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

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.