Mary Boleyn
Mary Boleyn is a kind little blonde, who is said to have been passed all around the French court before coming home to this one.
(Wolf Hall)
Historically, Mary Boleyn is somewhat elusive in the sources, but in fiction she has a voice, and seems to be a popular narrator. In Mantel’s books she is sweet, lively, but calculating, enticing Cromwell into some degree of intimacy, which Cromwell later believes is because she is pregnant, though nothing comes of the rumour. There is no love lost between Mantel’s Mary and her siblings, with Anne often her tormentor in the series, but we have no real indication as to how close they were. Like her sister, Mary served Princess Mary Tudor at the French court, and it was rumoured that she was also mistress to the libertine French king, Francis I, though this has never been proven. Upon her return to the English court, she became Henry VIII’s mistress, and there is some uncertainty as to whether her two children, Henry and Catherine, had royal blood. Mary first married William Carey, who came from a well-connected family, in 1520. As a mark of respect to the Boleyn family, Henry allowed them to wed in the royal chapel at Greenwich palace, and there is evidence that Thomas Boleyn tried to mentor his son-in-law in the politics of court. Carey died of the sweating sickness in 1528, the same outbreak that decimated the country and Cromwell’s own household. In Wolf Hall, Mary Boleyn is quickly on the prowl for another husband, and surprisingly indiscreet in her conversations with Cromwell regarding her sister, Anne:
She is selling herself by the inch ... She wants a present in cash for every advance above her knee.
We have no evidence that Cromwell had any relationship with Mary whatsoever, just a letter written to Cromwell following her banishment from court for marrying the wrong man. In 1534, Mary secretly married William Stafford, a soldier with few prospects. For the sister of the Queen, it exposed the Boleyn family to ridicule. Writing to Cromwell, she begged for his assistance, though it is not clear that he lifted a finger in her defence. The Mary Boleyn of Wolf Hall would have had better luck, with Cromwell deciding to bring in Thomas Boleyn:
He will humiliate him – in his genial fashion – and make him give Mary an annuity.
Thomas would give Mary an annual pension of £100, as he did for his daughter-in-law, Jane. But prior to his death, Thomas had begun to reconcile with his only living daughter, and an indenture between the King and Mary and William Stafford shows that Mary would receive a number of her family’s estates. Thomas had clearly negotiated with Cromwell and the King before his death and left his younger brother James and his lawyer to ensure it was carried out – Thomas may have had a fractious relationship with his daughter but the evidence shows us that he would not have wanted her to go through the rest of her life destitute. Mary would only survive her parents by four years, but her children, Henry and Catherine, would go on to live successful lives at the court of their cousin, Elizabeth I.
THE CARDINAL’S MAN
Thomas Cromwell is now a little over 40 years old. He is a man of strong build, although not tall. Various expressions pass across his face, and only one is readable: a look of stifled amusement. His hair is dark, heavy and waving, and his small eyes, which are very sharp, light up in conversation, so the Spanish ambassador will tell us shortly. His speech is low and rapid, his manner assured; he is at home in courtroom or waterfront, bishop’s palace or inn yard. He can draft a contract, train a falcon, draw a map, stop a street fight, furnish a house and fix a jury. He knows new poetry, and can recite it in Italian. He works all hours, first up and last to bed. He makes money and he spends it. He will take a bet on anything.
Cromwell had made an extremely favourable impression on Wolsey following his dismantling of various monasteries, and from 1524 we can place him in Wolsey’s household, being referred to as one of the Cardinal’s counsel – a highly sought-after position. But interestingly, Cromwell was not working in the public sector for the Cardinal, but rather he dealt with Wolsey’s private matters just as he had done for the Greys. When we first meet the adult Cromwell in Wolf Hall, he has just arrived from York following two weeks away on Wolsey’s business, and we are given a glimpse of his life in service to the Cardinal:
He’s been to his clerks at Gray’s Inn and borrowed a change of linen. He’s been east to the city, to hear what ships have come in and to check the whereabouts of an off-the-books consignment he is expecting.
Cromwell’s life would have been a whirlwind of errands, negotiations and transactions on behalf of his master, Wolsey, all of which Cromwell ran concurrently with his private legal work, commissioned from clients from the Cardinal’s network, who came to him with their problems. As the Cardinal’s man, Cromwell was also well placed to appraise the usefulness or otherwise of those who sought the Cardinal’s patronage;
