Wolf Hall

Historical novels set in Tudor times are fantastic - well-written ones that is - because the times were so turbulent, the clothes so colourful and opulent, the debates were about matters of faith, people rode horses everywhere or travelled up and down the Thames in rowing boats and barges, and ate a lot of meat and bread off trenchers, and threw the bones onto the straw-strewn floors - it all sounds kind of romantic and fun. Ladies had admirers who wrote them poems and sonnets. Tudor people lived either in castles, or in black and white beamed houses with upstairs windows jutting out into the streets and diamond-paned windows. They had open fires in each room, and jesters.

OK, this is probably the rich people only. If I lived in Tudor times, I would be some "goodwife" probably, wearing long dresses and aprons and kind of mobcaps, and carrying baskets of bread or washing around.


The poor people in Tudor times lived in mud-walled, thatched houses, worked the fields or were servants for others, and were uneducated and heavily taxed and very very poor.

I do seem to have only a very rudimentary grasp of Tudor life. But I like the houses, the dresses, the colours, the woodcuts, tapestries, and harpsichord music. But I expect I would have hated the cold and draughts everywhere, the smells because I don't think people washed very often, and the filthy streets. And the violence. In these times people were burned at the stake for their religious beliefs, or sometimes tortured for information and confessions, and then burned or beheaded - first the ones who wouldn't give up their catholic faith, and then the ones who did turn to the new protestant faith, and then the catholic ones again - all depending on the views of the monarch of the time. It swung one way and then another... People got hung up by their thumbs, put in iron spiked cages that closed on them slowly, stretched and dislocated on racks, you name it... It is all anathema to me, but I love reading about it!


I find it interesting that our evangelical protestant churches, those who believe everyone should have a Bible in their own home, in their own language, who are opposed to superstition, opposed to the notions of purgatory and confession to a priest and paying a priest to pray for your dead relatives, in other words, the churches I am aligned with, - that they came into existence through this process of burnings, confessions, torture, and the shutting down and even sometimes physical destruction of ancient, beautiful monasteries. Why did God have to birth the Protestant church in England in this way? I suppose it must be a bit like why the Israelites had to wipe out the Canaanites - the softly softly approach just wouldn't have got anywhere. But it was an inevitable and gradual process in fact, as people of faith saw the church, which was all catholic then, becoming more and more corrupt, and also as they longed to be able to read the Bible in English, and as the printing presses were built that made reproduction of those Bibles possible. The reformation didn't just start with Luther, and nor did it come into England just because Henry VIII wanted to be free from the Pope in order to divorce his wife and marry his mistress Anne Boleyn. Rather, it started in myriads of places throughout England and Europe, as people's yearning rose up for genuine understanding and faith and worship and they became determined to be set free from the superstitions, the faith in relics and paid-for prayers. I am extremely glad the Reformation happened, but, in spite of my romance with the Tudors, I am glad that I didn't have to live through it. I don't think I am brave enough to be burned at the stake. Seriously.

Wolf Hall is a brilliant novel set in those days. It is written by Hilary Mantel, who is an excellent writer. Her descriptions of people are evocative: for example, this is the first appearance of the Duke of Norfolk: "Flint-faced and keen-eyed, he is as lean as a gnawed bone and as cold as an axe-head; his joints seem knitted together of supple chain links, and indeed he rattles a little as he moves, for his clothes conceal relics: in tiny jewelled cases he has shavings of skin and ... splinters of martyrs' bones." The main character is Thomas Cromwell, who is normally portrayed as an ambitious, cruel self-made man - but in this book he comes across as a sensitive and caring, if pragmatic, reformer, who wants to get ahead. Whilst Thomas More, who is normally presented as a kindly, moderate man, in this book comes across as tactless and unpleasant. If you are a fan of historical novels, this one is absolutely fantastic and gripping, highly researched but not at all dry; it draws you into the world of the day, court life, Henry VIII's relationship with Anne Boleyn (and other women), Anne Boleyn's and Katherine of Aragon's perspectives - you understand them all and swing between sympathising with each in turn. I had never understood how Cardinal Wolsey, Thomas Cromwell, Thomas More and Cranmer related to each other and fit into the chain of events, until I read this novel - now I have got it down. I thoroughly recommend this book. Can't wait to read the sequel...