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THOMAS CROMWELL AND WILLIAM MARSHALL'S PROTESTANT BOOKS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 September 2004

WILLIAM UNDERWOOD
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Abstract

Thomas Cromwell's association with various writers has long been noted, but how these authors' writings might reflect his personal religious beliefs has not been closely studied. An examination of one such author, William Marshall, and of his work, reveals not only that Cromwell was likely a Lutheran, but that he used the press to promote doctrinal Protestantism in England. Through Marshall, Cromwell sponsored English translations of doctrinally radical texts by Martin Luther, Joachim von Watt, and Martin Bucer. And when these books got Marshall into trouble, Cromwell protected him. The picture that emerges substantiates John Foxe's description of Cromwell as a ‘valiant soldier and captain of Christ’, but also the charge made in his bill of attainder, that he had circulated heretical books.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Historical Journal , Volume 47 , Issue 3 , September 2004 , pp. 517 - 539
Copyright
2004 Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

I would like to thank Brian Levack for reading and commenting on a version of this article, and for supervising much of the research on which it is based.