Thomas Cromwell: The Rise and Fall of Henry VIII's Most Notorious Minister

"The son of a brewer, Thomas Cromwell rose from obscurity to become the confidant of the King and one of the most influential men in British history. Cromwell drafted the law that allowed Henry VIII to divorce his first wife and marry Anne Boleyn, setting into motion the brutal Protestant Reformation ... Tasked with engineering the judicial murder of Anne Boylen when she had worn out her welcome in the royal chamber, he tortured her servants and relations to extract condeming information, then organized a 'show trail' of Stalinist efficiency ... Cromwell also orchestrated the 'greatest act of privatization in English history': the seizure of the monasteries. Their enormous wealth was used not only to enrich the crown, but also to cement the loyalty of the English nobility ... Over the course of his career, Cromwell amassed a fortune through bribery and theft, and created many enemies along the way. His fall was spectacular - beheaded out side the Tower of London, his boiled head was placed on a spike above the London Bridge."--Publisher