Editing Thomas Cromwell (section)

====Return to Italy====
At some point Cromwell returned to Italy: the records of the English Hospital in Rome indicate that he stayed there in June 1514,{{sfn|Leithead|2008}} while documents in the [[Vatican Secret Archives|Vatican Archives]] suggest that he was an agent for the [[Archbishop of York]], [[Cardinal (Catholic Church)|Cardinal]] [[Christopher Bainbridge]], and handled English ecclesiastical issues before the [[Roman Rota]].{{sfn|Kinney|2001|p=172}}

In 1517–1518, he travelled to Rome again, this time to gain [[Pope Leo X]]'s approval for plenary [[indulgence]]s to be sold by the [[Boston Guildhall#History|St Mary's Guild, Boston]]{{sfn|Leithead|2008}} as part of a thriving trade.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Alford |first1=Stephen |author-link=Stephen Alford |title=A Man It Would Be Unwise to Cross |magazine=London Review of Books |date=8 November 2018 |volume=40 |issue=21 |url=https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v40/n21/stephen-alford/a-man-it-would-be-unwise-to-cross |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240301012441/https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v40/n21/stephen-alford/a-man-it-would-be-unwise-to-cross |archive-date=1 March 2024 |url-status=live |language=en |issn=0260-9592}}</ref> During this lengthy trip, Cromwell studied in detail [[Erasmus]]'s new [[Works of Erasmus#Latin and Greek New Testaments|edition of the gospels]].{{sfn|Bindoff|1982}} His reading made him, for the first time, doubt the legitimacy of the practice he was advocating.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2018|p=34}}{{sfn|Angus|2022|pp=27–29}} [[Tracy Borman]] has suggested that it was at this point Cromwell developed his contempt for the papacy, because of the ease with which he had been able to manipulate the pope into granting the Boston petition without due consideration.{{sfn|Borman|2014|p=38}}