Gregory Cromwell, 1st Baron Cromwell ( – 4 July 1551) was an English nobleman. He was the only son of the Tudor statesman Thomas Cromwell ( – 1540) and Elizabeth Wyckes (d. 1529).
Gregory's father Thomas Cromwell rose from obscurity to become the chief minister of Henry VIII, who attempted to modernize government at the expense of the privileges of the nobility and church. He used his office to promote religious reform and was one of the strongest advocates of the English Reformation.
In 1537, Gregory married Elizabeth, Lady Ughtred, widow of Sir Anthony Ughtred, sister to Jane Seymour and therefore became brother-in-law to Henry VIII and uncle to Edward VI. Gregory survived the dramatic fall from royal favour and subsequent execution of his father in 1540, as well as the ousting of his brother-in-law and patron, Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, in 1549. He became a wealthy landowner, owning land and property in several counties in England, mainly in Rutland and Leicestershire. Gregory's family connections had provided him with wealth, property and privileges; however, it was through his own intelligence and ability, combined with the remarkable education and training provided by his father, that he was able to benefit from them, leaving his wife and family well provided for at his death. Gregory was succeeded by his eldest son, and heir, Henry.
Gregory Cromwell died in July 1551. He may be the subject of two portrait miniatures by Hans Holbein the Younger.
Early years Gregory Cromwell was born in London around 1520.: "Cromwell's late sister Catherine also had a son named Gregory; perhaps the boys were both born in spring, around the time of Saint Gregory's feast day of 12 March." See also . Surviving letters suggest that the home where he lived with his father, mother and grandmother, Mercy Pryor, was a happy one. Gregory's father, Thomas Cromwell, had "The habit of not taking himself too seriously; the friendly and familiar atmosphere out of which this comes was evidently the atmosphere of Cromwell's house. And he seems to have early displayed that ready gratitude for kindness, that fidelity to those who had helped him, for which he became noted at home and abroad. People liked to go to his home and remembered their visit with pleasure."
A successful merchant and lawyer, Thomas Cromwell was a man of relatively humble beginnings whose intelligence and abilities enabled him to rise to become the most powerful man in England next to the King. His own father, Walter Cromwell, had been a jack of all trades – a blacksmith, fuller and brewer who had, from time to time, come to the attention of the authorities. Thomas Cromwell was sent to school as a boy, where he learned to read and write and was taught a little Latin. Thomas Cromwell provided a more extensive education for his own son, Gregory.
Thomas and Elizabeth had three surviving children – a son, Gregory, and two daughters, Anne and Grace. Thomas Cromwell's wife died early in 1529, and his daughters, Anne and Grace, are believed to have died not long after their mother. Provisions made for Anne and Grace in Thomas Cromwell's will, written on 12 July 1529, have been crossed out at a later date.
Thomas Cromwell had another daughter, Jane ( – 1580) whose early life is a complete mystery. According to Hilary Mantel, "Cromwell had an illegitimate daughter, and beyond the fact that she existed, we know very little about her. She comes briefly into the records, in an incredibly obscure way – she's in the archives of the county of Chester." Jane married William Hough ( – 1585), of Leighton in Wirrall, Cheshire, around 1550. William Hough was the son of Richard Hough (1505 – 1574) who was employed by Thomas Cromwell from 1534 to 1540 as his agent in Chester. It is unknown what role Thomas and Gregory Cromwell played in her life. Jane and her husband William Hough, together with their daughter, Alice, her husband, William Whitmore and their children, came to the attention of the authorities as recusant Catholics in the reign of Elizabeth I.
Gregory Cromwell came to share his father's interests and religious beliefs and was closely following the religious developments taking place in England while his father was in office. Gregory's close friends, William Cecil and Ralph Sadler, were known adherents of the reformed faith. A letter written to Gregory by Henry Dowes in March 1540 reveals that he was deeply concerned about the recantation of the vicar of Stepney, William Jerome. In his report to his former pupil, Dowes noted that "your comaundemente hath fully persuaded me you to be nott a litle desyrous to receyve knowledge after what sorte he behaved himselfe, aswell concernyng his Recantation, as also the reste of thinges conteyned in his saide Sermon."
After the deaths of his wife and daughters, Thomas Cromwell was devoted to his son, Gregory, and his sister Catherine's son, Richard Williams, and they were a close family. One of Richard's letters to his uncle bemoaned their separation from one another. He wrote that "I never more desired anything, than since your departure, to see you, nor thought time longer in your absence." Gregory was equally effusive in a letter where he asked only for his father's blessing, which he described as "more treasure unto me then all the abundance of worldly goods." Gregory remained close to his father and looked up to his older cousin, Richard Cromwell, who had distinguished himself by his military skill and gallantry. By the autumn of 1529, he had adopted the name, Cromwell. Richard left his cousin, Gregory "a great horse" in his will.
