I just wanted to pop in and say hello. I’m Bea and I’m a textile artist based in London, UK. I trained as a historian (although my doctoral specialism was not the 16th century but 1910s British Cinema) and I have been stitching the Cromwell Trilogy for over a decade. Much of my textile work is based around archival research and material culture, and I’m currently cooking up a project about letters sent to Cromwell. Simon and I thought it would be good to share some of the documents I’ve seen in the archives - so I hope you find them interesting.
I’m also on Instagram as @drelvey and of course on Substack with The Thread of Her Tale.
Happy reading - and I echo Simon’s recommendation of Diarmaid MacCulloch’s Cromwell Biography; and Kim and the Cat’s recommendation of Eric Ives on Anne Boleyn. These two experts disagree on Cromwell’s relationship with Anne - so it’s an interesting look at how the same records can be interpreted differently. I would also recommend Geoffrey Elton’s older work on the revolution in Tudor Government.
Hello Bea—how fantastic for us 2025 Wolf Crawlers that we have you along on this journey! Thank you in advance for sharing some of your findings. I hope we will see much more of your artistry as well!
Hello Bea! I'm so thrilled that you're a part of this amazingly rich journey. I'm a lifelong textile lover, a sewist, a stitcher, and a maker, and in my first read of Wolf Hall some years ago (which I can tell was nothing but a dip in the pool compared to this deep and intricate dive) I was so intrigued by all the textile references. After I signed up for this I mentioned my love of textiles to Simon, and he told me of you. Thank you for being here and for your stitching and your research, what gifts.
I'm Laura and I'm illustrating this year's Wolf Crawl posts! I'm thrilled to be diving back into Cromwell's world after taking part as a reader last year.
I have a long-standing interest in Tudor history and the court of Henry VIII, particularly George and Jane Boleyn and the poet Thomas Wyatt (all of whom you'll be meeting later in the read!)
I'll be posting the portraits on my Instagram account each week with a few insights into my process of drawing them. I'm @itslauracrow and it would be lovely to connect with you all!
I must have read the opening chapter of Wolf Hall so many times now but I still find that opening page so unbelievably powerful. "So now get up." The eel imagery is also really evocative, right from start. Animal imagery is threaded through this trilogy...
Laura, your contributions to Simon’s already amazing post are fantastic. I participated in the slow read last year, and I’m still subscribed—you better believe I’ll keep following, largely to see your incredible work!
Happy new year! I have just spent the happiest couple of hours reading the book then the posts here. What an absolute treat. This week I particularly enjoyed Wolseley’s “So now, tell me how was Yorkshire” (page 18) which was a lovely mirror of Walter’s very different remark to Cromwell all those years earlier. The two father figures in parallel.
I see the relationship between Cromwell and his father mirroring his later relationship with Henry, who is also a bad-tempered bully before whom he must appear subservient and slippery 'like an eel' and who will ultimately kill him. As you have pointed out, his position at the end of chapter one parallels his position on the block at the end of the final book of this Trilogy.
Yes! And he’ll spend the rest of the book doing so, making use of the various and sundry survival skills he’s learned at the hands of his father — being urged upward by the hands of Wolsey and the king, and pushed back downward by so many others.
Happy to be starting the Wolf Crawl after spending a glorious 2024 with Tolstoy. After the bitter cold of a Russian winter, it’s thrilling to be in damp and haunted England. It did take me a few pages to fall into the he/him references, but I’m in! I got it. Favorite, evocative description of these pages: … “Gardiner wears furs, which look like oily and dense black feathers; he stands now, ruffling them, gathering his clothes about his tall straight person like black angel’s wings.” I’m going to love this! Thanks to you and your associates for the enriching resources, Simon.
The imagery is wonderful! Another quote I loved at the end of chapter I, "He will remember his first sight of the open sea; a gray wrinkled vastness, like the residue of a dream."
If anyone is curious about the Tudor era and wants some nonfiction books to find out more (though there will be plenty of spoilers for the Cromwell Trilogy), I have several recommendations:
- The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn by Eric Ives
- Henry VIII and the Men Who Made Him by Tracy Borman
- The Winter King: Henry VII and the Dawn of Tudor England by Thomas Penn
- The Hidden Lives of Tudor Women: A Social History by Elizabeth Norton
- The Private Lives of the Tudors by Tracy Borman
- Tudor England: A History by Lucy Wooding
- Black Tudors: The Untold Story by Miranda Kaufmann
- Young and Damned and Fair: The Life of Catherine Howard, Fifth Wife of Henry VIII by Gareth Russell
and of course, Diarmaid MacCulloch's brilliant biography, Thomas Cromwell: A Revolutionary Life
I also love “How to Be a Tudor” by Ruth Goodman. It’s a history of the lives of common people and aristocracy alike, told through the conceit of each hour of the day. (I.e. what did everyone have for breakfast? What were their morning prayers? What were their mattresses made of?)
