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Do you agree with the view expressed in source e that the fall of Thomas Cromwell in 1540 was primarily the work of his enemies at court?
Thomas Cromwell perceived by many historians to have been the second Wolsey, obtaining a majority of the power available within the power vacuum after Wolsey’s demise. He became the second most powerful man in England obtaining titles such as Lord Chancellor, he created several controversial reforms which made him unpopular and he made some potentially dangerous enemies at court, the enemies would overall be one of many factors which would lead to his execution.
Source E is source from a revisionist Historian who will have looked into a variety of sources regarding Thomas Cromwell’s demise prior to coming to an overall conclusion. When looking at providence of the source it is an impartial source as the writer does not have a motive, although like hay source it will have been opinion based. Throughout Cromwell’s career, he had made several reforms which were supported by the protestant radicals within parliament and at court, yet the conservatives strongly opposed Cromwell and a majority of the powerful noble house in England were very conservative in their views. Through reforms such as the dissolution of monasteries and continuation of the break from Rome, and his blatant advances towards a more protestant church in England he gained himself some very powerful enemies such as Thomas Howard who was a leading conservative leader and even introduced his niece to court to seduce Henrys mind and gain support against Cromwell within the court. Source E goes onto to say that Cromwell had already lost Henrys favour due to the collapse of the marriage to Anne of Cleves, ‘… might have survived if his enemies had not made good use of the collapse of the Cleves marriage’, the annulment of the Cleves marriage had put Norfolk in a very strong position through as I mentioned earlier the introduction of his niece, and his support at both

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