A River in Italy

Cromwell’s experiences in Europe began with his involvement in the Second Italian War, a conflict over the Lombardian states of north Italy that had been re-ignited in 1494 when Louis XII of France had sought control over the prosperous mercantile trading cities of
Naples and Milan, which were kingdoms that were included in the loosely-aligned Italian States. In the first Italian War the forces of France and Spain had been invited to protect
the Duke of Milan’s rule and King Charles VIII of France obliged by invading Italy, but in a dramatic twist the Milanese Duke named Ludovico Sforza suddenly switched his allegiances to the Venetian and Neapolitan sides in a united opposition to both the Spanish and the French.

By 1498 France was under the new monarchy of King Louis XII who allied himself with the Republic of Venice and then seized the Duchy of Milan, overthrowing Sforza after which France established a powerful military garrison in Milan that remained unchallenged there for the following ten years. In around 1500, with the might of Spain finally unified under Ferdinand and Isabella who were anxious that Louis XII might advance east and conversely, he feared that the Spanish forces would invade his French kingdom from the west, thus being forced into a war on two fronts. The Treaty of Granada in 1500 appeared to avert conflict however by 1503 the weak truce had dissolved and  in November of that year the two national armies of the Continent’s strongest powers assembled just north of Naples where the Garigliano River acted as a natural barrier to both sides. Possession of the river’s bridge was crucial to apply strategic advantage. (Mallett, M.and Shaw, C., 65 -68).

The Spanish troops moved by stealth to cross the river and caught their French opponents by surprise. Around 300 Norman crossbowmen in French service, including Thomas Cromwell, were occupied as French mercenaries but they were equally out-flanked and out-numbered. The onslaught by the numerically-superior Spanish infantry and cavalry was unstoppable and the French surrendered, with Cromwell fleeing the battlefield lest he be taken prisoner, for as now, mercenaries can expect a terrible fate, they having no legitimate place involved in the clashes of other warring states than their own.  (Borman, 16).

Thomas had expected to gain some measure of wealth and status in the warrior’s role but was
instead left as a itinerant Englishman in northern Italy, aimless and alone. If fortune had deserted him at Garigliano, in time his precise skills with the bow would unexpectedly present him with a path to the glory and prizes of the inner Tudor court, where Henry VIII and the nobility prized a ‘good eye’. But still in Italy, the picaresque Cromwell’s next recorded appearance was as a poverty-stricken young man in the city of Florence, the epicentre of the Italian Renaissance.

 " You have a good eye". Video clip from 'Wolf Hall'. King Henry VIII was fond of the Robin Hood 'man in green' outfit,1. and Thomas was always quick to seize an opportunity - displaying his skill with the longbow that he had refined in the Italian War. (see notes below)

  - Borman, T. pp. 12 -14.
 - Mallett, M. and Christine Shaw. The Italian Wars, 1494–1559: War, State and Society in      Early Modern Europe. New York: Routledge. (2012), pp. 65 -68.
  - Video clip, ‘A King should show himself sometimes’, ‘Wolf Hall, BBC-TV/PBS.
  It was not only an idle pastime to be accurate with the longbow as the Tudors of course prided
  themselves as inheritors of the Norman heritage, and Anne Boleyn among other women joined-in these regal archery tournaments. The scene was included in Wolf Hall to illustrate the humiliation
suffered by the haughty gentlemen after the lowly ‘blacksmith’s boy’ had won the King’s  respect.
 It is uncertain if the sequence shown is factual, however it is recorded that Thomas’ early interviews  with the King took place in November 1523, in the gardens of Westminster with Cromwell “dressed in black with a dark beret”, and given the King’s enthusiasm for outdoor pastimes such as jousting and archery the circumstances are plausible. Wilding, P. Thomas Cromwell. London: William Heinemann Ltd (1935), p.42.

1. The King and Robin Hood. On the first May Day of Henry VIII's married life in 1510 he and his friends indulged in some romantic pantomime, bursting into his wife's bedroom disguised as Robin Hood, in the company of his 'merry men' "...all appareled in short cotes of Kentishe Kendal, with hodes (hoods) on their heddes, and hosen of the same, every one of them, his bowe and arroes, and a sworde and bucklar, like out lawes"  - Hall, E. The Union of two noble and illustre families of Lancastre and York, p. 513, published 1548; reprinted London, 1965. Quoted by David Loades in The Tudor Court, London: B.T. Batsford Ltd (1986), p. 99.