Thank you.
I can't talk about the Cardinal.
~ Your Majesty... ~ No. Don't you understand?
I can't talk about him.
Here again.
Stephen.
You been waiting long?
Well, I was under the impression I had an interview with the King.
Again.
Yes.
Elusive, isn't he?
Did you think yourself a special favourite?
A cat has had her litter,
here, in my rooms.
Look at it!
Black as the devil,
born right here, under my very bed.
How's that for a bad omen before a journey?
You shouldn't leave.
Merry Thomas, when Norfolk threatens to bite...
.. it's time to be gone.
You won't like the north.
I am the Archbishop of York.
Yes, but you've never been. I have.
Filthy weather, people, morals.
The King wants me gone.
He wants to humiliate me.
Thinks it sends a sharp message to the Pope.
I feel like Katherine...
.. cast off.
But still, I love him.
What will we do?
Bribe people.
You still have land.
Even if the King takes everything you have, people will ask themselves,
"Can he truly give what belongs to the church?"
No-one will be sure of their title unless you confirm it.
So you see, my Lord, you still...
~ You still have cards in your hand. ~ Yes.
And after all...
.. if he wants to bring a treason...
If the King meant to charge you with treason,
~ you'd be in the tower now, wouldn't you? ~ Yes.
He misses you.
You'll return to favour.
New life,
born under your very bed?
Well... I'd read that as a good omen.
Ah, you lawyer.
Look who's back for Christmas.
What's this, Gregory, some kind of beard?
Think I've seen more hair on a side of bacon.
Gregory says we can race his dogs up and down the hall.
~ Father. ~ Welcome home, Gregory.
That was a calculation.
It wasn't just where I dropped them.
Sorry.
Do you remember that one Christmas
when we had the giant in the pageant?
Here in the parish? I do.
"I am a giant.
"My name is Marlinspike."
Aunt Johane says we won't have the Epiphany Feast this year.
We can't.
No-one would come.
Because of the Cardinal's disgrace?
People in Cambridge are laughing at my greyhounds.
Why?
Because they're black.
They should be white.
They say, "Only felons have dogs that you can't see at night."
Aha.
Look.
"I am a giant.
"My name is Marlinspike."
KITTEN MEOWS
"Grrrr!"
The dogs will kill it.
Do you think he's afraid of me?
Why should he be?
I don't know.
With everybody else, he seems so lively...
but when he sees me...
You're a kind father.
Too much so, I think. You spoil him.
That's what Liz always said.
Liz and I had nothing when we were girls.
Not a comb. Never had a mirror.
I remember when he was a baby and I used to warm his shirt
for him in front of the fire.
Liz would say "Don't do that. He'll expect it every day."
Seems such a long time since there was a baby in the house.
Don't look at me.
Does John Williamson not do his duty by you?
His duty's not my pleasure.
There's a conversation I shouldn't have had.
Wriothesley.
It's spelled W-R-I-O-T- ...
Just call me Risley.
Master Risley, we're always looking for bright young men.
~ You worked for the Cardinal, I think? ~ Yes, sir.
But then left with Stephen Gardiner?
I'm his clerk.
But it doesn't occupy all my time
and I'm keen to learn something of business, sir.
Oh, we're all business here at Austin Friars... aren't we, boys?
You know Gardiner will have sent him here to spy on us.
Well, he seems obliging.
Perhaps we could send him back to spy on Gardiner.
How's he been?
He's whipping himself?
The monks who come to him brought it.
Body of Christ.
Who makes these things?
Who ties a thorn to horse hair?
People ought to be found better jobs.
That settles it, we have to get him out of here.
Oh, oh, God.
He'd be better off in Yorkshire.
But how would we pay for it?
If only you would see the King...
Take a message for me to Wolsey, will you?
There's a Breton merchant who's complaining that his ship
was seized eight years ago and he still hasn't received compensation.
No-one can find the paper work.
The Cardinal would have handled the case.
~ Do you think he'll remember it? ~ I'm sure he will.
That'll be the one with powdered pearls for ballast
and unicorns' horns in its hold.
Yes, that'll be the one.
If the case is in doubt, sir, may I look into it?
I don't think you have a locus standi in the matter.
God, let him, Harry.
