Thomas Cromwell - ‘the man for his seasons’ in Hilary Mantel's novel Wolf hall

much acclaim in literary circles and became popular with readers. Both are Man Booker prize-winning novels. Stephen Greenblatt wrote a full-length review for The New York Review of Books , in which he compares Wolf Hall with Middlemarch, pointing out that it is “England’s answer to Tolstoy and Proust”.

The content and literary merits of the novel are also discussed by Russian scholars, such as I.V. Kabanova, M.A. Dezortzeva, E.Y. Devyatova, and others. Thorough and detailed analysis is given by B.M. Proskurnin in his articles about genre characteristics of the historical novel and innovations suggested by Hilary Mantel in her novel. B.M. Proskurnin points out that “…these novels (and the whole future trilogy, I guess) develop the theme of the emergence of a new England which happened in the reign of Henry VIII when the political and ideological collapses of the feudal paradigm in the country were accompanied by an ideological revolution [Proskurnin 2015: 61].

Mantel’s original approach to historical facts is that she takes those that were thought inane or trivial, and makes them crucial. As Colin Burrow puts it, “history is a matter of tiny things becoming major things” [Burrow 2009]. One of those objects is a book of love poems, lost by Mary Boleyn and later on found with her cousin Mary Shelton, which is known as Devonshire Manuscript, “the richest surviving record of early Tudor poetry and of the literary activities of early 16th-century women” [Burrow 2009]. Insignificant people also turn out to play an important part in the development of events. So, Joan Boughton, an old woman of more than 80 years, holding views associated with John Wyclife, was burnt for heresy in Smithfield in 1494, where Thomas Cromwell might have been as a child.

Cromwell, considered to be cruel and ruthless, is shown as human and capable of feelings. His memories fault him in terms of details but the impact was so strong that he cannot forget having seen the martyrdom of Joan Boughton and people collecting the remains of the flesh, which they put into the bowl. And a woman “placed on the back of his hand a smear of mud and grit, fat and ash. Joan Boughton, she said” [Mantel 2009: 179‒180]. It shows that Cromwell’s ruthlessness is not his personal trait but a forced decision, which is taken as inevitable. Before Little Bilney and John Frith,

English scholars, were to be burnt for heresy, Cromwell made several attempts to save Frith, arranging his escape. Cromwell takes care that Elizabeth Barton, a prophetess, wouldn’t suffer extensively facing the death.

Being Wolsey’s man and secretary, Cromwell is known at court and to the king as a shrewd but competent trusted agent of Wolsey, who is at home in courtroom or waterfront, bishop’s palace or in yard. He can draft a contract, train a falcon, draw a map, stop a street fight, furnish a house and fix a jury” [Mantel 2009]. Cromwell speaks French and Italian fluently, as he served a contract in the French army, which moved to fight in Italy, where Cromwell worked in a Florentine bank as an accountant. He also studied law in London, he was known to have killed a man and he learned to appreciate Italian painting. His master Wolsey compares him to “one of those squareshaped fighting dogs that low men tow about on ropes” [Mantel 2009].

For a man like Cromwell politics is a means of self-realization and self-advancement. Cromwell is a universal type of a “self-made” politician with his ability of thinking globally and ahead of today that boosts his rise to power after Wolsey’s retreat. Cromwell supports Henry in all his deeds and wishes, though he might not always agree with them, such as the execution of the scholars and maybe of Thomas More, to whom he feels no malice. As a statesman and the king’s adviser, Cromwell perceives these actions as necessary for the political stability and progress. Personally, he is not in favour of killing people for their non-conformism, but as a statesman and diplomat, he is aware of the fact that if you want to start something new, you have to terminate everything old. It does not mean of course that torturing and killing people should be justified, but from the XVI century perspective it seemed to be treated differently. The value of human life has changed a lot over the years.

Henry VIII, the king, needs Cromwell as a person he can trust who would be his adviser and lawyer, someone who can do everything for his king. Henry, a man, needs Cromwell more than Henry, the king: in spite of Cromwell’s sickness Henry comes to see him, risking his health and even life. But the king is still waiting for the action to be done, he warns Cromwell that the divorce should be arranged immediately, and Princess Mary, his daughter must obey and accept her position, is it not his major responsibility and obligation? Henry is disturbed with the position of his ex-wife and thinks, “Katherine might be translated into glory” [Mantel 2009: 342]. He appeals to Cromwell to tell him right from wrong in terms of Pope Clement, who is always ailing, “so he ought to die” [Mantel 2009: 376]. Cromwell tries to avert the answer, but Henry insists: “It seems I prefer to hear it from you” [Mantel 2009: 314]. Cromwell’s presence seems to become indispensible for the king to maintain his majesty confidence.

