The fall of Thomas Cromwell

Political reasons

• Henry felt isolated and vulnerable in Europe, especially after his excommunication. France and the Holy Roman Empire were both prosecuting protestants fiercely and had agreed not to make an alliance with England
• The breakdown in Franco-Spanish relations rendered his protestant union useless
• He had made a lot of enemies from the dissolution of the monasteries
• His enemies hated him because he was born of low birth (a blacksmith's son) and had risen to be Henry's leading minister and vice-gerent in spirituals. They said that he had been protecting protestants in Calais and was unwilling to enforce the terms of the…