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Thomas Cromwell was the Islamic State of his day

Thanks to Wolf Hall, more people have now heard of Thomas Cromwell whose life it chronicles, he comes across as a plucky, self-made Englishman, whose quiet reserve suggests inner strength and personal nobility. Back in the real world, Cromwell was a “ruffian” (in his own words) turned sectarian extremist, whose religious vandalism bears striking comparison with the iconoclasm of Islamic State or the Afghani Taliban.