'So many words,' Gregory says. 'So many words and oaths and deeds, that when folk read of them in time to come they will hardly believe such a man as Lord Cromwell walked the earth. You do everything. You have everything. You are everything. So I beg you, grant me an inch of your broad earth, Father, and leave my wife to me.'
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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 navigate 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, The Inheritors by William Golding and The Children’s Book by AS Byatt.
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 second half of Part Three. Chapter II. The Image of the King, Spring–Summer 1537, and Part Three. Chapter III. Broken on the Body. London, Autumn 1537.
UK Fourth Estate edition, pp. 478–520
US Picador, pp. 409–446
First line: As July comes in Lord Latimer is down from the north…
Last line: Gregory says, ‘My lord father, who will you let the king marry next?’
This summary is followed by a few footnotes of interest. This week, Jolly Tom from Putney becomes a garter knight and some sort of uncle to the King. An heir is born, and a queen is broken, as the butcher’s dog holds fast to the butcher bird. In the archive with Bea Stitches, the dead drag their broken bodies across the page.
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.
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