Historian Derek Wilson has just informed me that he's doing a series of articles on the six Thomases of Henry VIII's reign over on his blog. Here are some clickable links for you:
- Thomas Wolsey - 1. Thomas Wolsey - The Unkindest Cut
- Thomas More - 2. Thomas More - The Making of a Catholic Martyr
- Thomas Cromwell - 3. Thomas Cromwell - The Best Servant Henry Ever Had
- Thomas Howard - 4. Thomas Howard - The One That Got Away
Keep an eye on Derek's blog for the next two!
Derek has also written an article on the Predendaries' Plot for the June issue of History Today so that will be well worth a read.
If you haven't watched the talk Derek did for us here at the Tudor Society then click here. It's a brilliant talk.
Derek is a very interesting guy, his blog on the 4 Thomases, is very thought provoking. I would love to have another chatroom evening with him, to hear more of his views.
I have Dereks book, In the Lion’s Court’, which covers the same subjects as the blog, only in much greater detail. I highly recommend it.
Thanks for the endorsement, Dawn. I’ve always felt that, fascinating as Henry’s matrimonial alliances are, his relationships with the six men to whom he delegated considerable power – Wolsey, More, Cromwell, Wriothesley, Cranmer, Howard – are actually more significant, without being any the whit less ‘newsworthy’. And it’s a bonus that they were all called Thomas. We can even make up a mnemonic slogan similar to the well known one about the wives: ‘Died, beheaded, beheaded, self-slaughtered, burned survived’. Henry had the good fortune to be served by a succession or remarkably talented men (well, with the exception of Howard), and the sheer pig-headed brutality to destroy them once they had served their turn. The fate of ‘The Six’ is a good way of getting a handle on the times and particularly on the king’s psychology. Loyalty for him was a one-way street and the wastage of these remarkable men almost beggars belief. As Wyatt remarked, ‘It thunders near the throne’.