Thomas Cromwell
/ˌtɒməs ˈkrɒmwel/
/ˌtɑːməs ˈkrɑːmwel/
- (c. 1485-1540) the chief minister to King Henry VIII during the 1530s. After the fall of Thomas Wolsey, Cromwell arranged the king's divorce from Catherine of Aragon and later organized the Dissolution of the Monasteries. In 1540, Cromwell was made the Earl of Essex, but four months later the King accused him of treason (= the crime of betraying one's country) and had his head cut off. Cromwell said at his execution that he died a Catholic.