Gregory Cromwell (abt. 1520 - 1551)

Born about 1520 in London, Middlesex, England [uncertain]

Ancestors

Husband of Elizabeth (Seymour) Paulet — married 3 Aug 1537 in Mortlake, Surrey, England [uncertain]

Descendants

Died 4 Jul 1551 at about age 31 in Launde Abbey, Leicestershire, England

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Biography

Gregory Cromwell was born in Middlesex, England.

Gregory Cromwell, was born about 1520 in London, England^[1]. he was the youngest of the three children of Thomas Cromwell and his wife, Elizabeth and their only son. There is no contemporaneous record of his birth but it was almost certainly at Austin Friars^[2], the house his father was renting in London.

From 1528 to 1533, Gregory was sent to Cambridge to lodge with friends of his father and to receive an education. A number of his letters home survive^[3]. In 1535 he went to live with Sir Henry Southwell, another of his father's friends^[4].

In August 1536 Gregory was staying with Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, who described him in a letter to his father: Your son is in good health here, "sparing no horseflesh to run after the deer and hounds. I trust you will not be discontent that I now cause him to forbear his book." Be sure you shall have in him "a wise quick piece." ^[5]

On 3 August 1537 Gregory married Elizabeth Seymour, youngest sister of Queen Jane and daughter of Sir John Seymour, Sheriff of Wiltshire, Constable of Bristol Castle at Wolf Hall in Wiltshire. Elizabeth was a young widow with two young children, Henry and Margery. Gregory and Elizabeth went on to have 3 sons and 2 daughters: Henry, Edward, Thomas, Katherine and Frances. Initially the young couple lived at Austin Friars with Gregory's father.

A few months after the marriage, Queen Jane died in childbirth and the young couple played a prominent part in the lavish funeral^[6].

In 1538 the couple were living in Lewes in Sussex at the Priory house of a monastery that had been gifted to his father^[7]. Gregory became Sheriff of Sussex at the age of eighteen.

In 1539 they moved to Leeds Castle in Kent, of which Thomas had been made constable^[8]. Ensconced there, Gregory became an MP for Kent in the 1539 parliament^[9].

In December of that year, Gregory was part the delegation that went to Calais to welcome the King's new wife-to-be, Anne of Cleves^[10].

In April of 1540, his father was made Earl of Essex, entitling Gregory to use the courtesy title of Lord Cromwell. However in June, his father was arrested and summarily executed six weeks later. All his great fortune was forfeit except for those lands in Rutland and Leicestershire that had been settled on Gregory in 1538. And yet King Henry's displeasure was brief and he soon regretted the the death of his most faithful servant^[11]. In December he was created Baron Cromwell in his own right^[12].

In February 1541, the King restored some his father's lands to him^[13], centred around Launde Abbey in Leicestershire, near the Rutland border. Gregory and Elizabeth set about turning this into their family home.

Gregory had learned from his father's downfall and avoided court politics during the turbulent remaining years of King Henry's reign and those of his son. He was a member of the House of Lords with excellent attendance^[14]. He was present at the trials of many members of the Howard family who had been his father's enemies.

After Henry's death in January 1547, Gregory was part of the funeral procession as one of the six lords carrying the canopy over the king's coffin^[15].

During King Edward VI's reign he was also present at the trials of his Seymour brothers-in-law, Thomas and Edward^[14].

He died on 4 July 1551 at Launde Abbey, Leicestershire, and was buried in the chapel there in a magnificent tomb^[16].

Sources

1. ↑ Leithead, Howard (January 2008) . "Cromwell, Thomas, Earl of Essex (b. in or before 1485, d. 1540)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press.
2. ↑ Holder, Nick (2017). The Friaries of Medieval London: From Foundation to Dissolution. Woodbridge: Boydell. pp. 119–41. ISBN 9781783272242.
3. ↑ Original letters, illustrative of English history : ser.1-3 by Ellis, Henry, Sir, 1777-1869 page 338 and following https://archive.org/stream/originallettersn3s01elliuoft#page/338/mode/2up
4. ↑ Virgoe, Roger (1982). "Southwell, Richard (1502/03–1564), of London and Wood Rising, Norf.". In Bindoff, S.T. (ed.). The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1509–1558. 3: Members N-Z. London, UK: History of Parliament Trust by Secker & Warburg. ISBN 978-0436042829. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
5. ↑ Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 11, July-December 1536. #233 https://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol11/pp90-103
6. ↑ Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 12 Part 2, June-December 1537. https://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol12/no2/pp370-386
7. ↑ Hawkyard, A.D.K. (1982). "Cromwell, Gregory (by 1516-51), of Lewes, Suss.; Leeds Castle, Kent and Launde, Leics.". In Bindoff, S.T. (ed.). Members. The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1509–1558. 1: Appendices, constituencies, members A–C. London, UK: History of Parliament Trust by Secker & Warburg. ISBN 978-0436042829. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
8. ↑ Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 14 Part 2, August-December 1539. https://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol14/no2/pp1-15
9. ↑ http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/cromwell-gregory-1516-51
10. ↑ Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 14 Part 2, August-December 1539. https://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol14/no2/pp226-233
11. ↑ Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, 16, 590 https://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol16/pp282-289
12. ↑ Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 16, 1540-1541. December 1540, 26-31 Pages 162-178 https://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol16/pp162-178
13. ↑ Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 16, 1540-1541. https://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol16/pp267-281
14. ↑ ^{14.0 14.1} Hawkyard, A.D.K. (1982). "Cromwell, Gregory (by 1516-51), of Lewes, Suss.; Leeds Castle, Kent and Launde, Leics.". In Bindoff, S.T. (ed.). Members. The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1509–1558. 1: Appendices, constituencies, members A–C. London, UK: History of Parliament Trust by Secker & Warburg. ISBN 978-0436042829. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
15. ↑ Ecclesiastical memorials relating chiefly to religion, and the reformation of it, and the emergencies of the Church of England, under King Henry VIII, King Edward VI, and Queen Mary I : with large appendixes, containing original papers, records, &c. by Strype, John, Pub. date 1822 https://archive.org/stream/ecclesiasticalme0202stry#page/296/mode/2up
16. ↑ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/61592851/gregory-cromwell

See Also:

• Wikipedia contributors, "Gregory Cromwell, 1st Baron Cromwell," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, Gregory Cromwell (accessed April 4, 2019).

• “Our Royal, Titled, Noble, and Commoner Ancestors & Cousins s). - Person Page.” Accessed April 4, 2019. Gregory Cromwell

• http://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/who-was-gregory-cromwell-how-fiction-became-history-by-teri-fitzgerald/

• Photos of Launde Abbey on Flickr Launde Abbey

• “CROMWELL, Gregory (by 1516-51), of Lewes, Suss.; Leeds Castle, Kent and Launde, Leics. | History of Parliament Online.” Accessed April 4, 2019. Gregory Cromwell

• http://englishhistoryauthors.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/the-merchants-son-gregory-cromwell-1st.html

• Cromwell, Baron (E, 1540 - 1687) Cracroft's Peerage