Master of Phantoms (Part 5/5) / Spoils

Wolf Crawl Week 29: Monday 15 July – Sunday 21 July

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Welcome to week 29 of Wolf Crawl

This week, we are reading the final part of ‘Master of Phantoms, London, April–May 1536’ and the last chapter of the book, ‘Spoils, London, Summer, 1536’. This section runs from pages 441 to 484 of the Fourth Estate paperback edition. It starts with the line, ‘The queen wears scarlet and black…’ It ends: ‘They are all beginnings. Here is one.’

You will find everything you need for this read-along on the main Cromwell trilogy page of my website, including:

• The reading schedule

• Weekly updates, like this one

• Plot summaries for each character

• Online resources about Mantel’s writing and Thomas Cromwell

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Last week’s post:

Master of Phantoms (Part 4/5)

This week’s story

Anne Boleyn is judged by her peers, the lords of the realm — but only her uncle Norfolk dares look at her now. He, plain Thomas Cromwell, presents the prosecution in a drowsy murmur designed to make adultery, incest, conspiracy, and treason seem yawn-achingly routine. She, the queen, sits there and denies everything.

Her brother, George, is suave and eloquent. He defends himself but cannot compete with the Master of the Rolls, who appears indifferent and untiring. He tricks Boleyn into speaking treason in court. The judges confer. Harry Percy faints.

The next day, the French ambassador comes to see him at the Tower. Jean de Dinteville appeals on behalf of young Sir Francis Weston. But he is too late. William Kingston is in the dark as to the manner of Anne’s death. But the ambassador says the king has called up the Calais headsman, with his sword.

Thomas Cranmer looks ill. He says Anne has not yet confessed, although she is asking everyone: Shall I go to Heaven? Cranmer doubts everything now. He tells Cromwell the rumours about him and Lady Worcester. He, Cromwell, thinks: I am afraid. Afraid of the times that are coming.

Henry, eighth of his name, minotaur in his labyrinth, prevaricates. So it is he, Cromwell, who must press the point and stand over his sovereign as he signs his name on the death warrants. He is at Lambeth when Anne’s lovers die, busy ending the queen’s marriage before they end her life.

He brings Gregory to the queen’s beheading. He tests the scaffold and holds the sword. Anne comes in Katherine’s furs, looking back in hope of reprieve. As she dies, Richmond and Suffolk stay standing. There’s no coffin, so she is laid in an arrow chest. Her head at her feet.

At Austin Friars, Call-Me wants to recollect the morning’s events. Cromwell wishes Rafe or Richard or Gregory were there. Wriothsley says, who’s next? ‘A gentleman’ asked him what Cromwell plans for Wolsey’s greatest enemy: Henry Tudor. He, Cromwell, thinks only one gentleman would dare pose that question. For how much longer can he keep Stephen Gardiner away from England?

Spoils: Jane Seymour is to be queen, her brother: a viscount. Francis Bryan enters the privy chamber and he, Thomas Cromwell, Putney boy, enters the House of Lords. Baron Cromwell of Wimbledon. It is summer, 1536. We have begun.