The subject of Anne’s downfall is something of a crowded field – every historian and historical fiction author has their theory, resulting in a multitude of demises. That Anne and her co-accused were innocent cannot be disputed, for it was clearly an engineered downfall, but the truth of the plot and who was behind the machinations is almost impossible to determine. Certainly, the real Thomas Cromwell seems a likely suspect, but what we may never know is whether he acted against her of his own accord, or on the orders of Henry VIII. We do know that throughout 1536, Anne and Cromwell quarrelled on several occasions, with Anne threatening Cromwell that she would like to see ‘his head off his shoulders’.
Mantel follows the trail of evidence, from Henry’s accident through Anne’s spats with Cromwell, and into April 1536. On Passion Sunday Anne’s chaplain John Skip delivered an extraordinary sermon, declaring that the king needed to resist evil counsellors who tempted him to ignoble actions, and using the story of the Hamman, advisor to the Persian king Xerxes and an enemy of his wife, Esther. The lengthy allegory ended with Hamman being executed. No one failed to make the link.
There are other events to consider, namely Cromwell and Chapuys’ ambitions for a rapprochement between Henry and Charles V, now that Katherine was no longer a sticking point. On Easter Monday, Cromwell met Henry, arriving at court before the king was even awake, so eager was he to report his meeting with Chapuys and the letters from Charles. Henry was receptive and pleased by Charles’ words and looked forward to healing the rift between the two. It seemed as if an Imperial alliance was a real possibility, but while Henry had been receptive earlier that day, by the evening his mind had changed entirely.
Cromwell, who had worked hard for Imperial peace, was accused of making his own policy, in cahoots with Chapuys. Henry railed at both men so violently that they both made quick exits.
Mantel draws on Chapuys’ own report, in which he ponders whether it was Anne who poisoned Henry against the proposal of peace. Chapuys adds that Cromwell disappears for several days, sick from fear, or regrouping. Mantel imagines the conversation between Henry and Cromwell before the latter departs, making it clear who she believes set things in motion:
He is here to take instructions. Get me Jane: Jane, so kind, who sighs across the palate like sweet butter. Deliver me from bitterness, from gall.
GATHERING EVIDENCE
Cromwell invites Elizabeth Somerset, Countess of Worcester, to a meeting. A lady-in-waiting of the queen’s, she is in a difficult situation, pregnant with a child who was not her husband’s. Historically, we know that Elizabeth becomes involved when she is chastised by her brother, courtier Sir Anthony Browne, for her loose living, and she retorts that her behaviour is nothing compared to that of the queen. She would turn out to be one of the main witnesses against Anne, but Mantel has changed the narrative slightly. Meeting with Cromwell, Elizabeth voices the same defence and starts a revolution, with the women of Anne’s bedchamber clamouring over each other to accuse the queen of immoral behaviour with her male courtiers. We do know that several of Anne’s ladies would bear witness against her, but not necessarily their motives. But one name appears more often in the narrative of the Boleyns’ downfall than any other: Jane, George Boleyn’s wife.
Jane Rochford is a malevolent character in the trilogy, unhappily married, and a disgruntled member of the Boleyn family. She seems loyal but is also triumphant when any member of the family suffers humiliation. She whispers poison in Cromwell’s ear about Anne and the Boleyns – at first Cromwell recognizes that she is lonely and ‘breeding a savage heart’, but throughout the years he appreciates the intelligence, and will use it. Surprisingly, some of Cromwell’s lengthiest interactions in the trilogy are with her, though theirs is a curious relationship based on the currency of information.
J
ANE
R
OCHFORD
Like the Boleyns, Jane hailed from Norfolk, the daughter of Henry Parker, Lord Morley, a well-respected translator, ambassador and member of the Privy Council. Jane first entered Katherine of Aragon’s household as a lady-in-waiting, and, in 1524, her father began negotiations with the Boleyn family for a match between Jane and George Boleyn. Jane’s older sister, Margaret, had married one of Thomas Boleyn’s nephews, John Shelton, which had been a successful alliance between the two families. In almost all fictional portrayals, the marriage seems to have been forced on two unwilling participants and it is popular to portray George as verbally and even physically abusive towards his wife, but there is no evidence to suggest George and Jane were miserable throughout their marriage. Mantel draws on the traditional portrayal of Jane, who takes a perverse pleasure in sowing doubt in Anne’s mind and deliberately provoking her, and has no qualms sharing with Cromwell what goes on in Anne’s chambers.
Mantel has Jane suggesting what would become the extraordinary charge of incest, telling Cromwell that Anne and George are lovers. Of course there is no evidence of such an accusation, in fact it seems to have stemmed from Elizabeth Somerset. George was too powerful to be allowed to survive; the charge may well say more about Cromwell than anyone else.
Jane is usually instrumental in Anne and George’s downfall in the fictional portrayals, though she makes no appearance in any of the extant records, nor is she listed as giving evidence. Jane has become a scapegoat, unfairly vilified. But in Mantel’s series, she keeps the intrigue bubbling along and advises Cromwell to where to begin.
A
N
I
NVITATION
The real Mark Smeaton was a Flemish musician within Anne’s household, and there is no evidence he and Cromwell knew each other in any way. Mantel, however, has linked