I love the way the child gives us the picture of the man in the opening chapter. His intelligence, obviously, the way he "talks to strangers easily", and how he picks up on the ways to trick and hustle. But particularly that detail about his job at the farrier's being to:
"hold [the horses'] heads and talk to them, rubbing the velvet space between their ears, telling them how their mothers love them and talk to about them still, and how Walter will soon be over."
Although the image is lovely, it's also quietly chilling.
Yes! And it’s also of a piece with his love for his dog — we see his capacity for tenderness alongside his capacity for violence, the admirable erudition and abilities that he will use to his own advantage, and against others.
Hi everyone, I have very much enjoyed reading your posts and to Simon especially, thank you for setting this in motion. I was totally blown away by Wolf Hall when it came out in 2009, but this is the first time I've taken part in a slow read, and already so much is coming to the surface. I'm definitely in for the long haul.
I'd like to mention Wolsey's reference to Whitby as it jumped out at me today: "Thomas...what have you done, monstrous servant? [...] Or, let me see...Have you set fire to Whiby, on a whim?" Its significance passed me by the first time I read it, but having since completed an MA in Gaelic Literature which covered writings from monastic times through to the modern era, I'm aware of the Synod of Whitby in 664 AD. This event is particularly significant in church history for marking a schism between two traditions within Christianity over the date for Easter - broadly speaking, the Irish were more orthodox, while the English went with papal authority in Rome. This comment then becomes a backdrop for the ensuing conversation between Wolsey and Cromwell regarding a plan for amalgamating monasteries which Rome has approved, but which Yorkshire disagrees. In discussing the difficulties of dissolving Henry and Katherine's marriage, the reference to Whitby then heralds the upcoming contemporary schism of the Reformation that will soon engulf English society.
If you were interested, the Book of Durrow (7c. illuminated Irish manuscript) contains an image of the Matthew, one of the Evangelists, wearing an Irish tonsure, as opposed to the Roman tonsure, which scholars have said shows parts of Ireland did not conform to Roman practice, or that the book was made in a Columban monastery (https://www.tcd.ie/library/exhibitions/durrow/)
Sorry, this post has turned out longer than I intended, but I also want to share that only yesterday, while watching a lecture by the V&A on the history of carpets, Wolsey was mentioned as having been bribed with 60 Turkish and Egyptian carpets by a Venetian envoy in 1518. Apparently, the issue was one of taxation over wine in Crete, which was then a Venetian possession, and also to thank him for engineering the 1518 Treaty of London, which was a non-aggression pact. I imagine Wolsey thought his diplomatic skills and place in society and the church would all see him win through his negotiations with Rome over the royal marriage
This one of the things I like so much about the slow read with Simon. References that utterly pass me by are illuminated by Simon, or by other readers such as yourself! (Thank you!) And these illuminations always make the reading funnier, or darker, or more unearthly, or more snugly fit into history.
To me, this is the biggest treat of slow reading in a community - having time to share and learn from each other about all these details. I had no idea there were different types of tonsures, never mind what they might signify.
Thank you for these insights, I missed the Whitby detail and will go back and re-read that bit. And the detail of the carpets - wow. I bet they were spectacular!
So I’m new to Hillary Mantel’s work and have just read this weeks installment. It took me a while to get used to the diversity of ‘he’ and ‘him’ but I get it now. I must say, I’m delighted at the way the author has incorporated humor into the story. E.g. “I shall see to this request myself”, as Cromwell asks for sun, but also “…well never mind, it was a minor point…”. Did anyone else notice this too?
Yes, the humor! It can be so subtle and deadpan. There’s a funny YouTube compilation of moments from the BBC miniseries when Cromwell is deadpan and “so over it” with everyone around him. Dry and droll to the max. It’s delightful. (“Otherwise I can see you’re very busy. 👀🙃”
I was going to say the same thing! I was really surprised by the dry humour. I loved the Cardinals quote about everyone having a son, except the King, on p 25😊
Also new to Mantel and I was surprised by the humor too. Cromwell and Wolsey have a great banter going. I love the line about Yorkshire folks (I’m not English so I don’t know the subtleties here) “what do they eat?” “Londoners, when they can get them.”
This first blog post gave me much to think about! The narrative style took a second to get used to, but it’s also quite immersive after a while.
My favorite quote of this first part was “And all outcomes are likely, all outcomes can be managed, even massaged into desirability: Prayer and pressure, pressure and prayer…” it nailed (for me) the power of the church and the many layers of justifications and pretense that we might see later on.
I read both chapters last night and have a warren of rabbit holes open in my mind so I’m very grateful to have a week to explore them and process everything.
