The career of Thomas Cromwell illustrates perfectly both the tremendous opportunities and the appalling dangers of life at the centre of government in Tudor England.
He was born in Putney about 1485, the son of a blacksmith, who also worked as a fuller, a cloth merchant, a brewer and an innkeeper. His father was frequently in trouble with the authorities for offences varying from selling watered down beer to common assault. Leaving these humble origins behind, Thomas Cromwell went abroad aged about 15 and spent time in the Netherlands, France and Italy. Little is known about this part of Cromwell’s life, but he eventually secured employment with an influential banker in Florence, Francesco Frescobaldi. He quickly rose in the service of the Frescobaldi family, becoming fluent in French and Italian, and studying law.
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