Wolf Hall

This chapter begins with an overview of British mythology, tracing King Henry VIII’s line from mythical Roman origins via King Arthur to the present setting of the novel. Several years before the king turned on Cardinal Wolsey, a new woman entered his life—Anne Boleyn. The daughter of a diplomat, Sir Thomas Boleyn, Anne grew up in France. When she returns to England, she is pursued by many men, including “Harry Percy, the Earl of Nothumberland’s heir” (62).

The cardinal finds this match unacceptable. Her marriage must be made to shore up the English alliance with Ireland. Sir Thomas Boleyn reveals that Anne and Harry have pledged themselves to each other, as witnessed by others. The cardinal, reminding Boleyn of his non-aristocratic bloodline, makes him break the relationship up.

Thomas begins to ask Wolsey if he has heard the rumors about the king but rescinds his question. The cardinal tests Thomas and gets him to tell the story of a man he killed when he was a soldier. Finally, the cardinal asks about the rumors. Thomas leaves the cardinal and “is miserably angry” (70). He is upset with his reaction to the cardinal and frustrated with his own dark past.

Thomas asks George Cavendish what happened with Harry Percy and Anne Boleyn. Cavendish has them act it out, like a play. First, Percy made his case: he and Anne were as good as married. Then Percy’s father was called in, and he berated his son for the choice. He ends up married to Mary Talbot instead of Anne. Cavendish says Anne vowed “that if she could work my lord cardinal any displeasure, she would do it” (73). This comes back to bite the cardinal, as it turns out Henry VIII had his eye on Anne all along.

Cavendish continues his recollection. In May of 1527, the cardinal opens a secret court of inquiry into the validity of Henry VIII’s marriage. It is an open secret. Henry wants to annul his marriage and is confident that he has the evidence to do so. The king is impatient for lack of an heir. Of six children born to him by Katherine, only one survived, a girl named Mary. She is sickly and small, about the size of Thomas’ daughter, who is several years younger. Katherine blames Wolsey, not the king, for stirring up trouble in their marriage. Katherine is a devoted wife, long-suffering and pious. Wolsey is not trying to start trouble; he is trying to keep the peace as best as possible.

Wolsey worries about the influence Anne Boleyn holds over Henry VIII. She now wears an emerald ring. Wolsey sendss her “down to her family house at Hever, but she had insinuated herself back to court somehow” (78). Wolsey advises Thomas that, if he were ever to find himself in a position close to the king, he will have to take the monarch as he is, with all of his faults.

News comes that the Holy Roman Emperor’s troops have begun plundering Rome, and the Pope has been taken prisoner. Henry’s case for annulment has been held back. Wolsey is alarmed; he knows that “one of the secrets of stability in Europe is to have the papacy independent” (81). He conspires to travel to the continent, and in the process of smoothing things over, advance Henry VIII’s cause. As the cardinal prepares to leave, the plague begins to resurface in the city.

Thomas maintains many other business ventures in addition to his work with the cardinal. Thomas tells Liz that he believes they will soon be rich. He realizes how lucky he is. He “would give a great deal to protect his own son from a quarter of what he knows” (85).

Before Wolsey leaves, he and Thomas discuss the prospect of Anne and Henry’s relationship. Wolsey brings up historical precedent of unusual royal marriages to quell his doubts. He speaks of historical violence in Henry VIII’s line, and how the present situation holds echoes of yore.

After a meeting the next day discussing the whereabouts of Protestant scholar William Tyndale, Thomas returns home. Something is wrong. He is met by his mother-in-law, Mercy, and his daughters Anne and Grace. Liz contracted the plague and died. Her decline was so rapid that Rafe did not have time to find Thomas. Liz’s funeral must be a quick one due to plague ordinances. There is no time to fetch Gregory from school.

Thomas mourns in his own way, by staying at home for a month reading the New Testament, Petrarch’s poetry, and Machiavelli’s Principalities. He studies and plays chess with Rafe.

As the cardinal advances his cause in France, the king plans to marry Anne Boleyn. The plague gradually runs its course through London. Kat and Morgan Williams come to visit Thomas at Austin Friars. The children play as the adults discuss the political situation.

