Author | Hilary Mantel |
---|---|
Audio read by | Simon Slater (2009) Ben Miles (2020) |
Language | English |
Genre | Historical fiction |
Publisher | Fourth Estate (UK) |
Publication date | 30 April 2009 |
Publication place | United Kingdom |
Media type | Print (hardcover and paperback) |
Pages | 672 |
ISBN | 978-1554687787 |
823.92 | |
LC Class | PR6063.A438 W65 2009 |
Followed by | Bring Up the Bodies |
Wolf Hall is a 2009 historical novel by English author Hilary Mantel, published by Fourth Estate, named after the Seymour family's seat of Wolfhall, or Wulfhall, in Wiltshire. Set in the period from 1500 to 1535, Wolf Hall is a sympathetic fictionalised biography documenting the rapid rise to power of Thomas Cromwell in the court of Henry VIII through to the death of Sir Thomas More. The novel won both the Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. [1] [2] In 2012, The Observer named it as one of "The 10 best historical novels". [3]
The book is the first in a trilogy; the sequel Bring Up the Bodies was published in 2012. [4] The last book in the trilogy is The Mirror and the Light (2020), which covers the last four years of Cromwell's life. [5]
In 1500, the teenage Thomas Cromwell ran away from home to flee his abusive father and sought his fortune as a soldier in France.
By 1527, the well-travelled Cromwell had returned to England and was now a lawyer, a married father of three, and highly respected as the right-hand man of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, with a reputation for successful deal-making. His life takes a tragic turn when his wife and two daughters abruptly die of the sweating sickness, leaving him a widower. His sister-in-law, Johane, comes to keep house for him.
Cromwell is still in Wolsey's service in 1529 when the Cardinal falls out of favour with King Henry VIII because he failed to arrange an annulment of the King's marriage to Catherine of Aragon. Cromwell manages to buy the Cardinal a little time before everything the Cardinal owns is repossessed and given to Henry's mistress, Anne Boleyn. Cromwell subsequently decides to relocate the Cardinal and his entourage to a second home in Esher, and the Cardinal moves on to York.
Though he knows the Cardinal is doomed, Cromwell begins negotiations on his behalf with the King. During his visits, he meets the recently widowed Mary Boleyn, Anne's elder sister, and is intrigued by her. Cromwell is eventually summoned to meet Anne and finds Henry's loyalty to her unfathomable.
Continuing to gain favour with both the King and Anne, Cromwell is disturbed by Wolsey's activities in York but is shocked when he learns that the Cardinal has been recalled to London to face treason charges and has died on the way. Cromwell mourns his death and vows to take vengeance on those involved in his downfall. Despite his known loyalty to Wolsey, Cromwell retains his favoured status with the King and is sworn into the King's council after interpreting one of Henry's nightmares about his deceased elder brother as a symbol that Henry should govern with the blessing of his late father and brother.
Cromwell continues to advise Anne and works towards her ascent to Queen, hoping he will rise too. Just as the wedding appears imminent, Henry Percy, a former lover of Anne's, declares that he is her legal husband and still loves her. Cromwell visits Percy on Anne's behalf and threatens him into silence, securing his position as a favourite in the Howard household.
King Henry travels to France for a successful conference with the French. Finally, secure in her position, Anne can marry Henry privately and consummate their relationship. She quickly becomes pregnant, and Henry has her crowned Queen in a ceremony that Cromwell perfectly organises.
Born to a working-class family of no position or name, Cromwell became the right-hand man of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, adviser to the King. He survived Wolsey's fall from grace to eventually become the most powerful of Henry's ministers. In that role, he observed turning points in English history, as Henry asserted his authority to declare his marriage annulled from Catherine of Aragon, married Anne Boleyn, broke from Rome, established the independence of the Church of England, and called for the dissolution of the monasteries.
The novel is a re-envisioning of historical and literary records; in Robert Bolt's play A Man for All Seasons Cromwell is portrayed as the calculating, unprincipled opposite of Thomas More's honour and decency. Mantel's novel offers an alternative to that portrayal, an intimate portrait of Cromwell as a tolerant, pragmatic, and talented man attempting to serve King, country, and family amid the political machinations of Henry's court and the religious upheavals of the Reformation, in contrast to More's viciously punitive adherence to the old Roman Catholic order that Henry is sweeping away.
