CROMWELL, THOMAS, EARL OF ESSEX, BARON CROMWELL OF OKEHAM

born c. 1485, , Putney, near London died July 28, 1540, probably London principal adviser (153240) to England's Henry VIII, chiefly responsible for establishing the Reformation in England, for the dissolution of the monasteries, and for strengthening the royal administration. At the instigation of his enemies he was eventually arrested for heresy and treason and executed. Additional reading Biographies include Neville Williams, The Cardinal & the Secretary (1975), a dual biography of Thomas Wolsey and Cromwell; and B.W. Beckingsale, Thomas Cromwell, Tudor Minister (1978). Cromwell's contributions to the English Reformation are dealt with in A.G. Dickens, Thomas Cromwell and the English Reformation (1959, reissued 1969); and in three works by G.R. Elton: The Tudor Revolution in Government (1953, reissued 1974), analyzing his work as an administrator, Policy and Police (1972), showing Cromwell's solution to the problems of enforcement of the Reformation, and Reform and Renewal (1973), examining his program of reform and his relations with Parliament.