As Patrick J. Coby explains in Thomas Cromwell: Machiavellian Statecraft and the English Reformation (published by Lexington Books), Thomas Cromwell (1485-1540) was the chief architect of the English Reformation and served as minister of Henry VIII from 1531 to 1540, the period during which more political and religious reform was accomplished than at any other time in Henry’s thirty-seven-year reign. Thus the momentous events of the 1530s are generally (but not universally) attributed to Cromwell’s agency. Cromwell has been the subject of close and continuous attention for the last half century, with positive appraisal of his work and achievements as the scholarly norm.

The first in a generation and the only one now in print, Coby’s judgment is largely accepted, though it is combined with earlier and more critical assessments that view Cromwell as a disciple of Machiavelli. One distinguishing feature of this study is its overview of Machiavellian thought, along with its overview of Marsilian thought. Marsilius of Padua, fourteenth-century political philosopher and author of Defensor Pacis, is widely recognized as the source of Cromwell’s reformation ideas; but nowhere is Marsilius explicated. The same is true of Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527) and The Prince —never explicated though said to be (by Reginald Pole, cousin of Henry and cardinal of the church) the source of Cromwell’s ideas on statecraft. A second distinguishing feature of the book is its inclusion of an introductory chapter that situates Cromwell in the sixteenth century and shows his connection to important events, characters, and ideas. Thus, Coby’s book is a biography and its focus is broader and its uses more various.

In anticipation of the six-part series based on Hilary Mantel’s two novels, I re-read Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, both published by Henry Holt & Company. Cromwell is the protagonist in these novels and will be again in the third volume of the “Cromwell Trilogy.”

Background: The first known copy of Il Principea (The Prince) may have been distributed in 1513, using a Latin title, De Principatibus (About Principalities); the printed version was not published until 1532. It is almost certain that Cromwell had read it or at least had heard of it. In any event, by all accounts, Cromwell demonstrated within London’s mercantile and legal community and, later, in his service to Cardinal Thomas Wolsey and then to Henry VIII, that he was the master of pragmatic, some would say “expedient” morality.

In my opinion, there are several valuable business lessons to be learned from Thomas Cromwell. Here are ten:

1. Always have sufficient resources immediately available if/when a crisis or opportunity suddenly occurs.
2. Never underestimate your enemies, opponents, competition, etc.
3. To paraphrase one of Shakespeare’s observations in Julius Caesar (1599), be nice to people on the way up because you will meet them again on the way down.
4. Be reliable but not predictable.
5. Always know the facts, especially in situations that could have serious legal implications.
6. Never make threats; rather, suggest possible implications.
7. Spend at least 85-90% of the time during a conversation observing and listening. Let others talk.
8. Never reveal or even seem to be weak, vulnerable, confused, fearful, etc. (“eye of the hurricane”)
9. Anticipating Yoda: “Do or do not,. There is no try.”
10. On negotiation and diplomacy: “Let others have it your way.”

Thomas Cromwell was condemned to death on the basis of several false charges, without trial, and beheaded on Tower Hill on July 28, 1540, the day of the King’s marriage to Catherine Howard.