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Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex was born in 1485 he was an English statesman who served as chief minister of King Henry VIII of England from 1532 to 1540.
Cromwell was one of the strongest advocates of the English Reformation, the English church's break with the Catholic Church in Rome.
On 18 April 1540, Henry granted Cromwell the earldom of Essex and the senior court office of Lord Chamberlain
Despite his rise to fame at a meeting on 10 June 1540, Cromwell was arrested and imprisoned in the Tower of London on a charge of heresy and treason.
He was condemned to death without trial and beheaded on Tower Hill on 28 July 1540, the day of the King's marriage to Katherine Howard. After the execution, his head was set on a spike on London Bridge.
His great-grandson was Oliver Cromwell the Lord Protector
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