The family reunion makes Thomas think of Walter, who has long since passed on. Thomas recalls how, returning from Italy for the first time, he refused to return to Putney to see his father, despite his family’s assertation that Walter is a calmer man. Thomas waits a year to see him and Walter is characteristically abrasive on their meeting.

Walter reminds Thomas of the times that he would run away to his uncle, John, who worked in the kitchen of Cardinal Morton. He met Thomas More here when he was a page in the cardinal’s house. Thomas began to learn to read from food orders in the cardinal’s kitchen. He found Bella the dog on his way from the cardinal’s house, but it died soon after.

Cardinal Wolsey’s efforts in France are largely a failure, but he has another plan to advance Henry VIII’s cause. Thomas is skeptical that the English will ever be liked by the French. Wars with them over the years caused great damage, especially the looting and pillaging done by English soldiers. Thomas knows that “kings may forgive each other; the people scarcely can” (108). Wolsey is in a sour mood since returning. The people of England seem to have turned against him.

One day in the spring of 1528, Thomas meets up with Thomas More, who has been publishing obscene, anti-Protestant tracts. More wonders why Thomas has not gone to Antwerp to fight these Protestant publications at the source. More tests Thomas to see if he has read Tyndale’s publications—which would be illegal. Thomas has, but deftly avoids answering.

The pope sends Cardinal Campeggio to help Wolsey with the king’s problems. London’s prisons fill with Protestants. The house of Geoffrey Monmouth, an apparent friend of Tyndale, is raided; however, the house “is clear of all suspect writing” (115).

Lizzie’s sister, Johane, moves into Austin Friars with her husband John Williamson and daughter Jo. John is needed in the Cromwell business, but Johane is concerned because of the negative public sentiment toward Cardinal Wolsey. The cardinal’s plan of closing failing monasteries and founding colleges is not popular.

Anne Cromwell says she wants to marry Rafe. Thomas likes this idea, but Anne is much too young. Anne realizes this too. She asks how Rafe came to live with the Cromwells at Austin Friar. Before Thomas became Cardinal Wolsey’s man, he already had a growing, positive reputation. After meeting him through the course of business, Henry Sadler sent the seven-year-old Rafe to learn from Thomas.

In summer of 1528, the plague returns again, this time to the court. Henry avoids it; the Boleyns contract it but survive. Thomas sends his daughters far away from the epidemic. When they return in autumn, Grace is shy with him. Thomas notes the distance between himself and his son Gregory.

In Autumn, Thomas runs into Mary Boleyn. Her husband died of plague, and Thomas begins to have romantic feelings toward her. Mary has been largely abandoned by her family and needs money. The two discuss widowhood and their children. Mary insinuates that she and Thomas should marry, but she backs off. Henry and Mary had a child, though Henry refuses to acknowledge him. She advises him to avoid doing any work for Anne. Anne and Henry “will ride over Hell to marry” (126). Soon after their meeting, rumor spreads that Mary is pregnant—apparently with Henry VIII’s child.

Early in 1529, the “trial of the king’s great matter is approaching” (132). The king intends to show that his marriage with Katherine is invalid because she consummated her marriage with Henry’s brother. Katherine will not bow down; she “will become a nun: if the king will become a monk” (132). The trial becomes a bawdy spectacle, a group of old men recounting Arthur and Katherine’s wedding night, some thirty years earlier. Thomas leaves to draft his will.

The trial does not go well, and Wolsey stands to fall. If he does, Thomas will fall with him. Negotiations in Rome are not going well; the cardinal’s French allies are falling to the Italians. His enemies are closing in.

Mercy and Thomas make the decision not to move the children to the countryside to avoid the summer plague. It is the wrong decision. First Anne falls ill and dies, and then Grace.

The cardinal is “charged with asserting a foreign jurisdiction in the king’s realm—that is to say, with the exercising of his role as papal legate” (141). His enemies have caught him at last. 

On Halloween, Thomas keeps the vigil that he and Liz once did yearly, alone. He is overcome by grief at the loss of his family. He leafs through Lizzie’s prayer book, which Grace used to enjoy looking at. George Cavendish interrupts his grieving; he is concerned because Thomas is crying.

Thomas is terrified that he will lose everything and go down with Wolsey. He has lost his family, and now he stands to lose everything else he worked for in his life.

The chapter ends with Cicero’s story of Simonides, the legendary Roman poet who “invented the art of memory” (146).