Thomas Cromwell
Subtitle: Machiavellian statecraft and the English Reformation
By: J. Patrick Coby.
Publisher: Lexington Books
Published: 2009
Place of publication: Lanham, Md
Language: eng
Number of pages: 229
ISBN-13: 9780739134030; 9780739134047; 9780739134054
Subjects: Cromwell, Thomas, -- Earl of Essex, -- 1485?-1540; Machiavelli, Niccolò, -- 1469-1527 -- Influence; Cabinet officers -- Great Britain -- Biography; Statesmen -- Great Britain -- Biography; Reformation -- England; Great Britain -- History -- Henry VIII, 1509-1547 -- Biography; Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 1509-1547 -- Biography; England -- Church history -- 16th century
Genres: Biography.
Description: "Thomas Cromwell, chief architect of the English Reformation, served as minister of Henry VIII from 1531 to 1540, a period that saw more political and religious reform than any other time in Henry's thirty-seven-year reign. Thus the momentous events of the 1530s are generally (but not universally) attributed to Cromwell's agency. In this classroom biography, the first in a generation and the only one now in print, that judgment is largely accepted, though it is combined with earlier and more critical assessments that view Cromwell as a disciple of Machiavelli. One distinguishing feature of this study is its overview of Machiavellian thought, along with its overview of Marsilian thought. Marsilius of Padua, fourteenth-century political philosopher and author of Defensor Pacis, is widely recognized as the source of Cromwell's reformation ideas; but nowhere is Marsilius explicated. Thus, while this book is a biography, its focus is broader and its uses are more varied."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction : Thomas Cromwell and the sixteenth century; title: Sources : Marsilius and Machiavelli; title: The pre-ministerial years; title: Henrician England; title: To Parliament and the court; title: The Reformation Parliament; title: The fall of Anne Boleyn; title: Rebellion; title: Henrician protestantism and the return to orthodoxy; title: Matrimonial diplomacy; title: The fall of Thomas Cromwell; title: Conclusion : Cromwell, the man and the record.