Customer Reviews

Setting the record straight - By: Richard Scott, 29 Oct 2008
At last a book to make people question the commonly held view of Cromwell as Henry VIII's evil minister who got what he deserved when he was executed. Schofield restores Cromwell's reputation using a painstaking study of material from Tudor times to show how flawed the current view of the man is. Crucially, Schofield bases much of his work & understanding from the religious turmoil of the time. By understanding where Cromwell stoodin the religious divide of the day Schofield provides a much sounder interpretation of events than other recent works including Robert Hutchinson's badly flawed but entertaining biography of the man. So why not 5 stars? The reason for that is perhaps Schofield sometimes goes too farin his enthusiasm to defend Cromwell from all charges. For example, the anaylsis of Cromwell's partin Anne Boleyn's downfall is fascinating but feels as though it has been forced too far to totally undermine the traditional view that Cromwell is the villain of the piece. The other reservation is that the editing of the book could have been better, not least when you compare the sub-standard reproductions of paintings compared with thosein Hutchinson's inferior biography. Allin all though this is a much needed & excellent work. Any one who reads it will be the better for understanding more about one of the leading religious & political figuresin English history.