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Cromwell, Thomas (1485 - 1540)

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Born / Died

Birth Date: 1485
Death Date: 1540-07-28

Notes

Member of Cardinal Wolsey's household ca. 1516--30. Admitted to Gray's Inn 1524. Imprisoned in the Tower on accusation of treason 10 June 1540; attainted 29 June 1540; beheaded

Parents

Marriages/Other Unions

  1. Wykes, Elizabeth ( - 1527)
    Type: marriage
    Union began: n.d.
    Union ended: n.d.

Siblings

Offspring

Primary Title

  • 1st Baron Cromwell

Titles

  • 1st Baron Cromwell
    Assumed: 1536-07-09
    Vacated: 1540-06-29 (date attainted)
  • 16th Earl of Essex
    Assumed: 1540-04-17
    Vacated: 1540-06-29 (date attainted)
  • Knight of the Garter
    Assumed: 1537-08-03 (date nominated; installed 26 Aug. 1537)
    Vacated: 1540-06-29 (date attainted)

Details of Offices

Began Ended Notes
Collector of Revenues, Province of York 1514
MP, England 1523 Constituency unknown
MP, Somerset 1529
Privy Councillor, England 1530/1 -1
Clerk of the Hanaper, England 1532 -7 -16 (held solely, then jointly April 1535) 1540 -06 -29 date attainted
Master of the Jewel House, England 1532 -4 -14 (held solely, then jointly ca. 1535) 1540 -06 -29 date attainted
Chancellor of the Exchequer, England 1533 -4 -12 1540 -06 -29 date attainted
Recorder, Bristol 1533 1540 -06 -29 date attainted
Steward, Westminster 1533 -9 -12 1535 -05 Held solely, then jointly from 14 Feb. 1533/4
Surveyor of the King's Woods, England 1533
Constable, Hertfordshire 1534 1540 -06 -29 date attainted Held jointly
Master of the Rolls, England 1534 -10 -8 1536 -07 -10
Principal Secretary to the King, England 1534 -4 1540 -04
Chancellor, High Steward & Visitor, Cambridgeshire 1535 1540 -06 -29 date attainted
Constable, Gloucestershire 1535 1540 -06 -29 date attainted Held jointly
Steward, Middlesex 1535 -5 -16
Steward, Duchy of Lancaster 1535 -5 -12 1540 -06 -29 date attainted
Steward, Middlesex 1535 -5 -12 1540 -06 -29 date attainted
Visitor General of the Monasteries, England 1535 1540 -06 -29 date attainted
JP, Dorset 1536 1539
Keeper of the Privy Seal, England 1536 -7 -2 1540 -06 -29 date attainted
MP, Kent 1536 Possibly held this constituency
Steward, Essex 1536 -6 -9
Vicar General & Vice-Regent of the King in Spirituals, England 1536 -7 -18
Chief Justice in Eyre & Warden, North of Trent 1537 -12 -30 1540 -06 -29 date attainted
Dean, Somerset 1537 1540 -06 -29 date attainted
JP, Lincolnshire 1537 1540
JP, Middlesex 1537
JP, Kent 1537 1539
JP, Oxfordshire 1537
JP, Suffolk 1537 1539
JP, Westmorland 1537
JP, Wiltshire 1537 1539
JP, Yorkshire: West Riding 1537 1540
JP, Cornwall 1537 1540
JP, Derbyshire 1537 1539
JP, Gloucestershire 1537
JP, Hertfordshire 1537 1540
Steward, Essex 1537 -12 -3
JP, Huntingdonshire 1537/8
JP, Worcestershire 1537/8 1539
JP, Herefordshire 1537/8
JP, Somerset 1537/8 1540
JP, Hampshire 1537/8
JP, Berkshire 1537/8
JP, Leicestershire 1537/8 1539
JP, Cumberland 1537/8 1539
JP, Cambridgeshire 1537/8 1539
JP, Lancashire 1537/8
JP, Sussex 1537/8
JP, Northumberland 1537/8
Capt, Isle of Wight 1538 -11 -2 1540 -06 -29 date attainted
Governor, Isle of Wight 1538 -11 -2 1540 -06 -29 date attainted
JP, York 1538
JP, Yorkshire: North Riding 1538 1539
JP, Yorkshire: East Riding 1538
JP, Hertfordshire 1538
JP, Norfolk 1538
JP, Surrey 1538 1539
JP, Shropshire 1538 1539
JP, Northamptonshire 1538 1539
JP, Warwickshire 1538 1539
JP, Essex 1538
JP, Nottinghamshire 1538
JP, Devon 1538 1540
JP, Staffordshire 1538
Constable, near Maidstone 1538/9 -1 -4 1540 -06 -29 date attainted
JP, Middlesex 1539
JP, Buckinghamshire 1539
JP, Cheshire 1539 1540
JP, Gloucestershire 1539 1540
Steward, Essex 1539 -9 -20
JP, Essex 1539/40
JP, Wiltshire 1539/40
JP, Northamptonshire 1539/40
JP, Hertfordshire 1539/40
Lord Chamberlain, England 1540 -4 -18

