TURNING POINT
On 5 January 1531, an extraordinary papal brief reached court, stating that, at Katherine’s request, the pope forbade Henry to remarry ‘until the decision of the case, and declares that if he does all issue will be illegitimate. It forbids any one in England, of ecclesiastical or secular dignity, universities, parliaments, courts of law, &c., from making any decision in the affair, the judgement of which is reserved for the Holy See. The whole under pain of excommunication.’
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HOMAS
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RANMER
Henry, with Cromwell by his side, had already begun to consider other options. Wolsey’s failure to secure an annulment in the legatine trial opened the door to others to try more innovative approaches, and it was Stephen Gardiner who first drew Henry’s attention to a young theologian, Thomas Cranmer, who, like everyone else throughout the country, had followed the legatine trial at Blackfriars. The story goes that Gardiner, Cranmer and Edward Fox, Gardiner’s ambassadorial colleague, spoke of the ‘great matter’ over supper one evening, and Cranmer advised that the problem with the annulment was its approach. Cranmer suggested that it was not an issue of canon law, but a theological issue. He believed that the theologians of universities both in England and abroad should be consulted on the legitimacy of Henry’s marriage, which Fox relayed to the king. Cranmer was sent to Durham House, Thomas Boleyn’s residence in the Strand, where he could have time to write, and access to books, suggesting Thomas Boleyn’s library was well stocked. We know of Cranmer’s loyalty to Anne, but he was also deeply devoted to Thomas Boleyn, remaining a trusted and loyal confidant until the latter’s death in 1539.
As Diarmaid MacCulloch writes, Cromwell and Cranmer were linked by two ultimately incompatible ideals, loyalty to the king and their passion for an evangelical reformation, yet MacCulloch believes that theirs was an uncommonly close and sincere friendship, though this has been disputed by other historians. Cranmer attended Cambridge in 1503 and was elected to a fellowship at Jesus College, which he had to relinquish when he married a young pregnant widow named Joan. Joan would not survive the birth, and while Jesus College restored Cranmer to his fellowship, it likely felt like a hollow reward. Cranmer entered the church and quickly developed a reputation as an astute theologian, but he also began to entertain notions which many would view as heretical. He often met with a group of scholars who discussed Martin Luther’s teachings and were vocal in their dissatisfaction with the abuse of the clergy. Some of the men with whom Cranmer mixed were also known to Cromwell and play a part in Mantel’s series, including William Tyndale, the English scholar who would, in a sense, become the face of the English Reformation, famed for his translation of the New Testament into English, and Thomas Bilney, nicknamed ‘Little Bilney’ due to his short stature.
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UPREMACY
By 1531, Henry had secured the scholarly opinions of the various universities of Europe, which Thomas More presented to the House of Commons in March. It was made into a book called Censurae academiarum which Cranmer translated into English, providing a snapshot of scholarly opinion, though it was by no means a comprehensive survey.
The events of 1531 are only alluded to in Mantel’s series but they are significant. Parliament’s main goal was to secure a mandate to consider the ‘manifold abuses of the clergy’ – Henry charged the members of the English Church with praemunire with a hefty fine of £100,000 to buy a pardon.
When Mantel’s Cromwell visits Queen Katherine and her daughter Mary, she is well informed on the matter. She reflects on the charge made against Cardinal Wolsey and compares it to the latest attack on the English clergy and the fine that was imposed alongside it. Cromwell responds, ‘Not a fine. We call it a benevolence.’ Henry demanded more, insisting that the clergy recognize that they held no jurisdiction independently of the crown.
Katherine and Mary are also aware that the clergy have bestowed on Henry the title of ‘singular protector, supreme lord, and supreme head of the English church and clergy’. But while the bishops acknowledged Henry as Supreme Head of the Church and Clergy in England, a limiting clause, ‘as far as the law of Christ allows’, was added to Henry’s new title.
In Wolf Hall, Cromwell is visiting the pair to inform them that Katherine and Mary are to be sent to the More, a palace in Hertfordshire, once owned by Wolsey. What Cromwell does not know is that Henry has already decided to separate mother and daughter.
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ASTER
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ROMWELL
By 1532, Cromwell was everywhere at court, but had no official post. Mantel imagines a frank conversation between Cromwell and Mary Boleyn, who is to convey Cromwell’s private ambitions to the Lady Anne. He wants an official role in the royal household:
She nods. ‘She made Tom Wyatt a poet. She made Harry Percy a madman. I’m sure she has some ideas about what to make you.’
In April of 1532, Cromwell was appointed Master of the Jewels and in July appointed as Clerk of the Hanaper, part of the office of the Chancery, though whether this was Anne’s doing is debatable. Cromwell had become a central figure at court and a constant presence at Henry’s side.
In March 1532, Cromwell’s Supplication of the Commons against the Ordinaries, which Gardiner so opposed, was delivered to Parliament and the clergy, alleging that the English clergy’s oaths to the Pope were a violation of their oaths to the crown. Parliament and the clergy reluctantly agreed rather than face charges of treason, but the fallout was immediate. Thomas More resigned as Lord Chancellor, unable to endorse the direction in which Henry was leading the church. He was not alone.
ELIZABETH BARTON: THE HOLY MAID OF KENT
Elizabeth Barton was something of a mystery. She was born sometime in 1506, and served in the household of Thomas Cobb, a farmer and land agent of the Archbishop of