I’ve just found your blog from last year about the Occult so I’m going to close down that rabbit hole until Week 3, and give my brain some time to settle in to the shifts in the narrators voice. My dog was apparently fascinated (if her ears were anything to go by - and as a side note I will worry about Bella for ever now) as I read the opening paragraph out loud in 1st, 2nd and 3rd person, (and the foreshadowing in those few sentences is so powerful).
I have Huguenot ancestry on my mothers side so the references to cloth and silk are fascinating but I’m grateful for the heads up to be aware of the significances of stitches. I can already see why I’ll probably be joining you next year too!
I’m going to download the Audible book and set up a considerably bigger notebook. I knew this would be immersive but I can already tell I’ve completely underestimated the depths I’m going to be experiencing under your guidance Simon, and with the discussion 🤓
I’ll be trying to track the seasons and weather but suspect the Occult and ‘ghost’ tracking is going to distract me.
Welcome to the rabbit warren! Yes, as you can see, there's far more to get your teeth into than can ever be covered in one reading or even one year. When I write these posts I quickly realise all the things I've missed or didn't have time to cover.
I love that you read a portion out loud. Sometimes reading aloud can attune your ear to the writing style, and sharpen your understanding immensely. When I was assigned, Beowulf, in university, I would read aloud to my grandson (5 months old at the time; now 25 yo), and hearing the Old English really helped me to navigate through the tale.
As for Rabbit Holes, we are ALL falling in them together!
As a lawyer myself, revisiting Wolf Hall (I first read it a few years ago) this time around I’ve been struck by how oddly similar the practice of law remains today, essentially 500 years post-Cromwell. We share the quotidian elements of a working existence—contracts, securing payment, tracking the influence of Byzantine legal concepts on our clients’ behalves. His “client” just happens to wind up being the King of England ☺️ I think a big part of why I love this book so much is how strangely relatable and current it seems—Mantel’s skill in rendering the historic in modern color is, in my opinion, entirely unmatched.
I’m a lawyer as well, and agree with what you’ve posted. I found the wording of the letter—whether it was imagined or actually written—particularly entertaining.
A big hello from Sydney. I took the kids out to watch Paddington in Peru this morning, and have then snuck off and read the first two chapters of the novel. Super excited to be a part of this read through. I have listened to the first book as an audio a few years back, but this is my first real deep read with the trilogy. And already enjoying the comments in the discussion.
I was instantly drawn in by the epigraphs at the beginning of the novel. I thought it was interesting that Mantel chose to outline how there are three different forms of storytelling - essentially the comic, the satyric and the tragic - which is the one emphasised in the opening extract from Vitruvius. All three elements can already be seen in the opening 2 chapters. The following epigraph from Skelton then seems to list characters that we would associate with a morality play.
This seems important to me as it would suggests that while Mantell is meticulous when it comes to historical detail, that ultimately, this is a construction, one that will engage with genre conventions, theatricality and archetypes. This is reinforced from the outset with the opening line of the novel being a line of dialogue - an imperative - linking directly to the epigraphs, as well as creating an immediate sense of action and purpose - perhaps the voice that continues to compel TC forward?
I loved the interaction between TC and Wolsley, and thought that it was dripping with dramatic irony. The novel assumes knowledge from the audience, and leaves as much in the silences, what is not being said, amongst the absolute gold that is being discussed. Wolsley comes across as charming and affable, but there is a sinister sense of hubris and hypocrisy that underpins his authority, and perhaps moreso, that of the church, “he breaks off; he leans forward, he puts his great lion’s head in his hands, the head that would indeed have worn the papal tiara, if at the last election the right money had been paid out to the right people”. This is a corrupt world that we have been dropped into, and behind his charm is a sense that he would allow for much harm to occur, to allow his legacy (the colleges) to succeed.
Yes, we will definitely get back to the theme of theatre, performance and staging in later weeks. And Skelton's play Magnificence will be back to haunt us MUCH later.
Such excellent insights, so eloquently put. I too was struck with the epigraphs and wondered how they would/will map onto the narrative. Other possible connections — the world as stage, the play already written, the actors playing out their parts to the fated ends?
As a great man once said “All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts."
I agree, Jonathon: there is a sinister element to Wolsey, even though Cromwell himself appears to admire (reverence?) him so much. However, for any man(or woman) to succeed in Tudor England (or, indeed, the rest of Europe), I think it was necessary to embrace the corruption at the heart of society rather than seeking to challenge or reject it. Cromwell knows this, perhaps better, even, than Wolsey does.
This is my first Wolf Crawl and I already find Mantel's writing fascinating. I was recently listening to a podcast episode that speaks on the source and creation of myths. The greek myth of the sisters who "string" time together stood out strongly to me. As I listened, I thought of that "thread" mentioned in this post, and how it ties to fate. "...the Fates were personified as three very old women who spin the threads of human destiny. Their names were Clotho (Spinner), Lachesis (Allotter), and Atropos (Inflexible). Clotho spun the “thread” of human fate, Lachesis dispensed it, and Atropos cut the thread (thus determining the individual’s moment of death)." I am now thinking of Cromwell's life and end of life, as a piece of thread in the hands of the Fates, in addition to the narrative thread mentioned in this post. I look forward to continue reading!
