what happened to cromwell

Thomas Cromwell, King Henry VIII's chief minister and a powerful proponent of the English Reformation, fell from power in 1540 after arranging the King's ill-fated marriage to Anne of Cleves. The marriage was a disaster and led to Cromwell losing the King's favor. Despite being created Earl of Essex earlier that year, Cromwell was arrested on charges of treason, heresy, corruption, and an implausible accusation of plotting to marry the King's daughter, Princess Mary. His enemies, including the Duke of Norfolk and Bishop Stephen Gardiner, exploited the situation to persuade the paranoid King Henry VIII that Cromwell was plotting against him. Cromwell was condemned to death without a formal trial through an act of attainder and was executed by beheading on Tower Hill on 28 July 1540, the same day Henry married Catherine Howard. Accounts say it took several blows of the axe to sever his head, and his executioner was described as "ragged and butcherly." Cromwell made a speech on the scaffold denying guilt and professing to die in the traditional Catholic faith to protect his family. After his death, his titles and honors were forfeited, and his head was displayed on London Bridge. The King later expressed regret over Cromwell's execution, which marked a significant loss for his reign