Mark Rylance, center, stars as Thomas Cromwell in “Wolf Hall.” In this photo from episode three, he is flanked by Tom Mothersdale, left, playing Richard Rich, and Harry Melling as Thomas Wriothesley. Nick Briggs/Playground Television (UK) Ltd Enchanted by the new episodes of “Wolf Hall” now showing on PBS? Wondering how much is true? These four books provide detailed, and dramatic, documentation concerning the life of Henry VIII’s chief minister and machinations at the Tudor court where he thrived — until his precipitous fall.
‘The Tudor Revolution in Government,’ by G.R. Elton “The Tudor Revolution in Government” by G.
R. Elton. Cambridge University Press About the book: For centuries, scholars took a dim view of Henry VIII’s chief minister – he was the despotic king’s Machiavellian fixer, a cynical henchman who ruthlessly pursued power and wealth.
In 1953, Geoffrey R. Elton, professor of history at the University of Cambridge, upended the field with this book, proclaiming Thomas Cromwell “the most remarkable revolutionary in English history.” Elton argued that before Cromwell, England was run as if it were the monarch’s private estate.
Cromwell, as Henry’s right-hand man, installed proper machinery of state: hiring bureaucrats, establishing departments, improving administrative practice — including requiring parishes to keep registers of baptisms, marriages and burials. In the process, Cromwell lay the foundation for functioning constituti.
