How did Thomas Cromwell die – and will we see it in Wolf Hall?
King Henry VIII's closest aide suffered a dramatic fall from grace.
The final years of Thomas Cromwell (Mark Rylance) are the focus of the BBC's prestige period drama Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light, leaving many viewers with questions as to how he fell from grace.
As depicted in the first season, Cromwell enjoyed the favour of King Henry VIII (Damian Lewis) for many years, devising his controversial divorce from first wife Catherine of Aragon (Joanne Whalley) after it became clear she could not give him a son.
After installing Anne Boleyn (Claire Foy) on the throne beside the tyrannical monarch, he also played an instrumental role in her downfall, as she could not produce a male heir either and her loyalty to the king came under doubt.
The charges he brought against Boleyn ultimately led to her execution, but in a nasty twist of fate he would later find himself in a similar situation. Here's how Cromwell died – and how much we can expect to see in Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light.
How did Thomas Cromwell die?
Thomas Cromwell was beheaded in July 1540 at the age of either 54 or 55.
This unpleasant end came about following a series of miscalculations on his part and the devious machinations of his power-hungry political opponents.
One of the most influential factors was Cromwell's prominent role in arranging King Henry VIII's marriage to Anne of Cleves, whom the ruler would ultimately deem physically unattractive upon her arrival to England.
Unlike earlier marriages to Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn, the marriage to Anne of Cleves could be easily annulled as the king confided in Cromwell that he had failed to consummate it.
His aide made the unwise decision of sharing this information with associates William FitzWilliam and Thomas Wriothesley – and it wasn't long before it spread, causing embarrassment for the insecure king.
The nuptials with Anne caused further headaches as it posed a risk that England would have to declare war on France, which was in the middle of a feud with the leader of her homeland, Cleves.
Ultimately, these successive blunders created an environment in which more outlandish accusations could be drawn up against Cromwell by his enemies, many of which may well have been fabricated.
Among the charges he faced was a claim that he was plotting to marry the king's young daughter, Princess Mary Tudor, which most historians believe was likely untrue – although the pair did have a friendship of sorts, as depicted in Wolf Hall.
Cromwell was sentenced to execution by beheading with no trial, and his pleas to the king for mercy were ignored, although some historical sources suggest that Henry went on to regret killing the man who was quite possibly the most loyal servant he ever had.
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Will Thomas Cromwell's death be depicted in Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light?
It's too soon to say for sure whether Thomas Cromwell's execution will be depicted in the BBC's Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light, but notably, the novel by Hilary Mantel does end with his death.
Mantel's celebrated trilogy of novels is centred on Cromwell's rise to prominence in Tudor England and his catastrophic fall from grace, with the closing chapters chronicling his ousting from power and incarceration in the Tower of London.
If Wolf Hall director Peter Kosminsky and screenwriter Peter Straughan intend for their television version to be a complete adaptation, it stands to reason that they would end their story at the same place that Mantel concluded hers.
We'll find out what they decided when Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light episode 6 – the series finale – premieres on BBC One and iPlayer on Sunday 15th December 2024.
Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light airs Sundays on BBC One and iPlayer.
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Authors
David Craig is the Senior Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering the latest and greatest scripted drama and comedy across television and streaming. Previously, he worked at Starburst Magazine, presented The Winter King Podcast for ITVX and studied Journalism at the University of Sheffield.