Education Be sure you shall have in him a wise quick piece Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk
Thomas Cromwell ensured his son received the best possible education at Cambridge with a number of carefully selected tutors,A number of letters survive from Gregory Cromwell to his father and others from his tutors that provide details of the boy's education while at Cambridge and at the homes of his supervisors and mentors: Gregory Cromwell:
Margaret Vernon:
John Chekyng:
John Hunt:
Henry Lockwood:
Henry Dowes: often sending gifts to Gregory and his older companions, Nicholas Sadler and cousins, Christopher Wellyfed and another known only as Beresford, who were educated with him. Gregory was at Cambridge from 1528 to 1533. During his education, he resided in Pembroke Hall and Christ's College and at the homes of his father's friends and colleagues.
It has been incorrectly asserted by early historians such as John Sherren Brewer and R. B. Merriman and assumed by later historians like B.W. Beckingsale and David Loades that Gregory Cromwell was fourteen or fifteen when he was being educated at Cambridge in 1528 and therefore born around 1514. This has led to negative speculation about the boy's character and abilities which can be disproved. Gregory was, in fact, beginning his education and not undertaking a degree at the end of his education. He did not obtain a degree at Cambridge. That would have been unusual for a gentleman's son at that time, unless he had been destined for a career in the church.
Sir Henry Ellis stated that "The date of Gregory Cromwell's birth is not recorded, but it could hardly have been earlier than 1520." It appears that Henry Ellis was right and that Gregory Cromwell was a small boy in 1528, no more than eight years old. Letters from Gregory's supervisors, tutors and mentors during his education point to a year of birth of around 1520. As evidence that Gregory was very young in 1528, there are two letters written by John Chekyng, his tutor, to Thomas Cromwell, describing a little boy who plays and who is learning to read and write. The first letter, written in July 1528, states that his son Gregory "is not now at Cambridge, but in the country, where he works and plays alternately ... He is now studying the things most conducive to the reading of authors, and spends the rest of the day in forming letters." A second letter from Chekyng, written in November 1528, notes that "Little Gregory is becoming great in letters."
Another letter to Thomas Cromwell, which can be dated to between September 1529 and Whitsuntide 1530, written by Margaret Vernon provides further proof of Gregory's young age. Vernon wrote "You promised that I should have the governance of the child till he was 12 years old. By that time he shall speak for himself if any wrong be offered him, for as yet he cannot, except by my maintenance."
After the death of his mother, Gregory was placed in the care of his father's friend, Margaret Vernon, Prioress of Little Marlow, in Buckinghamshire. At that time it was not unusual for gentlemen to place their young children in the care of nuns. As a rule the boys in nunneries were very young as it was not considered appropriate for them to stay with the nuns later than their ninth or tenth year. The nuns were permitted to educate only the girls. It was acceptable for young boys, up to the age of nine or ten, to be supervised by nuns, but not taught by them, and so they were usually accompanied by a male tutor.
Margaret Vernon wrote to Cromwell in 1528 stating that "Your son and his master are in good health, and now prosper in learning more in one day than before in a week, by reason of Nich. Saddelar, who is of very good conditions. Mr. Copland every morning gives each of them a laten, the which Nicholas doth bear away, as well Gregory's lesson as his own, and maketh the same Gregory perfect against his time of rendering. The master takes such comfort that he is with them three times a day." Gregory's older companion, Nicholas Sadler, may have been a younger brother or perhaps a cousinAs Ralph Sadler was born in 1507, Nicholas could not have been his son. of Sir Ralph Sadler, Thomas Cromwell's personal secretary and close friend. Nicholas Sadler also had with him a "little gentlewoman", who Margaret wished permission to educate herself, to fill up her leisure intervals.
While Gregory was at Cambridge, his tutors included:
John Chekyng, Fellow of Pembroke Hall, sophister, chosen 1519, reader of divinity, 1534. Henry Lockwood, Master of Christ's College, 1531–1548. John Hunt, (1514–1586), graduate of Cardinal College, Oxford, lawyer.
Gregory was later placed under the care and supervision of his father's friends and allies, Rowland Lee (died 1543), Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry. English Bishop. Educated at Cambridge, he received preferment under the patronage of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, who employed him in the suppression of the monasteries (1528–29). He was greatly esteemed by Henry VIII and is believed to have performed the ceremony of Henry's marriage to Anne Boleyn (1533). He was one of the first bishops to take the oath of Supremacy recognizing Henry as Head of the Church. Sir Richard Southwell (1504–1564), Privy Councillor. Early in 1535, for some period, Gregory lived with Southwell in Woodrising Manor in Norfolk, and Henry Dowes, (c. 1501–1550), the son of a wealthy Maldon merchant, who was mentor to Gregory Cromwell for several years. He supervised his pupil's tuition in Latin, French and other subjects. Dowes appears to have kept up his relationship with Gregory Cromwell after ceasing to be his mentor. In March 1540 he sent Gregory a detailed report of a sermon preached by the vicar of Stepney, William Jerome, which had included 'opprobrious words against the burgesses of the Parliament as calling them butterflies, dissemblers and knaves'.
Gregory Cromwell received dedications to three humanist works: Florentius Volusenus's version of Cicero's Dream of Scipio; David Clapham's translation of Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa's Commendation of Matrimony and Sir Richard Morrison's translation of Juan Luis Vives' Introduction to Wisdom.