By the time this fellow's finished, the Breton'll be paying you.
I'll say this for you.
You stick by your man.
I never had anything but kindness from the Cardinal.
You have no other master?
£1,000?
Don't tell anyone.
It's the best I can do.
Take it with my blessing.
And ask him to pray for me.
Every day, I miss the Cardinal of York.
A man who can get £1,000 from the King...
Oh, it's only a tenth of what he's owed the Cardinal for over a decade.
And not so much when you have a cardinal to move.
Where will the rest come from?
How much of your own money will you put into this?
Some debts are not to be reckoned.
I heard a rumour recently about someone you know.
Thomas Wyatt.
Wyatt and the Lady Anne.
It's an old story.
If it's such an old story, why hasn't the King heard it?
Part of the art of ruling, perhaps. Know when to shut your ears.
FIRE CRACKLES SOFTLY
HE CHUCKLES
Aren't the English odd?
BOTH LAUGH
Christ, aren't they?!
Hmm.
FOOTSTEPS PASS
But you understand, I think?
She interests you?
A world where Anne can be queen
is a world where Cromwell can be...?
HE SWALLOWS
'Hendon and Royston, Huntingdon, Peterborough.
'I've sent riders on ahead so everything will be ready for you.'
This is a tactical retreat.
Not a surrender.
WOLSEY SIGHS
Lady Anne is the key to winning back Henry.
Mm-hm.
Find a way into her confidence, Tom.
Work a device to please her.
The only way to please that lady is to crown her Queen of England.
~ HE CHUCKLES ~ Will you come north? ~ Mm-hm.
I'll come and fetch you, as soon as he summons you back. And he will.
WOLSEY SIGHS
God bless you...
mine own entirely beloved Cromwell.
CROMWELL KISSES HIS HAND
Thomas?
Oh, er, when I'm gone.
HE SIGHS
I want the whole of the Archbishop's palace scrubbed out.
My lord will be bringing his own bed.
Draft in kitchen staff from the King's Arms.
I think I should go myself.
No, we can do it.
Well, check... Can you take this?
Check the stabling.
And get in musicians.
Last time I passed through, there were some pigsties
or something against the palace wall.
~ Find the owner, pay him off, knock 'em down. ~ Sir...
It's time to let the cardinal go.
BOX LID CLICKS
HE CHUCKLES
You know the first time we met,
was when you were a young student.
~ Where was this? ~ Lambeth Palace.
My uncle John was the cook there
and I worked some days in the kitchens.
I served you once.
I don't think so.
I remember, one evening we were playing football
and I heard a recorder playing... <LAUGHTER
Ah, my other guest...
Now, you carry on...
<SOFT LAUGHTER
Now, Henry, leave Master Gardiner alone.
You come along to the house. Come on, come on.
Let's go, let's go to the house.
~ There. ~ HENRY GIGGLES
About Master Wriothesley...
And a good evening to you, Stephen.
Remind me, is he working for me, or for you?
For you, I would have thought?
Then why is he always at your house?
Well, he's not a bound apprentice.
He can come and go as he pleases.
He thinks he'll make his fortune, I suppose.
Everyone knows money sticks to your hands.
He wants to know what he can learn from...
whatever it is you call yourself these days.
A person.
The Duke of Norfolk says I'm a person.
Is that his fool?
He's supposed to have fallen off a church roof and landed on his head.
~ Supposed to? ~ It would be just like More to keep a fool who wasn't.
Just to embarrass people.
HENRY IMITATES AN OWL
Henry Pattinson is excitable tonight.
I hope his diet has not been too rich.
No anxieties on that score...
CHITTERING
SOFT CLATTERING
Tyndale has been sighted in Hamburg, they say.
You'd know him, if you saw him, I suppose?
So would you, I suppose?
I hope to get the means to proceed against him
for sedition in his writing.
Have you found sedition in Tyndale's writing?
Very good.
You hear that, Stephen?
A lesser lawyer would have said, "I have read Tyndale,
"and I find no fault there."
But Thomas will not be tripped, will he?
Well, I admit, I have read Tyndale.
I have picked apart his so-called translations.
I have also read Luther.
"Lutherus sterquilinium est. Os eius anus mundi."
You have such a pretty way with Latin.