Mantel said she spent five years researching and writing the book, trying to match her fiction to the historical record. [6] To avoid contradicting history she created a card catalogue, organised alphabetically by character, with each card containing notes indicating where a particular historical figure was on relevant dates. "You really need to know, where is the Duke of Suffolk at the moment? You can't have him in London if he's supposed to be somewhere else," she explained.
In an interview with The Guardian , Mantel stated her aim to place the reader in "that time and that place, putting you into Henry's entourage. The essence of the thing is not to judge with hindsight, not to pass judgment from the lofty perch of the 21st century when we know what happened. It's to be there with them in that hunting party at Wolf Hall, moving forward with imperfect information and perhaps wrong expectations, but in any case, moving forward into a future that is not pre-determined but where chance and hazard will play a terrific role." [7]
Wolf Hall includes a large cast of fictionalised historical persons. In addition to those already mentioned, prominent characters include:
The title comes from the name of the Seymour family seat at Wolfhall or Wulfhall in Wiltshire; the title's allusion to the old Latin saying Homo homini lupus ("Man is wolf to man") serves as a constant reminder of the dangerously opportunistic nature of the world through which Cromwell navigates. [8]
Wolf Hall received generally positive reviews from critics. [9] [10] On The Omnivore, based on British press, the book received an "omniscore" of 4.5 out of 5. [11] According to Book Marks, the book received, based on primarily American publications, "rave" consensus, based on eleven critic reviews: seven "rave" and four "positive". [12] Culture Critic assessed it an aggregated critic score of 82%, [13] [14] while The BookScore assessed it an aggregated critic score of 9.0/10 based on an accumulation of British and American press reviews. [15] The book received a 80% from The Lit Review based on twenty-two critic reviews. [16] In January/February 2010 issue of Bookmarks, the book received a (4.00 out of 5) based on critic reviews with a summary saying, "Wolf Hall offers a fascinating and expertly researched look at a man famously villainised in the play and film A Man for All Seasons and Showtimes's more recent bodice-ripping series The Tudors". [17] On BookBrowse , the book received a from "Critics' Consensus" and for the media reviews on a rating scale out of five: The New York Times Book Review , The New York Times , The Times , The Washington Post , and Library Journal reviews under five and The Guardian , Kirkus Reviews , and Publishers Weekly reviews under four. [18] Globally, the work was received generally well (with rating assessments based on the critic reviews from Complete Review ranging from scores such as B+) with Complete Review saying on the review consensus, "Very positive – and see it as a possible breakout book for her". [19]
In The Guardian, Christopher Tayler wrote "Wolf Hall succeeds on its own terms and then some, both as a non-frothy historical novel and as a display of Mantel's extraordinary talent. Lyrically yet cleanly and tightly written, solidly imagined yet filled with spooky resonances, and very funny at times, it's not like much else in contemporary British fiction. A sequel is apparently in the works, and it's not the least of Mantel's achievements that the reader finishes this 650-page book wanting more." [20]
Susan Bassnett, in Times Higher Education, wrote in a rare negative review, "dreadfully badly written... Mantel just wrote and wrote and wrote. I have yet to meet anyone outside the Booker panel who managed to get to the end of this tedious tome. God forbid there might be a sequel, which I fear is on the horizon." [21]
In The Observer, Olivia Laing wrote, "Over two decades, she has gained a reputation as an elegant anatomiser of malice and cruelty. From the French Revolution of A Place of Greater Safety (1992) to the Middle England of Beyond Black (2005), hers are scrupulously moral – and scrupulously unmoralistic – books that refuse to shy away from the underside of life, finding even in disaster a bleak and unconsoling humour. That supple movement between laughter and horror makes this rich pageant of Tudor life her most humane and bewitching novel." [22]
Vanora Bennett in The Times wrote, "as soon as I opened the book I was gripped. I read it almost non-stop. When I did have to put it down, I was full of regret; the story was over, a regret I still feel. This is a wonderful and intelligently imagined retelling of a familiar tale from an unfamiliar angle – one that makes the drama unfolding nearly five centuries ago look new again and shocking again, too." [23]
In the Washington Post , Gregory Wolfe notes "One of her stated goals in writing Wolf Hall was to take on Robert Bolt's 1954 stage play, A Man for All Seasons ", which lauded Thomas More. [24] Furthermore, "Critics have pointed out that the author’s liberties with the historical record demonstrate a clear ideological bias. Mantel was raised Catholic but is now a vocal critic of that church, which she has said 'is not an institution for respectable people'." [25]
