Wolf Crawl #38: The king's body

   Once the king leaves his inner rooms and enters his privy chamber, his natural body unites to his body politic: here he is dressed and presented to the world, a bulky, new-barbered man scented with rose oil. As rebels run free in the north, and the members break faith with the head, a kind of mutiny or civil war has broken out in the king's body.

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further resources: Hilary Mantel | Wolf Hall

Welcome to Week 38 of 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 & 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, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, and Penelope Fitzgerald’s The Blue Flower.

I start each post with a summary of the week’s story, illustrated by a map by Matt Brown. This week, we are reading the first half of Part Two. Chapter III. Vile Blood. London, Autumn–Winter 1536.

In the UK Fourth Estate edition, this section runs from pages 321 to 355. In the US Picador edition, it runs from pages 274 to 303. It begins, “Aske: he is a petty gentleman” It ends, “I could smell him from here.”

This summary is followed by a few footnotes of interest. This week, we take the health of the king’s two bodies and are much concerned. We remember the rebels of England, educate a future queen, and reach for our magical stones. Bea Stitches is unwell this week – she assures us it is not the Italian fever. We wish her all the best and hope to hear more from the archives soon.

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 have been and what you have found.

To get these posts in your inbox or the Substack app, subscribe to Footnotes and Tangents and turn on notifications for ‘2025 Wolf Crawl’ in your subscription settings.

“Giants were descended from Cain… There were hordes of them on the earth before they drowned in Noah’s flood.” The Fall of the Giants by Giulio Romano, 1534. Source.