So, "He that toucheth pitch shall be defiled."
Unless his name is Thomas More.
There you are, Wolsey always told me you were a man of the Bible.
Thomas Cromwell, why don't you marry again?
No-one will have me, Lady Alice.
Nonsense. Your master may be down, but you're not poor.
And you've got everything below in good working order, haven't you?
Alice! What have I told you about drinking wine?
Your nose is glowing!
CREAKING AND SPLASHING
Why am I bringing you to Westminster?
I'm off to see Lady Anne.
You didn't say so.
I can't tell you all my plans, Stephen.
What would young Wriothesley have to do, then?
Oh, dear God, I'm starving!
I wish I'd lain hands on the white rabbit, I'd eat it raw.
Did you know that More goes to bed at nine o'clock every night?
With Alice?
Apparently not.
You keep spies in his house, too?
Don't you ever think of getting married, Stephen?
I'm in holy orders.
Oh, come on. You must have women.
Don't you?
What kind of a... Putney enquiry is that?!
HE LAUGHS
FOOTSTEPS, INDISTINCT CONVERSATION
Ah, it's you.
I like your... grey velvet.
SHE SNIFFLES
Where did you get it?
Italy.
Can you get me some?
It's been so long since I had new clothes.
If you're waiting for HER, I should warn you, she's in a temper.
~ Ah-ha. ~ Nothing happens quickly enough for Anne.
SHE SNIFFLES
You'd think she'd be happy.
You know, when the king first turned his attention to her, he thought,
knowing how things are done in France,
that she might accept a certain... position at court.
But that wasn't enough for Anne.
You know what she said to me?
She said, "This isn't France, and I'm not a fool like you, Mary."
Hm.
Because she...
~ Because she knows I was Henry's mistress... ~ Hm.
.. and she sees how I am left. And she takes a lesson from it.
She's vowed that she'll marry him. And what Anne wants, she'll have.
SHE SCOFFS
~ And you? ~ Me?
I am to be swept out after supper like the old rushes.
My father says I'm a mouth to feed
and my uncle Norfolk says I'm a whore.
I need a husband, to stop them calling me names.
Well...
.. you should ask for someone young and handsome.
Don't ask, don't get.
No, what I want is a husband who upsets them.
And who won't die.
~ WHISPERS: ~ Don't ask, don't get.
They'd kill you. SHE GASPS
You're right. They would.
If she's sent for you,
she means to flatter you.
She's going to ask you to do some little thing for her.
And then she'll make you hers. Take my advice.
Before she does, turn around and walk the other way.
LILTING LUTE MUSIC
HUSHED CONVERSATION
~ FLICK! ~ Cheer it up, can't you?
MUSIC STOPS
What did you just do?
I hit Mark Smeaton.
~ But only with one finger. ~ Who?
Oh. Is that his name?
Where've you been?
Utopia.
Oh. What was the talk?
The vices and follies of women.
I suppose you joined in?
My chaplain. Dr Cranmer.
Hiding. Because there's no good news.
He's just back from Rome.
I hear that Rome will issue a decree telling the king to part from me?
~ That would be a mistake on Rome's part. ~ Yes, it would.
Because he won't be told.
What is he? Some child?
I've read Tyndale.
The subject must obey his king as he would God.
Do I have the sense of it?
The Pope will learn his place.
Why did you send for me?
I've something to show you...
~ Oh, please, don't give it currency... ~ Give it!
This was in my bed.
The sickly milk-faced creeper had turned down the sheet.
Of course, I can't get any sense out of her,
she cries if you look at her sideways,
so I don't know who put it there.
That's the Queen, Katherine, you see?
And that's me.
Anne sans tete.
I am told that Wolsey kept you
because you always knew the London gossip.
If you find out who is responsible for this, I want you to tell me.
I have a new motto. Did you know?
"Ainsi sera, Groigne qui groigne."
"Never mind who grudges it, this will happen."
I mean to have him.
I think this is the one that cries, so don't look at her sideways.
~ Master Cromwell. ~ I haven't seen you for a long time.
What have you been doing? Where have you been?
Sewing.
Where I'm sent.
HE CHUCKLES And spying, too, I think?
I'm not very good at it. I don't speak French.
So, please, don't you. It gives me nothing to report.
