service under cardinal Wolsey and Henry VIII, 1524-30.
London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London)
1999
Ph.D.
London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London)
1999
In the early years of the 1520s Thomas Cromwell was simply a successful Londonmerchant and lawyer. Yet by 1530 he had entered the service of Henry Vifi, risingthereafter to a position of power as chief minister. The aim of this study is to describe howCromwell moved from an essentially private, to an increasingly public, world.The key to Cromwell's rise was his employment in the service of cardinal Wolsey. Thefirst chapter of this study challenges the currently accepted view that it began as early as1514 or 1516, suggesting instead that 1524 was the critical year. It was in this year thatCromwell was recruited to manage the dissolution of nearly thirty religious houses andoversee the establishment, out of their income, of colleges at Oxford and Ipswich.Chapters two to four demonstrate Cromwell's key role in the complicated and drawn outprocedures necessary for the establishment of the colleges. Both the college project andCromwell's association with it have been well known from the sixteenth century but untilnow never thoroughly examined, despite the survival of a large amount of documentaryevidence at the Public Record Office. In particular, a large part of the inadequately listedrecord class, State Papers 2, is directly related to the scheme. A list of those sections of SP2which are relevant to Cromwell's work forms an appendix to the thesis.The nature of Cromwell's other activities on behalf of Wolsey, in particular his associationwith ecclesiastical concerns, is examined in chapter five. The final chapter examinesCromwell's relationship with Wolsey in the aftermath of the latter's fall from power in1529 and establishes the way in which Cromwell was able to enter the king's service on thestrength of his knowledge of the cardinal's affairs.
History
Ward, Philip John.
London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London)