As Wolf Hall reaches its endgame, how did Thomas Cromwell die?

Thomas Cromwell was once one of the most powerful men in England, having gained King Henry VIII’s favour for his advice during the monarch’s marriages to Catherine or Aragon, Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour. But while his rise to power was stratospheric, his fall would prove to be just as significant.

BBC drama Wolf Hall examines the advisor’s rise and fall in detail, with the new season adapting Hilary Mantel’s seminal work The Mirror and the Light which follows him in the years after Anne Boleyn’s execution. In real life, this event proved to be the pique of Cromwell’s career and it only took a few years for him to meet the same fate as the woman he had a large hand in sending to the executioner’s block.

How did Thomas Cromwell fall out of favour with Henry VIII?

Thomas Cromwell was instrumental in helping Henry VIII break from Rome when he wanted to divorce his first wife Catherine of Aragon, and England’s religious upheaval caused quite a stir amongst the people. Political unrest began to rise, with the public rallying against the religious reforms that Cromwell had helped to establish.

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One such rebellion was named the Pilgrimage of Grace, which was a large scale revolt that the king had to put down through violence. The revolts in the Midlands and northern counties revealed that the people were not angry at their sovereign but Cromwell, who they deemed a “heretic”.

This violent insurrection led Henry VIII to lost faith in Cromwell, and was the beginning of the end of their partnership. The monarch began to distance himself from his advisor, and Cromwell is said to have become increasingly aware of the danger he would find himself in if he didn’t win the king’s favour back.

Cromwell believed he saw the way to do so when he brought the king a prospective new bride following Jane Seymour’s death giving birth to his long-sought-after heir Edward VI. The chief minister introduced the king to Anne of Cleves, little did he know that she would prove to be his doom.

Henry VIII insisted he see the prospective bride before he agree to wed her, and sent a court painter to meet the German princess and paint him her portrait. The king liked the painting enough to agree to the marriage, but when Anne of Cleves arrived he immediately disliked her and was said to have shouted “I like her not” to his advisor.

The king tasked Cromwell with securing an annulment for their marriage, he was able to do so after a few months and earned some favour back — however his enemies were infuriated by this. According to historians, the Duke of Norfolk and the Bishop of Winchester began to tell Henry VIII in private that Cromwell was plotting treason, even going so far as to suggest he had intentions to wed the king’s daughter Mary I.

Baseless though these claims were, they were enough to convince Henry VIII of Cromwell’s treason and he soon had him arrested and sent to the Tower of London.

How did Thomas Cromwell die?

While imprisoned in the Tower, Cromwell beseeched his monarch through countless letters in which he asked Henry VIII to pardon him. His final letter famously ended with the plea: “Most gracious prince, I cry for mercy, mercy, mercy.”

It all was in vain though as Cromwell was sent to face the executioner on 28 July 1540, the same day that Henry VIII married his fifth wife Catherine Howard.

Cromwell was beheaded, with his head put on display alongside others guilty of treason on London Bridge. His remains were later buried in the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula, which is inside the Tower of London and is also where Anne Boleyn and Thomas More are buried.

Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light continues Sundays at 9pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.