So day by day, at his request, and to amuse him, he would put a value on his master. Now the king has sent an army of clerks to do it. But he would like to take away their pens by force and write across their inventories: Thomas Wolsey is a man beyond price.
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Further Resources: Hilary Mantel | Wolf Hall
Welcome to Wolf Crawl. I am your guide, Simon Haisell, and this is a year-long slow read of Hilary Mantel’s Cromwell trilogy: Wolf Hall, Bring Up the Bodies, and The Mirror and the Light.
Each week, I dive into the details, with summaries, background, footnotes and tangents to enrich your reading. I am joined on this journey by Bea Stitches, who delves into the archive on our behalf, and Matt Brown, who makes maps to help us find our way through Cromwell’s world.
You can find the reading schedule and plot summaries for the full cast of characters on my website, Footnotes and Tangents. There, you can join other slow reads, including Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace, Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie and Pat Barker’s Regeneration.
I start each post with a summary of the week’s story illustrated by a map created by Matt Brown. This week, we are reading Chapter III. At Austin Friars, 1527 and Part Two, Chapter I. Visitation, 1529.
UK Fourth Estate edition, pp. 34–64
US Picador, pp. 31–59
US Henry Holt, pp. 28–53 (guide only, editions vary)
Ben Miles audiobook, 01:11:37–02:16:00
It begins, “Lizzie is still up.” It ends, “my lord won’t be poisoned.”
This summary is followed by a few footnotes of interest. This week, we look at the private spaces of Wolf Hall and Cromwell’s reading material. I talk about why everyone is called Thomas, and how Wolsey once built a city of gold. We then meet Gregory Cromwell in the archives with Bea Stitches, and eyeball the dead before they are dead in The haunting of Wolf Hall. We close with my favourite quote of the week.
And then it is over to you. In the comments, let us know what caught your eye and ask the group any questions you may have. And if you’ve tumbled down a rabbit hole or taken your reading off on a tangent, please share where you’ve been and what you’ve found.
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