Wolfe cites historians:
Neo-conservative Catholic author George Weigel described the novels as "bad history" but cited their success as proof that "that anti-Catholicism is the last acceptable bigotry in elite circles in the Anglosphere." He wrote, "Protestant anti-Catholicism in the U.K. has long since been superseded by secular anti-Catholicism, but the cultural afterburn remains virtually identical: to the Hillary Mantels of 21st-century Britain, Catholicism is retrograde, priggish, obsessive, fanatical, and, well, un-English." [30]
The book continued to receive acclaim among many critics' lists: according to The Greatest Books, a site that aggregates book lists, it is "The 213th greatest book of all time". [31] A poll of literary experts by the Independent Bath Literature Festival voted Wolf Hall the greatest novel from 1995 to 2015. [32] It also ranked third in a BBC Culture poll of the best novels since 2000. [33] In 2019, The Guardian's list of the 100 best books of the 21st century ranked Wolf Hall first. [34]
In July 2024 the New York Times named Wolf Hall the third best book of the 21st century. [35]
In January 2013, the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) announced it would stage adaptations by Mike Poulton of Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies in its Winter season. [41] The production transferred to London's Aldwych Theatre in May 2014, for a limited run until October. [42]
Producers Jeffrey Richards and Jerry Frankel brought the London productions of Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, starring Ben Miles as Thomas Cromwell; Lydia Leonard as Anne Boleyn; Lucy Briers as Catherine of Aragon; and Nathaniel Parker as Henry VIII, to Broadway's Winter Garden Theatre [43] in March 2015 for a 15-week run. The double-bill has been re-titled Wolf Hall, Parts 1 and 2 for American audiences. [44] The play was nominated for eight Tony Awards, including Best Play.
In 2012, the BBC announced it would adapt Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies for BBC Two, for broadcast in 2015. [45] On 8 March 2013, the BBC announced Mark Rylance had been cast as Thomas Cromwell. [46] The first episode was broadcast in the United States on PBS's Masterpiece on 5 April 2015. [47] In June 2015, Amazon announced exclusive rights to stream Masterpiece programmes, including Wolf Hall, on Amazon Prime. [48] After suffering an extensive delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the second series adapting the third book, The Mirror and the Light , was filmed between November 2023 and April 2024 [49] and aired in the UK on 10 November 2024. [50]
Thomas Wolsey was an English statesman and Catholic cardinal. When Henry VIII became King of England in 1509, Wolsey became the king's almoner. Wolsey's affairs prospered and by 1514 he had become the controlling figure in virtually all matters of state. He also held important ecclesiastical appointments. These included the Archbishop of York—the second most important role in the English church—and that of papal legate. His appointment as a cardinal by Pope Leo X in 1515 gave him precedence over all other English clergy.
Anne of the Thousand Days is a 1969 British historical drama film based on the life of Anne Boleyn, directed by Charles Jarrott and produced by Hal B. Wallis. The screenplay by Bridget Boland and John Hale is an adaptation of the 1948 play of the same name by Maxwell Anderson.
Thomas Cromwell, briefly Earl of Essex, was an English statesman and lawyer who served as chief minister to King Henry VIII from 1534 to 1540, when he was beheaded on orders of the king, who later blamed false charges for the execution.
George Cavendish was an English writer, best known as the biographer of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey. His Thomas Wolsey, Late Cardinall, his Lyffe and Deathe is described by the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography as the "most important single contemporary source for Wolsey's life" which also offers a "detailed picture of early sixteenth-century court life and of political events in the 1520s, particularly the divorce proceedings against Catherine of Aragon.
Mark Smeaton was a musician at the court of Henry VIII of England, in the household of Queen Anne Boleyn. Smeaton – together with the Queen's brother George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford; Henry Norris; Francis Weston and William Brereton – was executed for treason and adultery with Queen Anne.
Henry Norris was an English courtier who was Groom of the Stool in the privy chamber of King Henry VIII. While a close servant of the King, he also supported the faction in court led by Queen Anne Boleyn, and when Anne fell out of favour, he was among those accused of treason and adultery with her. He was found guilty and executed, together with the Queen's brother, George Boleyn, Sir Francis Weston, William Brereton and Mark Smeaton. Most historical authorities argue that the accusations were untrue and part of a plot to get rid of Anne.
A Man for All Seasons is a 1966 British historical drama film directed and produced by Fred Zinnemann, adapted by Robert Bolt from his play of the same name. It depicts the final years of Sir Thomas More, the 16th-century Lord Chancellor of England who refused both to sign a letter asking Pope Clement VII to annul Henry VIII of England's marriage to Catherine of Aragon and to take an Oath of Supremacy declaring Henry Supreme Head of the Church of England.
Dame Hilary Mary Mantel was a British writer whose work includes historical fiction, personal memoirs and short stories. Her first published novel, Every Day Is Mother's Day, was released in 1985. She went on to write 12 novels, two collections of short stories, a memoir, and numerous articles and opinion pieces.
Sir Francis Bryan was an English courtier and diplomat during the reign of Henry VIII. He was Chief Gentleman of the Privy chamber and Lord Justice of Ireland. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Bryan always retained Henry's favour, achieving this by altering his opinions to conform to the king's. His rakish sexual life and his lack of principle at the time of his cousin Anne Boleyn's downfall led to his earning the nickname the Vicar of Hell.
Anne Boleyn is a play on the life of Anne Boleyn by the English author Howard Brenton, which premiered at Shakespeare's Globe in 2010. Anne Boleyn is portrayed as a significant force in the political and religious in-fighting at court and a furtherer of the cause of Protestantism in her enthusiasm for the Tyndale Bible.
Bring Up the Bodies is an historical novel by Hilary Mantel, sequel to the award-winning Wolf Hall (2009), and part of a trilogy charting the rise and fall of Thomas Cromwell, the powerful minister in the court of King Henry VIII. It won the 2012 Man Booker Prize and the 2012 Costa Book of the Year. The final novel in the trilogy is The Mirror & the Light (2020).
The 2012 Booker Prize for Fiction was awarded on 16 October 2012. A longlist of twelve titles was announced on 25 July, and these were narrowed down to a shortlist of six titles, announced on 11 September. The jury was chaired by Sir Peter Stothard, editor of the Times Literary Supplement, accompanied by literary critics Dinah Birch and Bharat Tandon, historian and biographer Amanda Foreman, and Dan Stevens, actor of Downton Abbey fame with a background English Literature studies. The jury was faced with the controversy of the 2011 jury, whose approach had been seen as overly populist. Whether or not as a response to this, the 2012 jury strongly emphasised the value of literary quality and linguistic innovation as criteria for inclusion.
The Mirror & the Light is a 2020 historical novel by English writer Hilary Mantel and the final novel published in her lifetime, appearing two and a half years before her death. Following Wolf Hall (2009) and Bring Up the Bodies (2012), it is the final instalment in her trilogy charting the rise and fall of Thomas Cromwell, minister in the court of King Henry VIII. It covers the last four years of his life, from 1536 until his death by execution in 1540.
Wolf Hall is a British television series adaptation of two of Hilary Mantel's novels, Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, a fictionalised biography documenting the life of Thomas Cromwell.
"Three Card Trick" is the first episode of the BBC Two series Wolf Hall. It was first broadcast on 21 January 2015.
"Entirely Beloved" is the second episode of the BBC Two series Wolf Hall. It was first broadcast on 28 January 2015.
"Anna Regina" is the third episode of the BBC Two series Wolf Hall. It was first broadcast on 4 February 2015.
Wolf Hall Parts One & Two is a two-part play based on Hilary Mantel's novels Wolf Hall (2009) and Bring Up the Bodies (2013), adapted for the stage by Mike Poulton. Set in the period from 1500 to 1535, Wolf Hall is a sympathetic fictionalised biography documenting the rapid rise to power of Thomas Cromwell in the court of Henry VIII through to the death of Sir Thomas More.
Thomas Cromwell was Chief Minister to King Henry VIII of England from 1534 to 1540. He played a prominent role in the important events of Henry's reign, including the king's divorce from Catherine of Aragon, the execution of Anne Boleyn, the marriage to Anne of Cleves, the Dissolution of the monasteries, and the English Reformation. These dramatic events have provided the inspiration for plays, novels and films from shortly after his death until modern times.
Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light is an historical drama television series. It is a second adaptation by Peter Straughan of the Wolf Hall novels by Hilary Mantel and covers The Mirror & the Light, the final novel in the trilogy. It has Peter Kosminsky returning to direct, Mark Rylance returning in the lead role of Thomas Cromwell, and Straughan returning to write from the 2015 series Wolf Hall.