A blacksmith’s son became the fox behind England’s most dangerous lion. This is how Thomas Cromwell rewired power.
From Putney’s Brewhouse Lane to Florence at the height of the Renaissance, Tracey Borman follows Cromwell’s audacious climb: charming Pope Leo X with singers and jelly in a woodland hunt to secure Boston Stump’s indulgences, mastering Machiavelli’s playbook, and learning from Wolsey’s fall. Inside Hampton Court’s chapel, a tiny book shows “Pope” crossed out and “Rex Henry” inked in. Then comes the bold stroke that changed everything: the Act in Restraint of Appeals. And when Hales Abbey claimed to hold Christ’s blood, Cromwell’s men put it to the test.
How did a ruffian turn Europe’s ideas into Henry VIII’s leverage? Which documents did he quietly edit, and why did Boston risk a fortune on him? Step inside the manoeuvres that made - and threatened - his power.
Watch to see the pivotal moments, the unlikely allies, and the Machiavellian choices that forged a modern Tudor state.
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