Since the sixteenth century we have been fascinated by Henry the VIII and the man who stood beside him. Guiding him, enriching him, and enduring the Kings sensational appetites and violent outbursts untill Henry ordered his beheading in July 1540.
After a decade of sleuthing in the Royal Archives, Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch has emerged with "Thomas Cromwell: A Revolutionary Life" A new understanding of Henry's machariel chief minister. History has not been kind to the son of a Putney brewer who became the architect of England's split with Rome. However, MacCulloch unveils a more sympathetic figure. Was Cromwell the villain of history or the victim of its creation?