From ruthless schemer to pragmatic hero - who is the real Thomas Cromwell? And how did he meet his end? Today Anthony Delaney tells Maddy Pelling the story.

Edited by Tomos Delargy. Produced by Freddy Chick. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.  

You can take part in our listener survey here.

All music from Epidemic Sounds.

After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal is a History Hit podcast.