Oh I liked this tangent about the supernatural very much and went off down a little rabbit hole of my own that led me, among other things, to the origin of the English word 'fairy' which comes from the French 'fée' which itself comes from the Latin 'fata' = "those things which have been spoken", ie. destiny.
In cultures then that descend from Roman culture, fairies are often seen at births, bestowing good or evil upon the child (Sleeping Beauty), and the spindle may or may not be present, often it's just a wand (Source: Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years by Elizabeth Wayland Barber).
Makes me wonder which 'fairies' might've been present at Cromwell's birth.
Fata, hence *tangent klaxon* the phenomenon known as 'fata Morgana', an optical illusion named after the fairy Morgan le Fay in Arthurian legend, because the effect makes things seem to float on air, like magic.
Hilary Mantel's "The Other King" was well worth a read. Thanks for linking it. I appreciate that both Simon and Mantel acknowledge that the Wolsey we see in Wolf Hall is very much a partial reconstruction based on Cromwell's own rosy view of his mentor in private life. He's clearly erudite, sophisticated, and reform-minded, but it's hard to imagine this kindly, detail-averse elderly churchman who spends most of his first chapter cracking jokes as the second most powerful man and quite possibly the canniest political operator in England. You have to wonder what we're not seeing.
In "Haunting": I'm interested in people's interpretations of Cromwell's 'evil spirit' quotes. As the 'people hovering over his shoulder' in Mantel's unique narrative style we may simply be hearing his thoughts, and it seems intentionally ambiguous to what degree these reflect what he actually wrote down. If I'm reading Simon correctly, he believes that "His Grace wholly rejects any imputation..." was written down in some form but "My Lord Cardinal makes this statement without prejudice to his right..." was not. I initially interpreted both passages as simply Cromwell drolly contemplating lawyerlike responses to fantastical accusations for the sake of his own amusement - there's something intensely funny about reserving the legal right to haunt someone - but given that this is the 16th century perhaps he would indeed have to explicitly disclaim the use of evil spirits against his political opponents. In any case, the charming and powerful but lowborn Cardinal Wolsey would surely have aroused suspicions of supernatural trickery in a pre-Enlightenment era - in "The Other King" Mantel mentions that his political opponents said that Wolsey had given Cromwell a 'magic jewel' to keep Henry under his spell. So, as absurd as they seem, it's hard to say how 'embroidered' these quotes really are without knowledge of the period.
What were other people's interpretations of these quotes? I suspect the versions we get are at least a bit more sardonic than whatever Cromwell wrote down, but it's hard to say how wide that gap is.
Yes, I think you may be right about this: that Cromwell is composing a sardonic letter in his head, and in reality he will - as instructed - just deny it, in far fewer words. What Cromwell and others choose to commit to writing is a significant theme as we move through the books. But as always with 'he, Cromwell', there is a curious blurring between thought, word and action.
I wasn’t sure what to expect going in, but I really enjoyed these first two chapters. Two goosebump moments for me; in the first chapter - “If he gets after me again I’m going to kill him, and if I kill him they’ll hang me, and if they’re going to hang me I want a better reason.” and in the second chapter the last line of imagining Norfolk kneeling with “A black-faced imp with a trident is pricking his calloused heels.”
Two great lines. The first foreshadows his death: they will hang him (or behead him) for a 'better reason'. The second introduces the first ghoul to cross our inky pages.
This is my second time reading Wolf Hall; my first slow read. I am really appreciating the background, the analysis, all the resources. But I am still most struck by those sentences of Mantel's that stop me in my tracks; that I have to re-read and savor and contemplate.
"Over the city lies the sweet, rotting odor of yesterday's unrecollected sins."
Hello Wolf Crawlers and Happy 2025!
I just wanted to pop in and say hello. I’m Bea and I’m a textile artist based in London, UK. I trained as a historian (although my doctoral specialism was not the 16th century but 1910s British Cinema) and I have been stitching the Cromwell Trilogy for over a decade. Much of my textile work is based around archival research and material culture, and I’m currently cooking up a project about letters sent to Cromwell. Simon and I thought it would be good to share some of the documents I’ve seen in the archives - so I hope you find them interesting.
I’m also on Instagram as @drelvey and of course on Substack with The Thread of Her Tale.
Happy reading - and I echo Simon’s recommendation of Diarmaid MacCulloch’s Cromwell Biography; and Kim and the Cat’s recommendation of Eric Ives on Anne Boleyn. These two experts disagree on Cromwell’s relationship with Anne - so it’s an interesting look at how the same records can be interpreted differently. I would also recommend Geoffrey Elton’s older work on the revolution in Tudor Government.
So now, get up.