Details of Properties

Residence

  • Austin Friars,
    Residence from 1524--ca. 1534; built house ca. 1532.
  • Austin Friars, London (city-county)
  • Fenchurch Street house, London (city-county)
    Divested: 1522-09
  • Austins Friars house, London (city-county)
    Acquired: 1522-09
    Divested: 1540-06
    House stood 'against the gate' of the Austin Friars in Broad Street

Lands

  • Norfolk, Suffolk and part of Cambridgeshire
    Acquired: 1538-07-04
    Granted a portion of the diocese's lands
  • Bedfordshire
  • Cambridgeshire
  • Devon
  • Essex: Abbess Roding & Langham Hall Manors, Braiswick & Greenstead Manor (from St John's Abbey), St Osyth Monestary & Lands (Mile End & Abbots Hall Manors)
    Acquired: 1540-04-10
    Divested: 1540-06-29
    Granted
  • Essex: Great Horkesley Manor
    Acquired: 1539
    Divested: 1540-06-29
    Purchased
  • Essex: Little Horkesley Priory & Manor
    Acquired: 1530
    Divested: 1540-06-29
    Granted
  • Hertfordshire
  • Kent
  • Leicestershire: Blaston Manor
    Acquired: 1538
    Divested: 1538
    Granted; conveyed to son Gregory. Later known as Cromwell's Manor
  • Leicestershire: Launde Abbey
    Acquired: 1540-04-10
    Granted
  • Lincolnshire
  • Middlesex
  • Norfolk: North Elmham Manor
  • Northamptonshire
  • Oxfordshire
  • Rutland
  • Rutland: Oakham Lordship
    Acquired: 1536
  • Wales
  • Suffolk
  • Surrey
  • Sussex
  • Wiltshire
  • Yorkshire

Event Naming Patron

Event Type Date Location Troupe
Performance - New College, Oxford, Oxfordshire Lord Cromwell's Entertainers
Performance - King's College, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire Lord Cromwell's Performers
Performance - Guildhall, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire Lord Cromwell's Players
Performance - Guildhall, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire Lord Cromwell's Players
Performance - Booth Hall, Shrewsbury, Shropshire Lord Privy Seal's Players
Performance - Mr Whittall's Tavern, Ludlow, Shropshire Lord Privy Seal's Players
Performance - Booth Hall, Shrewsbury, Shropshire Lord Privy Seal's Players
Performance - Canterbury (Unknown), Hackington, Kent Lord Privy Seal's Players
Performance - Archbishop's Palace, Canterbury, Kent Lord Privy Seal's Players
Performance - Common Hall, York, York (city-county) in Yorkshire Lord Privy Seal's Players

Patronized Troupes

Troupe Name Patron Troupe Type # of events
Lord Cromwell's Performers Cromwell, Thomas (1485 - 1540) Entertainers/Minstrels 1
Lord Privy Seal's Players Cromwell, Thomas (1485 - 1540) Players 1
Lord Privy Seal's Players Cromwell, Thomas (1485 - 1540) Players 1
Lord Privy Seal's Players Cromwell, Thomas (1485 - 1540) Players 1
Lord Privy Seal's Players Cromwell, Thomas (1485 - 1540) Players 1
Lord Privy Seal's Players Cromwell, Thomas (1485 - 1540) Players 1
Lord Privy Seal's Players Cromwell, Thomas (1485 - 1540) Players 1
Lord Cromwell's Players Cromwell, Thomas (1485 - 1540) Players 1
Lord Cromwell's Players Cromwell, Thomas (1485 - 1540) Players 1
Lord Cromwell's Entertainers Cromwell, Thomas (1485 - 1540) Entertainers/Minstrels 1

Bibliographic Sources

View a list of abbreviations.

  • Beckingsale, B.W. Thomas Cromwell, Tudor Minister. London: Macmillan, 1978
  • Bindoff, S.T. The History of Parliament: The House of Commons, 1509–1558. 3 vols. London: Secker & Warburg, 1982
  • The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom. 1887–98 (8 vols); 1910–59 (13 vols). 6 vols. Gloucester: Alan Sutton, 1982
  • Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII [1509--47]. 21 vols and Addenda (2 vols). London: HMSO, 1864--1932
  • Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
  • The Victoria History of the County of Middlesex. 11 vols. London; London and Oxford: Archibald Constable [vol 2]; Oxford UP [vols 1, 3–11], 1911 [vol 2], 1962--98 [vol 1, 3--11]