Thomas Cromwell

"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.