B
Hello Bea—how fantastic for us 2025 Wolf Crawlers that we have you along on this journey! Thank you in advance for sharing some of your findings. I hope we will see much more of your artistry as well!
Hello Bea! I'm so thrilled that you're a part of this amazingly rich journey. I'm a lifelong textile lover, a sewist, a stitcher, and a maker, and in my first read of Wolf Hall some years ago (which I can tell was nothing but a dip in the pool compared to this deep and intricate dive) I was so intrigued by all the textile references. After I signed up for this I mentioned my love of textiles to Simon, and he told me of you. Thank you for being here and for your stitching and your research, what gifts.
Hi everyone,
I'm Laura and I'm illustrating this year's Wolf Crawl posts! I'm thrilled to be diving back into Cromwell's world after taking part as a reader last year.
I have a long-standing interest in Tudor history and the court of Henry VIII, particularly George and Jane Boleyn and the poet Thomas Wyatt (all of whom you'll be meeting later in the read!)
I'll be posting the portraits on my Instagram account each week with a few insights into my process of drawing them. I'm @itslauracrow and it would be lovely to connect with you all!
I must have read the opening chapter of Wolf Hall so many times now but I still find that opening page so unbelievably powerful. "So now get up." The eel imagery is also really evocative, right from start. Animal imagery is threaded through this trilogy...
Here's Laura's handle on IG: https://www.instagram.com/itslauracrow/
It's so wonderful to have your artwork accompanying us on this journey, Laura!
thank you for sharing Laura's IG!
Keep an eye on those eels!
Laura, your contributions to Simon’s already amazing post are fantastic. I participated in the slow read last year, and I’m still subscribed—you better believe I’ll keep following, largely to see your incredible work!
Thank you, Laura. I’m looking forward to seeing all your illustrations over the next year. I just started following you in Instagram.
Thank you Laura
Absolutely loving the illustrations on this year’s post! Great tp have you join and enrich our wolfcrawl experience
How lovely, Laura! I love the creativity so many people bring to these reading adventures.
Happy new year! I have just spent the happiest couple of hours reading the book then the posts here. What an absolute treat. This week I particularly enjoyed Wolseley’s “So now, tell me how was Yorkshire” (page 18) which was a lovely mirror of Walter’s very different remark to Cromwell all those years earlier. The two father figures in parallel.
Oh, I like that. I missed the mirroring of "So now"!
I see the relationship between Cromwell and his father mirroring his later relationship with Henry, who is also a bad-tempered bully before whom he must appear subservient and slippery 'like an eel' and who will ultimately kill him. As you have pointed out, his position at the end of chapter one parallels his position on the block at the end of the final book of this Trilogy.
Yes! And he’ll spend the rest of the book doing so, making use of the various and sundry survival skills he’s learned at the hands of his father — being urged upward by the hands of Wolsey and the king, and pushed back downward by so many others.
Happy to be starting the Wolf Crawl after spending a glorious 2024 with Tolstoy. After the bitter cold of a Russian winter, it’s thrilling to be in damp and haunted England. It did take me a few pages to fall into the he/him references, but I’m in! I got it. Favorite, evocative description of these pages: … “Gardiner wears furs, which look like oily and dense black feathers; he stands now, ruffling them, gathering his clothes about his tall straight person like black angel’s wings.” I’m going to love this! Thanks to you and your associates for the enriching resources, Simon.
Loved this too! And also the candles bowing reverently and then straightening up again - wonderful way to evoke the draughty old house.
The imagery is wonderful! Another quote I loved at the end of chapter I, "He will remember his first sight of the open sea; a gray wrinkled vastness, like the residue of a dream."
If anyone is curious about the Tudor era and wants some nonfiction books to find out more (though there will be plenty of spoilers for the Cromwell Trilogy), I have several recommendations:
- The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn by Eric Ives
- Henry VIII and the Men Who Made Him by Tracy Borman
- The Winter King: Henry VII and the Dawn of Tudor England by Thomas Penn
- The Hidden Lives of Tudor Women: A Social History by Elizabeth Norton
- The Private Lives of the Tudors by Tracy Borman
- Tudor England: A History by Lucy Wooding
- Black Tudors: The Untold Story by Miranda Kaufmann
- Young and Damned and Fair: The Life of Catherine Howard, Fifth Wife of Henry VIII by Gareth Russell
and of course, Diarmaid MacCulloch's brilliant biography, Thomas Cromwell: A Revolutionary Life
I also love “How to Be a Tudor” by Ruth Goodman. It’s a history of the lives of common people and aristocracy alike, told through the conceit of each hour of the day. (I.e. what did everyone have for breakfast? What were their morning prayers? What were their mattresses made of?)
Agreed. Goodman gives some lovely insights into social history.
Thanks, I’ve ordered the last one! More big books 😊
Thank you so much for sharing these. I have read one or two books about the period, but all these are new.
