Clement procrastinated for as long as possible, despite the constant pressure from Wolsey, who felt, rightly, that his very life depended on the right outcome.
In July 1529 Campeggio adjourned the hearing until October, as this was the time for the harvest in Rome and its environs, and this allowed the Legatine Court a summer recess. But the court would never sit again, for news soon reached England that Pope Clement had approved Katherine’s appeal and recalled the case to Rome. This was the end for Wolsey. Cromwell considers the news:
That evening with Wolsey he believes, for the first time, that the cardinal will come down. If he falls, he thinks, I come down with him.
(Wolf Hall)
Wolsey had always been deeply unpopular with the nobility, who envied his ability and the king’s reliance on him, but he had done nothing to remedy it or win over his enemies. But without Henry’s favour, Wolsey was vulnerable. Within months of the legatine recess, Wolsey presided over the meetings of the king’s council, but unbeknownst to him, charges were being drawn up against him. As Mantel’s Cromwell tells us, ‘he is charged with asserting a foreign jurisdiction in the king’s realm ... with exercising his role as papal legate ... he has always been, more imperious than the king. For that, if it is a crime, he is guilty.’
In a scene near the beginning of Wolf Hall, and the first scene in the BBC production: the great dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk march into York Place and demand the Great Seal from Wolsey, as Cromwell, in rapid undertones, advises his master. There was no time even to protest: on 9 October 1529, Wolsey was indicted in the Court of the King’s Bench under praemunire, a lesser form of treason. On 17 October, he surrendered the great seal and formally resigned as Lord Chancellor. He was allowed to leave London and make his way north to his diocese of York.
ENTRY TO COURT
With Wolsey’s fall, men like Cromwell, Stephen Vaughan and George Cavendish feared they would share their master’s fate. Cavendish even recounts a weeping Cromwell lamenting that he would likely lose everything he had worked for, a scene which Mantel includes, though her Cromwell is weeping for his daughters. He had worked with Wolsey for years and he alone knew all of Wolsey’s private as well as public affairs; he was allowed to conclude Wolsey’s outstanding matters, often attending court on Wolsey’s behalf, and also took charge of his estates and household goods.
In Wolf Hall, Cromwell is determined to intervene on his master’s behalf, to convince Henry, and more importantly, Anne Boleyn and her allies, that Wolsey is the best bet for achieving their goal of an annulment. Following Wolsey’s fall, he approaches the king as he prepares for a day of hunting, but this is not, as Henry reminds Cromwell, the first time they have met. Seven years prior, in 1523, Cromwell had entered Parliament and obtained a seat in the House of Commons – though he would not maintain his seat for long, he must have made an impression. His speech still survives, in which he eloquently raised issues over Henry’s proposed war with France, objecting to the request to the House from Wolsey for more money to fund such a campaign. It was rather daring for Cromwell to oppose his patron at the time, and attempt to reason with a young king who dreamed of conquering France. We do not know if Henry ever reproached him for the speech, but in Wolf Hall, Mantel imagines what it might look like: here is Henry berating Cromwell for dismissing Henry’s earlier capture of the French town of Thérouanne:
‘So what do you want? You want a king who doesn’t fight? You want me to huddle indoors like a sick girl?’
‘That would be ideal, for fiscal purposes.’
Following this meeting, Wolsey receives cartloads of furnishings for Esher Palace, which gives Cromwell hope that Henry missed his former Chancellor. We also know that Cromwell made his mark, with his friend, John Russell, writing to him following the meeting with Henry to tell him how well he had impressed the king.
ANNE BOLEYN
In Wolf Hall, even Anne Boleyn remarks on Henry’s growing admiration for his new man, Cromwell:
‘Alors,’ Anne says softly, ‘suddenly, everything is about you. The king does not cease to quote Master Cromwell.’ She pronounces it as if she can’t manage the English: Cremuel.
We do not know when Cromwell first met Anne Boleyn in person, but Mantel has imagined it thus: it is Lent, 1529 and as Henry is spending time with Katherine ‘for the sake of appearances’, Anne sends for Cromwell ‘to see if he offers any amusement’.
Anne Boleyn may well be one of the most famous and enigmatic women in English history; although so many have pronounced their like or dislike for her, there is so much about her life that eludes us. Evidence suggests Anne was born at Blickling, Norfolk, anywhere between 1500 and 1509 to Thomas and Elizabeth Boleyn, though it is debatable whether she was the elder or younger daughter (Mantel has favoured the latter). Her grandfather, Thomas Howard, and great grandfather, Thomas Butler, were two of the most influential men in the country. During her childhood, her father, Thomas, was favoured and mentored by one of the most powerful women in Europe, Margaret of Austria, the aunt of the future Charles V.
Thomas was ambitious for all his children and saw that they had a good education, but by securing her a place at Margaret’s court in Mechelen, one of the most sophisticated courts in Europe, he opened up extraordinary opportunities for his daughter.
