Wolf Hall ~ Hilary Mantel

 

'Wolf Hall', our BOTM for November, which is a larger book in size and scale, we had set of milestones, using which we can gauge our reading progress. 

Part 1- 19/10

Part 2 & 3 - 26/10

Part 4 & 5 - 2/11

Part 6 - 9/11

Set in the period from 1500 to 1535, Wolf Hall is a sympathetic fictionalised biography documenting the rapid rise to power of Thomas Cromwell in the court of Henry VIII through to the death of Sir Thomas More. The novel won both the Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award.

As much as I love Tudor history and have read a lot of historical fiction, this book requires strict attention to detail or you keep going backwards to try and understand what is going and who is saying what. ROB It can be a difficult read. Having a reasonable working knowledge of Tudor history does help.

The Tudor period occurred between 1485 and 1603, including the Elizabethan era during the reign of Elizabeth I (1558–1603).

Why were the Tudors called “the Tudors”? Because it was their name. The House of Tudor were descended from the Welsh Tudor family of Penmynydd in Anglesey in North Wales. The Welsh Tudors included Owain Glyndŵr, who was presented as a rather comic figure in Shakespeare's Henry IV Part 1, Owen Glendower.

In 1500, the teenage Thomas Cromwell ran away from home to flee his abusive father and sought his fortune as a soldier in France.

By 1527, the well-travelled Cromwell had returned to England and was now a lawyer, a married father of three, and highly respected as the right-hand man of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, with a reputation for successful deal-making. His life takes a tragic turn when his wife and two daughters abruptly die of the sweating sickness, leaving him a widower. His sister-in-law, Johane, comes to keep house for him.

Cromwell is still in Wolsey's service in 1529 when the Cardinal falls out of favour with King Henry VIII because he failed to arrange an annulment of the King's marriage to Catherine of Aragon. Cromwell manages to buy the Cardinal a little time before everything the Cardinal owns is repossessed and given to Henry's mistress, Anne Boleyn. Cromwell subsequently decides to relocate the Cardinal and his entourage to a second home in Esher, and the Cardinal moves on to York.

Though he knows the Cardinal is doomed, Cromwell begins negotiations on his behalf with the King. During his visits, he meets the recently widowed Mary Boleyn, Anne's elder sister, and is intrigued by her. Cromwell is eventually summoned to meet Anne and finds Henry's loyalty to her unfathomable.

Continuing to gain favour with both the King and Anne, Cromwell is disturbed by Wolsey's activities in York but is shocked when he learns that the Cardinal has been recalled to London to face treason charges and has died on the way. Cromwell mourns his death and vows to take vengeance on those involved in his downfall. Despite his known loyalty to Wolsey, Cromwell retains his favoured status with the King and is sworn into the King's council after interpreting one of Henry's nightmares about his deceased elder brother as a symbol that Henry should govern with the blessing of his late father and brother.

Cromwell continues to advise Anne and works towards her ascent to Queen, hoping he will rise too. Just as the wedding appears imminent, Henry Percy, a former lover of Anne's, declares that he is her legal husband and still loves her. Cromwell visits Percy on Anne's behalf and threatens him into silence, securing his position as a favourite in the Howard household.

King Henry travels to France for a successful conference with the French. Finally, secure in her position, Anne can marry Henry privately and consummate their relationship. She quickly becomes pregnant, and Henry has her crowned Queen in a ceremony that Cromwell perfectly organises.