Wolf Crawl #44: Bone-weary

'Suppose the king is losing his nerve?'
   He feels as if their words are echoing in his head. He walks away. He is very tired: bone-weary, he says to himself. He wonders, where is my daughter Jenneke this morning? He feels as if he is drunk, as if he had emptied the flask himself; and he remembers a day, Putney, the riverbank, long ago, walking home in the dawn: he sees himself as if from the treetops, swaying from side to side, a small striving figure in the white light, with a taste of vomit in his mouth.

last week | home page | reading schedule
further resources: Hilary Mantel | Wolf Hall

Welcome to Week 44 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 delve 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, Penelope Fitzgerald’s The Blue Flower, and Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie.

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 Four. Chapter II. Corpus Christi, June –December 1538.

In the UK Fourth Estate edition, this section runs from pages 563 to 598. In the US Picador edition, it runs from pages 484 to 514. It begins, “Wyatt has followed the Emperor from the shores of Spain to Nice…” It ends, “It’s not worth it. Nobody’s worth it.”

This summary is followed by a few footnotes of interest. This week, deceptions and disappointments, peace in Europe, busy ambassadors and beavers from Danzig. The first parish registers and the Last Fire to close the deal. In the archives with Bea Stitches, we give Wyatt his instructions and receive mail from Stephen Gardiner and Mary Fitzroy.

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.