Thomas Cromwell

Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex KG PC (c. 1485 – 28 July 1540) is an English statesman who serves as King Henry VIII's chief minister from 1532 to 1540.

Cromwell rises from humble beginnings and attempts to modernize government at the expense of the privileges of the nobility and church; as a result, he is seen as an upstart.

He is one of the strongest advocates of the English Reformation, the English Church's break with the papacy in Rome.

After the King's supremacy over the Church of England is declared by Parliament in 1534, Cromwell supervises the Church from the unique posts of vicegerent for spirituals and vicar general.

Oliver Cromwell, the revoutionary leader who overthrows the British monarchy and leads a short-lived republican government in the 17th century, is a descendant of Thomas Cromwell's sister, Catherine Cromwell (born circa 1482).

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