You know Dr Cranmer?
~ No. ~ No... HE LAUGHS
~ This is Doctor Cranmer. ~ Oh...
Now, you're supposed to say who you are.
John Seymour's daughter, from Wolf Hall.
Well, good luck. I'll try to keep the conversations in English.
I would be obliged.
You're going back to Cambridge now?
Sadly, not to stay. The Boleyn family likes to have me close.
How, erm, how is the Duke of Norfolk?
He's in a fury.
HORSES WHINNY AND SNORT
About what?
He heard your cardinal has reached Southwell
and the crowds have come flocking from far and wide just to see him.
As if it were a triumphal procession.
He should... perhaps...
be more cautious.
If the king was offended once,
he can be offended again.
HORSE SNORTS
So, what's she like?
The Lady Anne?
Tall or short?
Neither.
They say she dances well.
We didn't dance.
Are her teeth good?
When she sinks them into me,
I'll let you know.
Sounds like you've got close enough.
Why does God test us?
I don't think we'll pass.
Conditions could be better.
Um, he wondered if you could send quails?
LAUGHTER
~ The food is deplorable up there. ~ I did warn him.
Everywhere he goes, Thomas, they flock to see him.
Thousands of them!
You can see his old spirit returning.
He's called a convocation of the northern church.
Without informing the king?
He said, "Ah, George, why do they need to know."
HE LAUGHS
It's a signal of independence, that's all.
Some might say a signal of pride.
I know.
I know what people are saying.
That I'm working for myself now,
that I've been bought out.
If you came and spoke to him, any doubts that he has...
I'm needed here.
To protect him.
To persuade the king.
He likes me, George.
I feel it.
And when I have his ear, the cardinal will be recalled.
I promise you.
What if he dies?
What if he falls off his horse and breaks his neck?
Few years ago, this fella here, charged the king in the lists,
runs his lance into the king's headpiece - bam -
lance shatters, an inch, just an inch, from his eye.
Year later, king's out with his hawk,
comes to a ditch, drives a pole in to help him cross.
Damn thing breaks and there he is,
face down in a foot of mud, drowning.
If a servant hadn't pulled him out, who would reign, then?
ARROW THUDS
He has one child born in wedlock.
~ What, Mary? The talking shrimp? ~ Well, she'll grow up.
We're still waiting. Head's the size of my fingernail.
And a woman on the English throne flies in the face of nature.
A woman can't lead an army.
Her grandmother did.
Cromwell what are you doing
listening to the conversations of gentlemen?
The servant who dragged the king out of the ditch.
What was his name?
Master Cromwell likes to hear of the deeds of those of low birth.
His name was Edmund Mody.
"Muddy" more like! Haha!
HE HOWLS WITH LAUGHTER
HE GIGGLES
LAUGHTER CONTINUES
QUIET MURMURS OF APPROVAL
You've a good eye.
A good arm.
Well, at this distance...
We have a match every Sunday, my household.
We meet up with our fellow guildsmen,
and we destroy the butchers and the grocers!
BOTH LAUGH
What if I came down with you one week?
In disguise?
A king should show himself sometimes, don't you think?
I could shoot for you!
Well, well, we'd win for sure!
HE EXCLAIMS
GENTEEL APPLAUSE, MURMURS OF APPROVAL
Wolsey told me once that you had a loathing of those in religious life?
That's why he found you so diligent
in your inspection of the monasteries?
That was not the reason.
~ May I speak? ~ God, I wish someone would!
If you ask me about the monks,
I speak from experience, not prejudice,
and my experiences have largely been one of corruption and waste.
I've seen monks who live like great lords
on the offerings of the poor,
take children in,
and rather than educating them as they promise,
use them as servants. For hundreds of years, the monks have written
what we take to be our history.
I think they've suppressed our true history,
and written one which is favourable to Rome.
I could make good use of the money
that flows from them to Rome each year.
King Francois is richer than I am.
He taxes his subjects as he pleases.
I have to call parliament or there are riots.
Well, sir, with respect, Francois likes war too much
and trade too little.
There are more taxes to be raised when trade is good.
And if taxes are resisted - even by the Church -
other ways can be found.
All right.
Sit down with my lawyers to discuss it.
