Cromwell’s opportunism in using existing situations in and beyond Parliament and bending them to his purposes could have remained a matter of ambition and temperament, rather than shaping distinctive policy agendas which would have taken a different course without him. What remains to demonstrate is that in these years from 1531 up to 1540 one can isolate policy initiatives which seem peculiarly his. In order of importance, from the apparently ridiculous to the sublime, we begin with sewers, pass through public relations and end with the Church.
