Fall of Anne Boleyn and Thomas Cromwell

Part of domestic policies under Cromwell

Fall of Anne Boleyn

• Anne was responsible for helping push the king in a more protestant direction

• Relations between Anne and Cromwell - publicly broke down - Cromwell felt his relationship with the king + his life was threatened

• Anne’s downfall was sudden

How Anne Boleyn fell

• Cromwell allied with the conservatives and they persuaded Henry that Anne’s flirtatious manner had led to adultery

• Anne was always a target for the conservaties, and was accused of adultery and incest

• For the wife of a monarch this was treason

• Anne was executed on 19 May 1536, meant that in Catholic eyes he was free to remarry

Fall of Thomas Cromwell

• By 1540 Cromwell’s influence was declining

• Cause of his downfall was failing to manage the king’s marriages satisfactorily

• After Jane Seymour, Henry’s third wife, died after giving birth to the male heir, Cromwell was tasked with arranging Henry’s next marriage

Anne of Cleves in relation to Cromwell’s fall

• Cromwell arranged a marriage between Henry and German Protestant princess, Anne of Cleves

• Match was unwelcome politically and personally to the King

• Marriage was annulled, destroying what remained of Cromwell’s credibility to the king

• Gave Cromwell’s enemies, led by the Duke of Norfolk to secure his downfall

Norfolk and Cromwell’s downfall

• Norfolk brought about the Catholic Catherine Howard to marry the king

• Cromwellwas accused of treason and heresy and executed on July 28 1540

• Marriage between Heny and Catherine took place on the same day