Begin with the monasteries.
RAIN PATTERS
Some say that I should consider my marriage dissolved
and I should remarry as I please. And soon.
~ But there are others who say... ~ I am one of the others.
QUIETLY: Dear Christ, I shall be unmanned by it!
How long am I supposed to wait?!
Nan says she'll leave me.
Says there are other men.
Says she's wasting her youth.
~ BANGING AT DOOR ~ Open up!
~ It's the king's men. Open up! ~ BANGING CONTINUES
SHUFFLING, WHISPERING
What is it? Is it an arrest?
~ Good morning, William Brereton. ~ I'm here if you need me.
Are you up early, or down late, sir? Take the girls to bed.
<Come, girls.
The king is at Greenwich. You're to come now.
Well, then, everybody, back to bed.
The king wouldn't invite me to Greenwich in order to arrest me.
It doesn't happen that way.
What does he want me for?
I really can't enlighten you.
MARCHING ON GRAVEL
CLATTER OF ARMOUR
Harry Norris.
Master Cromwell, we do meet under the strangest circumstances.
You, only, to come in.
He's waiting.
You stay here.
My dead brother came to me.
How did he look?
As I remember him. But he was pale.
And thin.
There was a white fire around him.
He died in Ludlow, in winter.
The roads were impenetrable.
They had to put his coffin on an ox cart.
I never saw him dead.
Until tonight.
The dead don't come back to complain of their burial.
He was so sad.
He's come back to make me ashamed.
For taking his kingdom.
Using his wife.
If Your majesty's brother died before he could reign...
.. then that was God's will.
And as for your supposed marriage,
we all know that that was clean, contrary to the scriptures.
But with God,
~ there's mercy enough... ~ Not for me!
HE PANTS
When I come to my judgment,
he will plead against me.
He has come to make me ashamed...
.. and I alone must bear it.
I...
I alone.
Did your brother speak to you?
Make any sign?
No.
Then you have read into his face something that wasn't there.
Listen to me.
You know what's written on Arthur's tomb?
"Rex quondam rexque futurus."
"King once, and king to be."
Your father made it sure. He came back from exile,
claimed his ancient right.
But it's not enough to claim a country, you have to hold it.
It has to be made secure, in every generation.
If your brother comes back and seems to say
that you have taken his kingdom, taken his place,
it's because he wants YOU to become the king he would have been.
He can't fulfil the prophecy,
a prince come out of Wales,
but he wills you to do it.
But why does he come back now?
I have been king for 20 years.
Because now is the vital time.
Now is the time for you to become the king you should be,
the sole and supreme head of your kingdom.
Ask Anne.
She'll say the same.
She does.
She says we should not bow to Rome.
And if your father should come to you in your dream,
you take it the same way as you take this one.
They come to strengthen your hand.
I see.
I understand it all now.
I knew who to send for.
I always do.
What happened?
The king had a dream.
A dream?
He got us out of bed for a dream?
Oh, believe me, he gets one out of bed for far less than that.
Was it a bad dream?
"Was it a bad dream?"
He thought it was.
It isn't now.
CROMWELL LAUGHS
Your children love you.
We can't do without the man in charge.
Dr Cranmer, tell the Lady Anne
we did a good night's work for her tonight.
Quietly now.
Don't wake the house a second time.
HE PUFFS
Well done.
Safe?
HE CHUCKLES
Mm.
~ I thought... ~ SHE PANTS
What?
I thought it was going to be a reckoning.
A reckoning?
For what?
I don't know. All the things.
The paintings, the books and lutes, and I don't know what.
The things we have now.
GLASS CLATTERS
HE SINGS HALTINGLY IN ITALIAN
HE GROANS AND SIGHS
HE SINGS TO HIMSELF
You, sir, are a Roman pauper!
Sir, you are a fat Fleming,
and spread butter on your bread.
Well, sir, may your offspring eat snails.
Call-Me Risley!
You look fit to be painted, Master Wriothesley! What are you about?
Waiting on the children. They're in high spirits this morning.
♪ La la la la, la la la... ♪
What's that?
It's a tune from my days in Italy.
I remember...
He never tells stories about himself.
Well, well... I, erm...
When I was in Italy, me and the...
