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Intro
It’s September 1535, and three years into their marriage, King Henry VIII is beginning to tire of his wife Anne Boleyn. During a hunting trip in rural England, Thomas Cromwell, Henry’s Master Secretary and most trusted aide, notices that the king has begun to pay special attention to Jane Seymour, a quiet, plain-looking woman from one of the “ancient families” of English nobility.
With his naïve son Gregory in tow, Cromwell returns to London, where a flurry of work awaits him. Henry’s split from his first wife, the Spanish princess Katherine of Aragon, has created tension with Emperor Charles V of the Hapsburg territories. To avoid war, Cromwell is in constant negotiations with Eustache Chapuys, the Emperor’s ambassador. At the same time, Cromwell—himself a working-class “blacksmith’s son”—is eager to seize assets from the country’s wealthy monasteries and redistribute funds to those in need, especially now that Henry’s annulment has led to a schism with the Pope. And most of all, Cromwell must keep the peace with temperamental Anne Boleyn and her arrogant brother George. After all, when Cromwell’s mentor Cardinal Wolsey displeased Anne several years ago, she had him executed without a second thought.
Katherine falls ill, and Cromwell and Chapuys visit the dying former queen at her estate in Kimbolton, England. Even though Katherine resents Henry for leaving her for Anne, she still remembers her husband fondly, recalling the white silk roses he gave her just before the birth of their son. Unfortunately, that son died in infancy, and now Katherine worries that her only child Mary will be usurped by baby Elizabeth, the daughter Anne has just born to Henry.
By the time Cromwell gets back to Henry’s palace, rumors are flying. Lady Rochford, George Boleyn’s wife, tells Cromwell that Anne has been exchanging suspiciously amorous letters with courtier Harry Norris. Jane Seymour reports that Henry has asked her to be his mistress, courting her with gifts and poems. And all over London, there are rumors that Cromwell himself is guilty of great atrocities, ordering executions at random and carving his initials into his enemies’ hearts.
Christmas comes, and Cromwell celebrates by putting on a play with his family and his closest confidantes (including Rafe Sadler, Thomas Wriothesley, and Richard Riche). As the merriment unfolds, Cromwell feels a pang, thinking of his wife Elizabeth and his daughters Grace and Anne, all of whom died several years ago from an illness known as “the sweating sickness.”
Katherine dies, and there is a great celebration at court. But all is not as well as it seems. Every day, there is new gossip about Anne’s alleged infidelity, even as the queen is also rumored to be pregnant again. When the pompous Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk accuses Cromwell’s old friend Thomas Wyatt of having sex with Queen Anne, Cromwell explodes. Brandon mocks Cromwell’s working-class origins (“you are not fit to talk to princes”), and Cromwell fumes, waiting for the day when “banker sits down with banker, and kings are their waiting boys.”
One night, while Anne is sleeping, a fire breaks out in her chambers, sparked by a lit candle. While Henry suggests that the candle was lit by someone trying to sabotage Anne, Lady Rochford whispers to Cromwell that the candle was probably left by one of Anne’s lovers. Cromwell reflects that “the border between truth and lies” is “permeable and blurred,” and he wonders how he can use all of this misinformation to his advantage.
Henry hosts a jousting tournament, and though his advisors gently point out that he might be getting too old for such athletics, Henry insists on participating. Unfortunately, Henry falls from his horse and appears to be dead. Cromwell rushes to the scene, where Anne Boleyn’s relatives, are already scheming about how to seize power. Before Cromwell can panic, Henry shudders—and Cromwell realizes that the king is still alive.
Though Henry recovers quickly, his near-death experience changes things at court—seeing how close the Boleyns got to taking over, the family’s various enemies begin scheming to remove Anne from the throne. To challenge Anne, Cromwell forges an uneasy alliance with some of the oldest scions of English nobility, including Nicholas Carew, William Fitzwilliam, and Anne’s uncle, the conniving Duke of Norfolk. Cromwell has gotten rich during his years of service to Henry, but he knows that these courtiers still look down on him because of his lack of noble blood.
Anne miscarries, and any final traces of warmth in her marriage with Henry dissipate. Henry, already in a foul mood, grows frustrated with how much Cromwell inserts himself into matters of international diplomacy. Still, the king relies on Cromwell more than anyone—especially when the king decides that it is time to get rid of Anne Boleyn for good. Cromwell leaps at the chance to secure his own position and avenge Wolsey’s death.
Cromwell’s plotting kicks into high gear, and he begins interviewing Anne’s ladies-in-waiting, searching for gossip that might discredit Anne. Gradually, Cromwell narrows in on rumors that Anne has been unfaithful with four men: court musician Mark Smeaton and courtiers Harry Norris, Francis Weston, and William Brereton. Lady Rochford then accuses her husband George—Anne’s brother—of committing incest with his sister.
Cromwell invites Mark Smeaton over to dinner, and Mark volunteers that he has been having an affair with Anne. Cromwell threatens to torture Mark if he does not name the other courtiers as having also romanced Anne. Mark refuses to do so, so Cromwell locks him in a closet overnight. When Mark emerges the next morning, he is so scared that he incriminates all of Cromwell’s targets, confessing to anything and everything in an incoherent monologue.
After ordering Mark sent to the prison in the Tower of London, Cromwell gets to work questioning Norris, Weston, Brereton, and George Boleyn. While Henry sends jewelry to Jane and promises to marry her soon, Anne, too, is arrested and brought to the Tower. Carew pressures Cromwell to jail Thomas Wyatt, who is the man most obviously involved with Anne, but Cromwell is hesitant to do so—unlike the other courtiers, Wyatt has always been loyal to Cromwell.
As Cromwell builds a case against the four courtiers, he recalls a play these four men did years ago, where they all dressed up as demons and pretended to drag an actor playing Cardinal Wolsey to hell. Wriothesley, realizing what Cromwell is up to, remarks that the trial seems rigged: “it is not so much who is guilty,” Wriothesley accuses Cromwell, “as whose guilt is of service to you.”
The trials are held in the Tower of London, and Anne is found guilty, along with Mark, Norris, Brereton, and Weston. A few days after Anne is executed, Henry marries Jane. Cromwell prides himself on the efficient way he has manipulated history. Summer comes again, and the Seymour family moves into the palace, adjusting to their new positions at the center of court life. As the falcons meant to symbolize Anne’s reign are replaced by the peacocks associated with Jane Seymour, Cromwell steels himself for another queen—and a whole new set of challenges.