In the novel we see Cromwell as a loving husband and father. It is not stated directly that he actually loved his wife and daughters passionately, but implied rather transparently that he had strong feelings for them. Having lost his family, Cromwell is haunted by the images of his wife and daughters, who died of sweat fever. He might have another wife, as many women would be happy to take the place, but Liz wouldn’t let him go. There are some hints in the book to his close relationships with Joan, sister of his wife, Lady Mary, sister of the future queen, or Helen, a poor woman with children taken in by the household. Jane Seymour who becomes the third wife of Henry VIII, Cromwell may have meant for himself. According to the author, historians try to find out and show the reader how it was, whereas the writer employs the facts and imagines how it might have been when these are missing.

Cromwell’s memories about Liz are also connection with the past, as only some years later he takes up his wife’s Book of Hours with all the records Liz had made and some of his ones too. She had never crossed out the name of her first husband Tom Williams in her prayer list. He himself wrote the dates of his daughters’ deaths in the book and “It didn’t seem possible that weight would ever shift from inside his chest, but it has lightened enough to let him get on with his life. I could marry again, he thinks, but is this not what people are always telling me”? [Mantel 2009: 316], and further: “I have got over Liz, he says to himself” [Mantel 2009: 317]. He feels himself free for a new life exactly at the time when his political career is reaching the apogee – Cromwell has all the power in the new England’: “… Thomas Cromwell is running everything, including the weather”

[Mantel 2009: 382]. As it is clear from the quotation, the novel is not deprived of humour. In fact it is full of it that makes the narrative alive and entertaining.

Cromwell is an enigmatic personality for his contemporaries. Thomas Wyatt, notices, “You never think about the past”, for what Cromwell responds: “I never talk about it” [Mantel 2009: 354]. Cromwell does not lie; he simply keeps quiet.

Cromwell “is not like the cardinal” [Mantel 2009: 289], as Rafe Sadler remarks. The author explains: “Indeed. The cardinal expected the gratitude of his prince, in which matter he was bound to be disappointed” [Mantel 2009: 290]. And then: “For all his capacities he was a man whose emotions would master him and wear him out. He, Cromwell, is no longer subject to vagaries of temperament, and he is almost never tired” [Mantel 2009: 376].

Mantel’s Cromwell is really wise and knows how to maneuver people: “You learn nothing about men by snubbing them and crushing their pride. You must ask them, what it is they can do in this world, that they alone can do” [Mantel 2009: 465]. From historical records and biographical texts we know, that very few people liked him, but as Mantel says, “many respected and nobody could deny him power and wit” [Mantel: 467]. His house at Austin Friars acquires magical power as “The gentlemen of England apply for places in his household now for their sons and nephews and wards, thinking they will learn statecraft with him…” [Mantel 2009: 438]. Christophe, his servant, puts it like this: “Only you and me, master, and Richard Cromwell, we know how to stop some little fucker in his tracks, so that’s the end of him, he doesn’t even squeak”[Mantel 2009: 439].

Present tenses and some rude words make the narrative live and contemporary. May be a little rough for a politician well-educated lawyer, but quite pertinent to Thomas Cromwell who is said to have killed a man. Mantel’s Cromwell is granted self-reflection, looking at his portrait painted by a renown German painter, Hans Holbein the Younger (1532–1533), “which shows Cromwell as a puffy faced calculator in black” [Burrow 2009: 2]. The portrait struck Cromwell who saw himself from the eyes of the other person, remembering what Mark had said about him: “A silly little boy who runs after George Boleyn. I once heard him say I looked like a murderer”. To which Gregory replies: Did you not know’? [Mantel 2009] It is another episode that makes Cromwell human, prone to self-reflection, whatever the reason.

Wolf Hall is a very English novel, written by an English writer, about England and the English, so to perceive the text fully and interpret it in a deeper level, we need to take this factor into consideration. Thus, in the novel the beginning of the Reformed England is shown. The power shifts to the king, who in his turn depends on the Parliament decision. Cromwell is a prodigious politician and cannot stand the disgrace of the monarchy as an institution, a symbol of power, stability and supremacy. He states: “My home will be with the king, where he is” [Mantel 2009: 507]. Cromwell looks even more powerful in Henry’s company, who is still afraid of the image of his first wife and manipulated by the second.

There are some other details in the novel which are relevant to the XVI century England and may be to the present day too. Thomas Cromwell has Rafe Sadler in his household, a son of other parents, whom he brings up as his own. That was a tradition in the English society at that time. And then, when Rafe married Helen, who was not meant for him, Cromwell just said, “You have made your choice, you must never repent it”. [Mantel 2009: 503]. Such a response sounds more contemporary than of the XVI century. At another point Cromwell mentions corruption: “In England there’s no mercy for the poor. You pay for everything, even a broken neck” [Mantel 2009: 387].

Mantel’s Cromwell is a protean figure, who does not fit any established views on his personality, “as self-mythologizing as his enemies” [Tayler 2009: 3]. Cromwell rarely speaks for himself, so the following statement reveals his Englishness, sense of humor and seems to contain the summary of his character: “I truly believe I should be a better man if the weather were better. I should be a better man if I lived in a commonwealth where the sun shone and the citizens were rich and free”. In these lines Mantel’s Cromwell does sound as a prophet looking ahead of his times and as a politician too, thinking about the country and the people.