I love the way the child gives us the picture of the man in the opening chapter. His intelligence, obviously, the way he "talks to strangers easily", and how he picks up on the ways to trick and hustle. But particularly that detail about his job at the farrier's being to:
"hold [the horses'] heads and talk to them, rubbing the velvet space between their ears, telling them how their mothers love them and talk to about them still, and how Walter will soon be over."
Although the image is lovely, it's also quietly chilling.
Yes! And it’s also of a piece with his love for his dog — we see his capacity for tenderness alongside his capacity for violence, the admirable erudition and abilities that he will use to his own advantage, and against others.
Oh this is such a good point! I hadn’t even thought of this reading of it but you’re quite right.
Hi everyone, I have very much enjoyed reading your posts and to Simon especially, thank you for setting this in motion. I was totally blown away by Wolf Hall when it came out in 2009, but this is the first time I've taken part in a slow read, and already so much is coming to the surface. I'm definitely in for the long haul.
I'd like to mention Wolsey's reference to Whitby as it jumped out at me today: "Thomas...what have you done, monstrous servant? [...] Or, let me see...Have you set fire to Whiby, on a whim?" Its significance passed me by the first time I read it, but having since completed an MA in Gaelic Literature which covered writings from monastic times through to the modern era, I'm aware of the Synod of Whitby in 664 AD. This event is particularly significant in church history for marking a schism between two traditions within Christianity over the date for Easter - broadly speaking, the Irish were more orthodox, while the English went with papal authority in Rome. This comment then becomes a backdrop for the ensuing conversation between Wolsey and Cromwell regarding a plan for amalgamating monasteries which Rome has approved, but which Yorkshire disagrees. In discussing the difficulties of dissolving Henry and Katherine's marriage, the reference to Whitby then heralds the upcoming contemporary schism of the Reformation that will soon engulf English society.
If you were interested, the Book of Durrow (7c. illuminated Irish manuscript) contains an image of the Matthew, one of the Evangelists, wearing an Irish tonsure, as opposed to the Roman tonsure, which scholars have said shows parts of Ireland did not conform to Roman practice, or that the book was made in a Columban monastery (https://www.tcd.ie/library/exhibitions/durrow/)
Sorry, this post has turned out longer than I intended, but I also want to share that only yesterday, while watching a lecture by the V&A on the history of carpets, Wolsey was mentioned as having been bribed with 60 Turkish and Egyptian carpets by a Venetian envoy in 1518. Apparently, the issue was one of taxation over wine in Crete, which was then a Venetian possession, and also to thank him for engineering the 1518 Treaty of London, which was a non-aggression pact. I imagine Wolsey thought his diplomatic skills and place in society and the church would all see him win through his negotiations with Rome over the royal marriage
Fabulous footnote, and one that definitely slipped me by. This is what I love about this slow reading with others!
This one of the things I like so much about the slow read with Simon. References that utterly pass me by are illuminated by Simon, or by other readers such as yourself! (Thank you!) And these illuminations always make the reading funnier, or darker, or more unearthly, or more snugly fit into history.
To me, this is the biggest treat of slow reading in a community - having time to share and learn from each other about all these details. I had no idea there were different types of tonsures, never mind what they might signify.
Thank you for these insights, I missed the Whitby detail and will go back and re-read that bit. And the detail of the carpets - wow. I bet they were spectacular!
Agreed but goodness what would one do with 60 carpets!
So I’m new to Hillary Mantel’s work and have just read this weeks installment. It took me a while to get used to the diversity of ‘he’ and ‘him’ but I get it now. I must say, I’m delighted at the way the author has incorporated humor into the story. E.g. “I shall see to this request myself”, as Cromwell asks for sun, but also “…well never mind, it was a minor point…”. Did anyone else notice this too?
Yes, the humor! It can be so subtle and deadpan. There’s a funny YouTube compilation of moments from the BBC miniseries when Cromwell is deadpan and “so over it” with everyone around him. Dry and droll to the max. It’s delightful. (“Otherwise I can see you’re very busy. 👀🙃”
I was going to say the same thing! I was really surprised by the dry humour. I loved the Cardinals quote about everyone having a son, except the King, on p 25😊
Do you have a link for this? I can't find it by googling. Sounds fun.
I think this must be it:
https://youtu.be/v34sbs18ar0?si=NCsI-FhGkkAZFe1b
That’s it, Nancy! It cracks me up.
Also new to Mantel and I was surprised by the humor too. Cromwell and Wolsey have a great banter going. I love the line about Yorkshire folks (I’m not English so I don’t know the subtleties here) “what do they eat?” “Londoners, when they can get them.”
This first blog post gave me much to think about! The narrative style took a second to get used to, but it’s also quite immersive after a while.
My favorite quote of this first part was “And all outcomes are likely, all outcomes can be managed, even massaged into desirability: Prayer and pressure, pressure and prayer…” it nailed (for me) the power of the church and the many layers of justifications and pretense that we might see later on.
