Cremonello's Return (Thomas Cromwell's Early Life)

By Marco Edmundi

Cremonello's Return is the sequel to the first novel Cremonello, which covered Thomas Cromwell's family background, youth and early adventures in Europe. He is now aged 22 and returns to London a wanted man. Until he can gain his pardon he retains his Florentine identity as Cremonello, envoy of The Frescobaldi Company.

Cromwell is pursued by his bitter enemies from the first novel: The Lomellini family from Genoa, who are becoming dominant in the textile trade across southern EnglandGeneral Bartolomeo D'Alviano, the mercenary leader maimed by Cromwell during the Battle of Garigliano in 1503.

He builds his London reputation in trade and law while returning regularly to visit his mistress Maddalena de Medici, who now runs the Salon Marchesa, Rome's most prestigious venue for courtesans and gaming.

With his friend Daniele de Bossi, the Florentine Ambassador to the Court of King Henry Tudor, Cremonello and his guards transport to London multiple boxes of secret records from the Salon Marchesa. These Marchesa Archives were built up over thirty years by the salon founder, Daniele's mother Valeria, and contain inflammatory details of the sexual behaviour and gambling habits of several members of the Vatican and much of Rome's nobility.

On Cremonello's return to Italy in 1508, the Lomellini immediately kidnap Maddalena and their young son Giovanni Battista. To save them, Cromwell turns himself in to the Lomellini, who transport him to Genova to apply their own brand of justice. He escapes at the last moment thanks to Ottoman allies of his old comrade Amin al Bagrahbi.

Added to Cromwell's list of adversaries are now Sanxit Praesidio, the secret Vatican force of elite agents, who are active in London attempting to seize these Marchesa Archives.
When Henry VII dies in 1509, Sanxit also join forces with Maximilian I, Habsburg Emperor of The Holy Roman Empire, to undermine the succession of eighteen-year-old Prince Henry and favour the Yorkist Edmund de la Pole. Cromwell and his guards are alert to an assassination attempt and save the lives of newlyweds Henry and Princess Catherine of Aragon.

The pardoned Thomas Cromwell then builds his money-lending and legal practice and becomes an essential provider of legal and commercial services to Thomas Wolsey, the Royal Chaplain. As Thomas returns to Florence and Rome every year or so, he maintains his relationship with Maddalena and Battista. He starts to acknowledge that his skills are not just in the detail of trade and the law, but also in languages and politics, to make him a unique figure in the axis between Tudor London, Antwerp, Florence and Rome. This allows him to gain many commissions from leading merchants or from dioceses in England to achieve favour and benefit from the Vatican.

In 1512 Maddalena becomes the architect of an alliance with Spain to achieve renewed Medici rule over the Florentine Republic. Thomas is there to advise and support her. The Medici power base grows further in 2013, when Maddalena's brother Giovanni becomes Pope Leo X.

General D'Alviano has mixed success as a mercenary leader but waits until 1515, when he is in a position to lure Cromwell into his battle camp by capturing the young Battista. Cromwell engages a small force of his own from another old friend, the Duke of Sarzana, to mount an attempt to rescue his son.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0GHD81TM9
• ISBN13: 9798233983016
• Release Date: January 2026
• Publisher: Marco Edmundi
• Length: 356 Pages
• Weight: 0.91 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.8" x 5.5"