Travel Reading: Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

One of my favourite things to do before travelling is to read books set in the places I’m visiting. Sometimes memoirs, sometimes non-fiction, and sometimes historical fiction.

The Wolf Hall Trilogy, by Hilary Mantel is the epic story of the meteoric rise and fall of Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s right hand man, and Lord Privy Seal. Wolf Hall is the first book, Bring Up the Bodies, the second, and The Mirror and the Light, the final. The characters of the book include all six of Henry’s wives, as well as historically notorious figures such as Sir Thomas More, saint and Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, and Thomas Cranmer, former Archbishop of Canterbury and martyred heretic.

Thomas Cromwell rose from being a tradesman’s son to becoming one of the richest and most powerful men in the country., until Henry lopped his head of in the Tower of London in 1540, due to false accusations made by jealous and bitter men from the peerage.

If you like historical fiction, this trilogy is exceptional and I highly recommend it. It’s also an excellent mini-series, currently available on Binge. Mark Rylance is perfect as Cromwell and Damian Lewis, as Henry VIII, is very convincing. Jonathon Pryce plays my favourite character, Cardinal Wolsey.

I booked tickets to the Tower of London as soon as I knew when we were going to be in London, and expected to find traces of all the people in the book within those walls. I wasn’t expecting to find so many traces of them elsewhere.

My first happy accident was at the University Church of St Mary the Virgin in Oxford. This was the place Archbishop Cranmer was burnt at the stake as a heretic. The church is spectacular, and had I walked the other way around the pole, I’d have missed the plaque acknowledging the poor martyrs.

Christ Church College in Oxford is well known as the inspiration for Hogwarts, and in fact, houses several of the filming locations. It appears in The Golden Compass and X-Men: First Class; it serves as a filming location for Inspector Morse, Lewis, and the Endeavour detective series; and it is the birth place of Alice in Wonderland. I didn’t know before we visited it was founded in 1525 by Cardinal Wolsey, as Cardinal College. Celebrating it’s 500th anniversary, there were vestiges of Wolsey everywhere we looked.

The staircase is instantly recognisable as the place Professor McGonagall welcomes Harry, Ron, and Hermione to Hogwarts, but on closer inspection, Cardinal Wolsey’s coat of arms appears in the fan vaulted ceiling. It was here that I realised Wolsey’s relationship to the place. Continuing into the Great Hall, an enormous portrait of Henry VIII hangs above the High Table, next to portraits of Elizabeth I and Cardinal Wolsey. A nearby window features Wolsey and Sir Thomas More.

Walking out to the breathtaking Tom Quad, the largest quad in Oxford, Cardinal Wolsey was looking down upon us. Leaving through the very beautiful gates, I noticed the coat of arms, again, above the gate.

Leaving Oxford, we found smatterings of this fascinating history throughout our journey. Even coming across a street in Annecy is France named for Eustace Chapuys, Imperial ambassador to England, major player in the trilogy, and frenemy of Thomas Cromwell. Chapuys was from Annecy, the then capital of Savoy.

Returning to London, Wolf Hall walked with me through Westminster Abbey, the British Museum, the British Library, and the National Gallery.

Finally, we made it to the Tower of London. Thomas Cromwell was both an overseer and prisoner at the Tower. His initial position was Master of the Jewel House, overseeing the Crown Jewels, which were kept within the Tower walls. He became the King’s chief enforcer and would have visited prisoners such as Anne Boleyn and Thomas More. Unfortunately, there was little sign of Thomas Cromwell during our visit. The chapel, St. Peter ad Vincula, where Cromwell is buried, was inaccessible on the day. However, walking around the grounds, and recognising many locations noted in the series, was magical. From Traitor’s Gate to the remembrance for where Anne Boleyn was executed, and the slightly hilarious armour of Henry VIII, with a wide girth and a ridiculous codpiece, all added to my appreciation and understanding of the history.