17 Comments
author

Note: This chapter contains the second reference to the hidden memory from Cromwell's past. I won't draw attention to it just yet, but it is a fabulous easter egg for re-readers who haven't noticed it before.

Expand full comment

I just re-read this chapter as I have some catching up to do on your posts, and thought I spotted something - glad to have it confirmed!

Expand full comment

I'm intrigued. Can you remind me what chapter the first reference was in?

Expand full comment
author

The other reference is in Nonsuch.

Expand full comment

Ah. Thank you.

Expand full comment

Margaret Vernon: 'I shall set up housekeeping with some of my sisters. We shall be unruly women, with no master.' ... 'Folk will pity us and leave apples on our doorstep They will come to us for poultices and lucky charms.'

At least somebody in this chapter will be living the dream. ; )

Expand full comment
author

Give scandal!

Expand full comment
founding

Cromwell is like a combined Daedalus and Icarus, the master craftsman and inventor who flies his waxen wings too high.

Expand full comment
author

Hold that thought.

Expand full comment
Oct 30Liked by Simon Haisell

I really love Christophe! So loyal!

Expand full comment

I had forgotten about the beavers! What a splendid metaphor they make for Cromwell's audacity in matters political and religious. Crumb cannot quite foresee the long term effect of so many of his policies. I've read that in recent years, efforts to reintroduce beavers to the wild in Britain have met with mixed reactions.

Expand full comment
author

"He shrugs. It's always the wrong bits of the past people want back."

I love that Wyatt asks what next, bring back wolves? 'We do not need more predators.' Well, quite.

Expand full comment

I love that quote about the wrong bits of the past!

Expand full comment

Sat this evening catching up with last week's reading and this post. I enjoy the wee glimpse of Cromwell as a father riding out with Gregory and his mentions of being a grandfather. Jenneke's silence makes me feel sorry for Cromwell, it would be nice if he could some relationship with her. I also always wish for him a second marriage and a quiet existence into old age, but this was one area Mantel could not reimagine differently. I like the idea Mantel plants of Cromwell being a conservationist, and enjoyed the two links to the further reading on beavers. Stealing myself for these last couple of months.

Expand full comment

A couple of wonderfully described but horribly ominous scenes here, with the dismantling of Becket's shrine and the questioning of Geoffrey Pole. I appreciated this portrayal of how contaminating Cromwell's methods are even when they stop short of actual torture:

"He feels he should have changed his own clothes. He feels there might be blood on them, though no blood has been shed at the Tower."

Expand full comment

Happy Samhain to all Wolf Crawlers!

Expand full comment
author

It's all dark from here.

Expand full comment