allimuffin asked:
I just watched the first two seasons of The Tudors and wanted to know if their portrayal of Thomas Cromwell was accurate. Was he really that bad of a guy, and what was his ultimate goal in pleasing the king?
I have never seen The Tudors (for shame, right?), but from what I know of Cromwell was more opportunistic than bad. Now, opportunistic does not forgive anything, but it helps you understand his point of view. Cromwell’s relatively modest beginnings are also a good demonstration of his precarious situation. Cromwell’s attempts to take power away from the nobility of England in order to bring the government to a much more modern state were accepted by Henry VIII because Thomas was also willing to help Henry divorce Catherine of Aragon.