HE CHUCKLES NERVOUSLY
.. me and the Portinari boys,
the Portinari boys,
we had a statue made,
a little smirking god with wings.
We beat it with hammers and chains, hired a muleteer and drove it to Rome
and sold it to a cardinal as an antique from the reign of Augustus.
HE CHUCKLES
I remember...
.. he had tears in his eyes when he paid us.
And when the Portinari boys went back to Florence
they were staggering under the weight of their purses.
~ What did you do? ~ What?
Took my cut, and stayed on to sell the mules, what do you think?
♪ Scaramella va alla guerra
♪ Colla lancia et la rotella
♪ La zombero boro borombetta... ♪
HE TRAILS OFF
HUSHED CONVERSATION>
'We hadn't finished dinner.'
They came in,
they'd taken the keys from the porter.
They'd already set sentries on the stairs.
Who was it?
'Harry Percy.
'He was shaking.
'I thought, "Why send him? Why Harry Percy?"'
Then I thought...
Lady Anne, you remember,
she was just a girl.
She wanted to marry him.
The cardinal stopped it.
Revenge.
She waited her time.
CRASHING, FOOTSTEPS APPROACH
Harry,
if I'd known, I would have waited dinner for you.
I fear we've almost finished the fish.
~ Shall I pray for a miracle? ~ My lord, I arrest you for high treason.
HE SIGHS
Your warrant?
There are items in my instructions you may not see.
Well, if you won't show it,
I won't surrender to you.
So...
here's a state of affairs!
Come, George.
CHAIR SCRAPES
CLATTERING FOOTSTEPS
THUDDING FOOTSTEPS APPROACH
Look at me, George.
I'm not afraid of any man alive.
Um...
~ GEORGE SNIFFLES ~ Er...
They took us from the house, rode south.
There were crowds waiting to see him, holding candles.
We thought they'd disperse, but they just stood all night in the road.
He stopped eating.
Why?
I don't know.
Some said... some said he wanted to destroy himself.
It all happened so fast.
And then Kingston came.
I had to tell him, Thomas.
I had to tell our lord that the Constable of the Tower
had come to fetch him.
He just kept saying "William Kingston?"
over and over, as if he couldn't believe it.
By the time we reached Leicester
he was too ill to stand.
He voided black blood.
I thought... poison...
RAGGED BREATHING
Thomas...
He's coming, my lord.
HE MURMURS
Where... where is he?
You know Cromwell, my lord.
If he says he'll come, he'll be here.
HE SHIVERS AND MURMURS
LIQUID SPLASHES
'I'm sorry, Thomas.'
GEORGE TAKES A DEEP BREATH
'He died the next day.'
~ They... ~ HIS VOICE BREAKS
They gave him
a coffin of plain boards.
And the city officials came to view his body
so there couldn't be any false rumours that he'd escaped to France.
They... they made jokes.
~ CRYING: ~ They made jokes about his low birth!
GEORGE SOBS
SHOUTING
Come, Wolsey! We're fetching you to Hell,
where our master, Beelzebub,
is expecting you to supper!
SHOUTING, BAYING
Beelzebub would have you joint his venison.
He's heard of your skill as a butcher!
ALL ROAR AND APPLAUD
APPLAUSE
DISTORTED LAUGHTER
DISTORTED APPLAUSE
THEY LAUGH
LAUGHTER DISTORTS
MORE: '"I swear to be a true and faithful councillor..."'
"to the King's Majesty as one of His Highness's Privy Council."
I swear to be a true and faithful councillor
to the King's Majesty as one of His Highness's Privy Council.
"I shall not know or understand of any manner thing to be attempted,
"done, or spoken against His Majesty's person..."
I shall not know or understand of any manner thing
to be attempted, done, or spoken against His Majesty's person.
'"I swear to uphold the king's authorities.
'"I swear to uphold the king's jurisdictions..."
'I swear to uphold the king's authorities.
'I swear to uphold the king's jurisdictions.
'"I swear to uphold the king's heirs and lawful successors."'
I swear to uphold the king's heirs and lawful successors.
I knelt by his body...
~ HE SOBS ~ .. and I wept,
and I prayed to God to send vengeance upon them all!
GEORGE SNIFFLES
There's no need to trouble God, George.
I'll take it in hand.