What I Am Reading: "Wolf Hall" by Hilary Mantel

I was never formally educated in British history, so my main exposure to Henry VIII’s reign was watching The Tudors a few years ago. I’m sure the show had many historical inaccuracies, but it gave me a familiarity with the general storyline and the dramatis personae of “Wolf Hall.” The book is about Thomas Cromwell, covering his rise to power. I didn’t realize until the halfway point that the book would not encompass his entire time as Henry’s Chancellor; though I was able to guess since Anne Boleyn had not even married the king at that point. It was good to learn that Laurent Binet’s deconstruction of the genre in “HHhH” didn’t ruin historical fiction for me.

Mantel’s Cromwell is a somewhat enigmatic figure. An omnicompetent lawyer and bureaucrat of common birth, with a background as a mercenary in Italy, Cromwell comes across as unideological. He is driven more by personal loyalties and vendettas than by the religious/ideological goals of Protestantism – loyalty to Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, his patron and mentor in the art of being an ironically detached politician; or a vendetta against Sir Thomas More, for being a repressive religious fanatic.

The book ends with Thomas More’s execution, in 1535. More, a zealous enforcer of religious orthodoxy, was responsible for the torture and execution of heretics, for such ideological crimes as possessing or distributing bibles written in the vernacular. After the break with the Catholic Church, More ran afoul of Henry’s regime when he refused to swear an oath to uphold the legitimacy of Henry’s control of the church, and of the succession of his daughter, Elizabeth. Cromwell coddles More for much of the process, offering him many ways to square himself with the new regime. At one point, during a discussion of the issue, More’s upholding of the Church’s ideology causes Cromwell to have a rare surge of anger:

“Oh, for Christ’s sake! A lie is no less a lie because it is a thousand years old. Your undivided church has liked nothing better than persecuting its own members, burning them and hacking them apart where they stood by their own conscience, slashing their bellies open and feeding their guts to dogs. You call history to your aid, but what is history to you? It is a mirror that flatters Thomas More. But I have another mirror, I hold it up and it shows a vain and dangerous man, and when I turn it about it shows a killer, for you will drag down with you God knows how many, who will only have the suffering, and not your martyr’s gratification.” (p. 463)

I (with my limited knowledge of the subject) view the English Protestant Reformation through political terms: the stability of Henry’s kingdom required a male heir (in Henry’s calculation), and that could not be provided to him under the current ideological framework. Thus, he embraced an alternative ideological framework that justified his actions. This is separate from my ideological and moral judgement of some of the political activity. Part of the reason that I like this novel is my fondness for Cromwell, who came to power meritocratically. However, I also have a strong dislike for More. Later sainted by the Catholic Church, Thomas More was appointed by Pope John Paul II as the patron saint of politicians, in 2000. In his day, More was responsible for obtaining confession through torture, and burned a half-dozen heretics at the stake for ideological crimes. A much better selection for patron saint of politicians would be Niccolo Machiavelli, clearly a major influence on political thought. Machiavelli was a Catholic, and was the recipient rather than the dispenser of state justice.

Anyway, to get back on track, I will likely sample Mantel’s other books in the Cromwell trilogy, albeit not immediately. I enjoyed this work, and her portrayal of Cromwell. The fun she has with him almost lets me escape the foreboding over his ultimate fate.