I read both chapters last night and have a warren of rabbit holes open in my mind so I’m very grateful to have a week to explore them and process everything.
I’ve just found your blog from last year about the Occult so I’m going to close down that rabbit hole until Week 3, and give my brain some time to settle in to the shifts in the narrators voice. My dog was apparently fascinated (if her ears were anything to go by - and as a side note I will worry about Bella for ever now) as I read the opening paragraph out loud in 1st, 2nd and 3rd person, (and the foreshadowing in those few sentences is so powerful).
I have Huguenot ancestry on my mothers side so the references to cloth and silk are fascinating but I’m grateful for the heads up to be aware of the significances of stitches. I can already see why I’ll probably be joining you next year too!
I’m going to download the Audible book and set up a considerably bigger notebook. I knew this would be immersive but I can already tell I’ve completely underestimated the depths I’m going to be experiencing under your guidance Simon, and with the discussion 🤓
I’ll be trying to track the seasons and weather but suspect the Occult and ‘ghost’ tracking is going to distract me.
Welcome to the rabbit warren! Yes, as you can see, there's far more to get your teeth into than can ever be covered in one reading or even one year. When I write these posts I quickly realise all the things I've missed or didn't have time to cover.
I love that you read a portion out loud. Sometimes reading aloud can attune your ear to the writing style, and sharpen your understanding immensely. When I was assigned, Beowulf, in university, I would read aloud to my grandson (5 months old at the time; now 25 yo), and hearing the Old English really helped me to navigate through the tale.
As for Rabbit Holes, we are ALL falling in them together!
As a lawyer myself, revisiting Wolf Hall (I first read it a few years ago) this time around I’ve been struck by how oddly similar the practice of law remains today, essentially 500 years post-Cromwell. We share the quotidian elements of a working existence—contracts, securing payment, tracking the influence of Byzantine legal concepts on our clients’ behalves. His “client” just happens to wind up being the King of England ☺️ I think a big part of why I love this book so much is how strangely relatable and current it seems—Mantel’s skill in rendering the historic in modern color is, in my opinion, entirely unmatched.
I’m a lawyer as well, and agree with what you’ve posted. I found the wording of the letter—whether it was imagined or actually written—particularly entertaining.
I edit documents for in-house counsel and found the letter to be an endearing and comical wielding of the law.
A big hello from Sydney. I took the kids out to watch Paddington in Peru this morning, and have then snuck off and read the first two chapters of the novel. Super excited to be a part of this read through. I have listened to the first book as an audio a few years back, but this is my first real deep read with the trilogy. And already enjoying the comments in the discussion.
I was instantly drawn in by the epigraphs at the beginning of the novel. I thought it was interesting that Mantel chose to outline how there are three different forms of storytelling - essentially the comic, the satyric and the tragic - which is the one emphasised in the opening extract from Vitruvius. All three elements can already be seen in the opening 2 chapters. The following epigraph from Skelton then seems to list characters that we would associate with a morality play.
This seems important to me as it would suggests that while Mantell is meticulous when it comes to historical detail, that ultimately, this is a construction, one that will engage with genre conventions, theatricality and archetypes. This is reinforced from the outset with the opening line of the novel being a line of dialogue - an imperative - linking directly to the epigraphs, as well as creating an immediate sense of action and purpose - perhaps the voice that continues to compel TC forward?
I loved the interaction between TC and Wolsley, and thought that it was dripping with dramatic irony. The novel assumes knowledge from the audience, and leaves as much in the silences, what is not being said, amongst the absolute gold that is being discussed. Wolsley comes across as charming and affable, but there is a sinister sense of hubris and hypocrisy that underpins his authority, and perhaps moreso, that of the church, “he breaks off; he leans forward, he puts his great lion’s head in his hands, the head that would indeed have worn the papal tiara, if at the last election the right money had been paid out to the right people”. This is a corrupt world that we have been dropped into, and behind his charm is a sense that he would allow for much harm to occur, to allow his legacy (the colleges) to succeed.
What a gripping opening to the novel.
Yes, we will definitely get back to the theme of theatre, performance and staging in later weeks. And Skelton's play Magnificence will be back to haunt us MUCH later.
Such excellent insights, so eloquently put. I too was struck with the epigraphs and wondered how they would/will map onto the narrative. Other possible connections — the world as stage, the play already written, the actors playing out their parts to the fated ends?
As a great man once said “All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts."
Precisely!
Particularly as we, the reader, generally already know Cromwell’s fate.
Thanks, that's a really helpful point re the epigraphs. I'm often puzzled by the purpose of epigraphs in a novel, unless it is really obvious.
