under Mr. Cheyney at the door of the prisoner's house, where they made an inventory of his goods.
  According to the sixteenth century chronicler Edward Hall, those who genuinely mourned Cromwell's arrest were far outnumbered by those who rejoiced. Cromwell, who was courageous enough to implement radical changes in an inherently conservative society like England, was by no means a popular man. Marillac, reporting the news of Cromwell's arrest to Francis I, wrote that "considering that public affairs thereby entirely change their course, especially as regards the innovations in religion of which Cromwell was principal author, the news seems of such importance that it ought to be written forthwith" and in another letter to Montmorency noted "the division among this King's ministers, who are trying to destroy each other. Cromwell's party seemed the strongest lately by the taking of the dean of the Chapel, bp. of Chichester, but it seems quite overthrown by the taking of the said lord Cromwell, who was chief of his band, and there remain only on his side the abp. of Canterbury, who dare not open his mouth, and the lord Admiral, who has long learnt to bend to all winds, and they have for open enemies the duke of Norfolk and the others. The thing is the more marvellous as it was unexpected by everyone."
  Gregory would have been nearby, in the House of Commons, at Westminster, when his father was arrested and must have hastily sent word to his wife Elizabeth, who was at court attending Queen Anne. He and his wife found themselves in a very vulnerable position, and were faced with the possibility of their own arrest. Having been dependents of Thomas Cromwell, they found themselves homeless—all Cromwell's houses, lands, money, and goods were seized by the king (Leeds Castle was soon in the hands of Sir Anthony St Leger)—and, no doubt, in dire financial straits. It is highly probable that Elizabeth's brother, Edward Seymour, then Earl of Hertford, interceded with the king on the couple's behalf, gave them advice, and provided them with a place to live, and that Sir Ralph Sadler was secretly sending news to Gregory about his father.
  Gregory's marriage to Elizabeth—the sister of the late Queen Jane and his connection to Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford, now a favourite of the Henry VIII—may have afforded him a degree of protection from the king's wrath. There is no record of Gregory or his wife being questioned in relation to Thomas Cromwell's arrest.
caption: Palace of Westminster in the time of Henry VIII
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