Research Catalog

Title

Thomas Cromwell : Machiavellian statecraft and the English Reformation / J. Patrick Coby.

Author

Coby, Patrick, 1948-

Publication

Lanham : Lexington Books, [2009], ©2009.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xi, 229 pages : maps; 23 cm

Summary

"Thomas Cromwell, chief architect of the English Reformation, served as minister of Henry VIII from 1531 to 1540, a period that saw more political and religious reform than any other time in Henry's thirty-seven-year reign. Thus the momentous events of the 1530s are generally (but not universally) attributed to Cromwell's agency. In this classroom biography, the first in a generation and the only one now in print, that judgment is largely accepted, though it is combined with earlier and more critical assessments that view Cromwell as a disciple of Machiavelli. One distinguishing feature of this study is its overview of Machiavellian thought, along with its overview of Marsilian thought. Marsilius of Padua, fourteenth-century political philosopher and author of Defensor Pacis, is widely recognized as the source of Cromwell's reformation ideas; but nowhere is Marsilius explicated. Thus, while this book is a biography, its focus is broader and its uses are more varied."--BOOK JACKET.

Subjects

• Reformation > England
• Statesmen > Great Britain > Biography
• Cabinet officers > Great Britain > Biography
• England > Church history > 16th century
• Great Britain > History > Henry VIII, 1509-1547 > Biography
• Cromwell, Thomas, Earl of Essex, 1485?-1540
• Machiavelli, Niccolò, 1469-1527 > Influence
• Great Britain > Politics and government > 1509-1547 > Biography

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 215-220) and index.

Contents

1. Introduction: Thomas Cromwell and the Sixteenth Century -- 2. Sources: Marsilius and Machiavelli -- 3. The Pre-Ministerial Years -- 4. Henrician England -- 5. To Parliament and the Court -- 6. The Reformation Parliament -- 7. The Fall of Anne Boleyn -- 8. Rebellion -- 9. Henrician Protestantism and the Return to Orthodoxy -- 10. Matrimonial Diplomacy -- 11. The Fall of Thomas Cromwell -- 12. Conclusion: Cromwell, the Man and the Record.

ISBN

• 9780739134030 (cloth : alk. paper)
• 0739134035 (cloth : alk. paper)
• 9780739134047 (pbk. : alk. paper)
• 0739134043 (pbk. : alk. paper)
• 9780739134054 (e-book)
• 0739134051 (e-book)

LCCN

• 2008042309
• 40016387699

OCLC

• ocn258332500
• 258332500
• SCSB-13970630

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries