Bringing Up The Bodies

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Once again to Mary Robertson:
after my right harty commendacions,
and with spede.

“Am I not a man like other men? Am I
not? Am I not?”
HENRY VIII

to Eustache Chapuys, Imperial
Ambassador

Contents

Cast of Characters
Family Trees
Part One
I Falcons. Wolf Hall, Wiltshire: September 1535
II Crows. London and Kimbolton: Autumn 1535

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III Angels. London:Christmas
1535–New Year 1536
Part Two
I The Black Book. London: January–April 1536
II Master of Phantoms. London: May
1536
III Spoils. London: Summer 1536
Author’s Note
Acknowledgements

Cast of Characters

The Cromwell Household
THOMAS CROMWELL, a blacksmith’s son: now
Secretary to the King, Master of the Rolls,
Chancellor of Cambridge University, and
deputy to the king as head ofthe church in
England.
GREGORY CROMWELL, his son.
RICHARD CROMWELL, his nephew.
RAFE SADLER, his chief clerk, brought up by
Cromwell as his son.
HELEN, RAFE’S beautiful wife.
THOMAS AVERY, the household accountant.
THURSTON, his master cook.
CHRISTOPHE, a servant.

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DICK PURSER, keeper of the watchdogs.
ANTHONY, a jester.

The Dead
THOMAS WOLSEY, cardinal, papal legate,Lord
Chancellor: dismissed from office, arrested
and died, 1530.
JOHN FISHER, Bishop of Rochester: executed
1535.
THOMAS MORE, Lord Chancellor after Wolsey:
executed 1535.
ELIZABETH, ANNE AND GRACE CROMWELL: Thomas Cromwell’s wife and daughters, died
1527–28: also Katherine Williams and Elizabeth Wellyfed, his sisters.

The King’s Family
HENRY VIII.
ANNE BOLEYN, his second wife.ELIZABETH, Anne’s infant daughter, heir to
the throne.

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HENRY FITZROY, Duke of Richmond, the
king’s illegitimate son.

The King’s Other Family
KATHERINE OF ARAGON, Henry’s first wife, divorced and under house arrest at Kimbolton.
MARY, Henry’s daughter by Katherine and
the alternative heir to the throne: also under
house arrest.
MARIA DE SALINAS, a former lady-in-waiting
toKatherine of Aragon.
SIR EDMUND BEDINGFIELD, Katherine’s keeper.
GRACE, his wife.

The Howard & Boleyn Families
THOMAS HOWARD, Duke of Norfolk, uncle to
the queen: ferocious senior peer and an enemy of Cromwell.
HENRY HOWARD, Earl of Surrey, his young
son.

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THOMAS BOLEYN, Earl of Wiltshire, the
queen’s father: ‘Monseigneur’.
GEORGE BOLEYN, Lord Rochford, the queen’s
brother.
JANE,Lady Rochford, George’s wife.
MARY SHELTON, the queen’s cousin.
And offstage: Mary Boleyn, the queen’s sister, now married and living in the country,
but formerly the king’s mistress.

The Seymour Family of Wolf Hall
OLD SIR JOHN, notorious for having had an
affair with his daughter-in-law.
LADY MARGERY, his wife.
EDWARD SEYMOUR, his eldest son.
THOMAS SEYMOUR, a younger son.
JANESEYMOUR, his daughter, lady-in-waiting
to both Henry’s queens.
BESS SEYMOUR, her sister, married to Sir
Anthony Oughtred, Governor of Jersey: then
widowed.

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The Courtiers
CHARLES BRANDON, Duke of Suffolk: widower
of Henry VIII’s sister Mary: a peer of limited
intellect.
THOMAS WYATT, a gentleman of unlimited intellect: Cromwell’s friend: widely suspected
of being a lover of AnneBoleyn.
HARRY PERCY, Earl of Northumberland: a sick
and indebted young nobleman, once betrothed to Anne Boleyn.
FRANCIS BRYAN, ‘the Vicar of Hell’, related to
both the Boleyns and the Seymours.
NICHOLAS CAREW, Master of the Horse: an enemy of the Boleyns.
WILLIAM FITZWILLIAM, Master Treasurer, also
an enemy of the Boleyns.
HENRY NORRIS, known as ‘gentle Norris’,
chief of the king’s privychamber.
FRANCIS WESTON, a reckless and extravagant
young gentleman.

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WILLIAM BRERETON, a hard-nosed and quarrelsome older gentleman.
MARK SMEATON, a suspiciously well-dressed
musician.
ELIZABETH, Lady Worcester, a lady-in-waiting
to Anne Boleyn.
HANS HOLBEIN, painter.

The Clerics
THOMAS CRANMER, Archbishop of Canterbury:
Cromwell’s friend.
STEPHEN GARDINER, Bishop of...