From this letter then it seems probable that Cromwell obtained his seat in the Parliament of 1529 through the influence of the Duke of Norfolk. He was keen-sighted enough to see that at Wolsey’s fall all the royal favour had been transferred to this man and to Gardiner. Both of these were Wolsey’s enemies, and Cromwell, whose name was coupled everywhere with that of the Cardinal, saw that to gain influence at Court, it was necessary at all costs to do away with their hostility, which he must have incurred as Wolsey’s agent. Thus Cromwell’s first move at the time of his master’s disgrace was to take steps to get himself into favour with Norfolk. Cavendish’s account is explained by the fact that Cromwell would not have been very likely to tell Wolsey how he had gone straight over to his bitterest enemy, but far more probably sent back to Esher the incomplete tale about Rush and his son, which the honest and simple-minded biographer probably never suspected for an instant. One can hardly doubt that Cromwell would not have been elected to this Parliament had he not secured the consent of the Cardinal’s worst foe. He had thus killed two birds with one stone; he had gained his position in the House of Commons where his influence would be felt, and he had successfully escaped the odium of the chief person at the Court, which would have naturally fallen upon him as Wolsey’s servant, and turned it into at least a temporary friendship. From the contents of the letter above quoted, we may also suppose that Cromwell’s doings in the Parliament of 1529 were ‘ordered’ by the King. The bill of attainder or ‘boke of artikels’ against the Cardinal was the first business that lay before the House. It had passed the Lords and was sent down to the Commons, but it was so violent and so false, that even Henry and Norfolk relented. It had probably been very clearly hinted to the Parliament that the King did not wish it to pass, and royal ‘hints’ at this period of English history were generally respected and obeyed. Cavendish tells us that when Cromwell had obtained his seat in Parliament, and the attainder was brought forward, he consulted with Wolsey ‘to know what answer he might make in his behalf; insomuch that there was nothing alleadged against my lord but that he was ready to make answer thereto,’ and he inveighed against the bill ‘so discreetly and with such witty persuasions and depe resons that the same could take none effect,’ so that ‘at length his honest estimation and earnest behaviour in his master’s cause grewe so in every man’s opinion, that he was reputed the most faithful servant to his master of all other, wherein he was greatly of all men commended[151].’