Discuss the validity of the comment – “None of Cromwell’s achievements survived his fall.”
... Another main achievement of Cromwell’s was the case of Henry’s annulment from marriage with Catherine of Aragon. This was done legally and without the succession being opposed after his fall. Despite a brief spell of returning to Rome under Mary I, the Tudor century remained one of continued, if slow protestant reform with the monarch as head of church made possible by Cromwell’s Act of Supremacy. This was another achievement of Cromwell’s that survived his fall. Further achievements by Cromwell that survived his fall were the dissolution of the monasteries. Scarisbrick has been noted to say that the dissolution was imperative to the reformation as it dissolved the catholic way of life. Ex monastic lands were sold to the rising Gentry to pay for fortifications along England’s coasts which ha been used to defend England for centuries. The Gentry, due to the break from Rome, became more powerful, permanently and irrevocably wealthy. Parliament also rose in power, they had more crucial a role in decision-making. The laity, making decision-making less biased toward the Pope, now outnumbered Bishops. Cromwell, with his grasp for legal knowledge, created a limited monarchy, a King-in-Parliament, which meant that the monarch would have to go to Parliament to create and pass any legislation. He fathered the mentality of empiricism – something that Parliament will never give up. This tradition still lives on, therefore surviving Cromwell’s fall. Elton maintains that there was “Tudor revolution” in government and that Cromwell was at the heart of it. Cromwell wanted to increase royal authority and in areas, which it was weak or even non-existent; he focused mostly on Wales and liberties, franchises and sanctuaries. He gained Wales by using Rowland Lee and in doing so acquired Wales under England and strengthened royal jurisdiction. According to Elton, Cromwell ‘revolutionised’ administrative areas. He introduced a more “bureaucratic” approach to finance by taking it from the Kings’ household and thrusting it into the civil service departments. He altered the office of the Principal Secretary and made it an Office of State, whereas it us...