The story so far…
Week 1: Across the Narrow Sea / Paternity
Anslema is introduced to us as “the young widow” Cromwell slept with in Antwerp, many years ago. The depiction of the Queen of Sheba on the tapestry at York Place reminds him of her.
Week 6: Entirely Beloved Cromwell (Part 1)
The Antwerp woman, “lady made of wool”, is still in the weave in York Place, when Cromwell goes to see Anne Boleyn. Anselma makes Anne look bad: “sallow and sharp”. Cromwell recalls that Stephen Vaughan wrote from Antwerp to say Anselma married a young banker. “So if he drowns or anything, he said, let me know.”
Week 11: 'Alas, What Shall I Do For Love?' (Part 2) / Early Mass
A memory from when Cromwell chose to go west and not east. To Antwerp and not the Holy Land.
Home then was a narrow shuttered house on a quiet canal, Anselma kneeling, creamily naked under her trailing nightgown of green damask, its sheen blackish in candlelight; kneeling before the small silver alterpiece she kept in her room, which was precious to her, she had told him, the most precious thing I own. Excuse me just a moment, she had said to him; she prayed in her own langauge, now coaxing, now almost threatening, and she must have teased from his silver saints some flicker of grace, or perceived some deflection in their glinting rectitude, because she stood up and turned to him, saying, ‘I’m ready now,’ tugging apart the silk ties of her gown so taht he could take her breasts in his hands.
Week 16: The Map of Christendom (Part 1)
Hans Holbein says he knows who she is. She is alive in Antwerp. Cromwell could have her if he wanted. “It’s years. I have changed.” “Ja. Now you are rich.”