I agree, Jonathon: there is a sinister element to Wolsey, even though Cromwell himself appears to admire (reverence?) him so much. However, for any man(or woman) to succeed in Tudor England (or, indeed, the rest of Europe), I think it was necessary to embrace the corruption at the heart of society rather than seeking to challenge or reject it. Cromwell knows this, perhaps better, even, than Wolsey does.
This is my first Wolf Crawl and I already find Mantel's writing fascinating. I was recently listening to a podcast episode that speaks on the source and creation of myths. The greek myth of the sisters who "string" time together stood out strongly to me. As I listened, I thought of that "thread" mentioned in this post, and how it ties to fate. "...the Fates were personified as three very old women who spin the threads of human destiny. Their names were Clotho (Spinner), Lachesis (Allotter), and Atropos (Inflexible). Clotho spun the “thread” of human fate, Lachesis dispensed it, and Atropos cut the thread (thus determining the individual’s moment of death)." I am now thinking of Cromwell's life and end of life, as a piece of thread in the hands of the Fates, in addition to the narrative thread mentioned in this post. I look forward to continue reading!
Lovely little tangent, Helen!
Oh I liked this tangent about the supernatural very much and went off down a little rabbit hole of my own that led me, among other things, to the origin of the English word 'fairy' which comes from the French 'fée' which itself comes from the Latin 'fata' = "those things which have been spoken", ie. destiny.
In cultures then that descend from Roman culture, fairies are often seen at births, bestowing good or evil upon the child (Sleeping Beauty), and the spindle may or may not be present, often it's just a wand (Source: Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years by Elizabeth Wayland Barber).
Makes me wonder which 'fairies' might've been present at Cromwell's birth.
Going down rabbit holes is the best! I didn't know fairies were seen at birth, very cool.
Fata, hence *tangent klaxon* the phenomenon known as 'fata Morgana', an optical illusion named after the fairy Morgan le Fay in Arthurian legend, because the effect makes things seem to float on air, like magic.
Gosh! Jolly interesting, thank you for sharing
Hilary Mantel's "The Other King" was well worth a read. Thanks for linking it. I appreciate that both Simon and Mantel acknowledge that the Wolsey we see in Wolf Hall is very much a partial reconstruction based on Cromwell's own rosy view of his mentor in private life. He's clearly erudite, sophisticated, and reform-minded, but it's hard to imagine this kindly, detail-averse elderly churchman who spends most of his first chapter cracking jokes as the second most powerful man and quite possibly the canniest political operator in England. You have to wonder what we're not seeing.
In "Haunting": I'm interested in people's interpretations of Cromwell's 'evil spirit' quotes. As the 'people hovering over his shoulder' in Mantel's unique narrative style we may simply be hearing his thoughts, and it seems intentionally ambiguous to what degree these reflect what he actually wrote down. If I'm reading Simon correctly, he believes that "His Grace wholly rejects any imputation..." was written down in some form but "My Lord Cardinal makes this statement without prejudice to his right..." was not. I initially interpreted both passages as simply Cromwell drolly contemplating lawyerlike responses to fantastical accusations for the sake of his own amusement - there's something intensely funny about reserving the legal right to haunt someone - but given that this is the 16th century perhaps he would indeed have to explicitly disclaim the use of evil spirits against his political opponents. In any case, the charming and powerful but lowborn Cardinal Wolsey would surely have aroused suspicions of supernatural trickery in a pre-Enlightenment era - in "The Other King" Mantel mentions that his political opponents said that Wolsey had given Cromwell a 'magic jewel' to keep Henry under his spell. So, as absurd as they seem, it's hard to say how 'embroidered' these quotes really are without knowledge of the period.
What were other people's interpretations of these quotes? I suspect the versions we get are at least a bit more sardonic than whatever Cromwell wrote down, but it's hard to say how wide that gap is.
Yes, I think you may be right about this: that Cromwell is composing a sardonic letter in his head, and in reality he will - as instructed - just deny it, in far fewer words. What Cromwell and others choose to commit to writing is a significant theme as we move through the books. But as always with 'he, Cromwell', there is a curious blurring between thought, word and action.
I wasn’t sure what to expect going in, but I really enjoyed these first two chapters. Two goosebump moments for me; in the first chapter - “If he gets after me again I’m going to kill him, and if I kill him they’ll hang me, and if they’re going to hang me I want a better reason.” and in the second chapter the last line of imagining Norfolk kneeling with “A black-faced imp with a trident is pricking his calloused heels.”
Two great lines. The first foreshadows his death: they will hang him (or behead him) for a 'better reason'. The second introduces the first ghoul to cross our inky pages.
Could one make an argument that Walter is our first ghoul?
100%
This is my second time reading Wolf Hall; my first slow read. I am really appreciating the background, the analysis, all the resources. But I am still most struck by those sentences of Mantel's that stop me in my tracks; that I have to re-read and savor and contemplate.
"Over the city lies the sweet, rotting odor of yesterday's unrecollected sins."
Such a great line.