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Thomas Cromwell
Thomas Cromwell: A Revolutionary Life | Diarmaid MacCulloch
4 posts | 2 read | 8 to read
The long-awaited biography of the genius who masterminded Henry VIII's bloody revolution in the English government, which reveals at last Cromwell's role in the downfall of Anne Boleyn "This a book that - and it's not often you can say this - we have been awaiting for four hundred years." --Hilary Mantel, author of Wolf Hall Since the sixteenth century we have been fascinated by Henry VIII and the man who stood beside him, guiding him, enriching him, and enduring the king's insatiable appetites and violent outbursts until Hnry ordered his beheading in July 1540. After a decade of sleuthing in the royal archives, Diarmaid MacCulloch has emerged with a tantalizing new understanding of Henry's mercurial chief minister, the inscrutable and utterly compelling Thomas Cromwell. History has not been kind to the son of a Putney brewer who became the architect of England's split with Rome. Where past biographies portrayed him as a scheming operator with blood on his hands, Hilary Mantel reimagined him as a far more sympathetic figure buffered by the whims of his master. So which was he--the villain of history or the victim of her creation? MacCulloch sifted through letters and court records for answers and found Cromwell's fingerprints on some of the most transformative decisions of Henry's turbulent reign. But he also found Cromwell the man, an administrative genius, rescuing him from myth and slander. The real Cromwell was a deeply loving father who took his biggest risks to secure the future of his son, Gregory. He was also a man of faith and a quiet revolutionary. In the end, he could not appease or control the man whose humors were so violent and unpredictable. But he made his mark on England, setting her on the path to religious awakening and indelibly transforming the system of government of the English-speaking world.
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Graywacke
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I don‘t think it gets much more thorough than this biography. I listened while reading Mantel‘s The Mirror and the Light. Cromwell had a whirlwind sort of reign as Henry VIII‘s primary and closest advisor. So much happened. Most is in Mantel. Extra here are the details, the zillion names he worked with, the Evangelical revolution that he pushed under H8‘s unwitting nose (in detail), and exploration of his true character and uncontainable anger.

TrishB Had this on the pile for a while now. 4y
Graywacke @TrishB I‘m curious about your motivation. Was is Mantel (like it was for me)? 4y
TrishB Pretty much and I like reading the NF historical versions of things. I‘ve left it though as I wanted to separate out Mantels version and the NF version. I will get to it eventually. 4y
Graywacke @TrishB I understand the need to separate them. I had some confusion reading both at the same time because of some differences. Hope you enjoy. What a character he was. 4y
TrishB He certainly was! 4y
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Graywacke
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My new audiobook is this 2018 biography praised by Hilary Mantel. So far names are flying by at unnatural speeds...and definitely not getting remembered.

SqueakyChu 😆 4y
Cathythoughts Good idea for an audiobook 👍🏻👍🏻 I must take note 4y
Graywacke @Cathythoughts hopefully I‘m able to retain enough to make this worth it. So far it‘s been actually really terrific for me, especially in light of Mantel‘s work. (Of course his nonfictional Cromwell is not Mantel‘s fictional Cromwell. But they do compliment each other a lot.) 4y
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TrishB
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#weeklyforecast
Finish the Louise Penny hopefully today.
Fancy the Thomas Cromwell one as not reading Wolf Hall etc but want to reacquaint myself with him before the last one in the trilogy.
The other two shouted from the piles- we‘ll see!

julesG I'm drawn to the Wolf Hall series just because I was sorting through my London pictures from 2017 and noticed I took an immense amount of pictures as Henry VIII's palace in Hampton Court. 🙄🙄 Did you like the series so far? 5y
squirrelbrain Sounds like a good plan! I‘d be interested to hear what you think of the Dugoni, if you do read it.... 5y
Cathythoughts That‘s a lovely cover on the Cromwell book ❤️... happy Reading 5y
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KarenUK Looks like some good ones.... interested to see what you think of the Whitehead... 5y
TrishB @julesG I love the series- but I know a lot of people think it‘s hard work both from a detail perspective and the way it‘s written. 5y
TrishB @squirrelbrain you know only too well how well these plans go! 5y
TrishB @Cathythoughts it‘s lovely ❤️ 5y
TrishB @KarenUK a colleague lent me that one and I‘ve had a few weeks now so thought I should get to it! 5y
Cinfhen I see you‘re back to reading a book a day 😘 5y
TrishB @Cinfhen trying to! Haven‘t started the Cromwell though as it‘s too heavy to carry round- will have to wait for a couple of days off. 5y
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ReadingRuby
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Getting my Thomas Cromwell fix while I wait for the third instalment of Hilary Mantel‘s series on Henry VIII‘s chief minister. Im really enjoying this biography‘s deep dive into his life, although I would definitely be struggling if I didn‘t already have a good basic knowledge of the main events and pivotal characters that contributed to the huge political changes during that period. But I‘m loving it!

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