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shallowness) wrote2024-12-29 03:05 pm
shallowness) wrote2024-12-29 03:05 pm
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Wolf Hall: A New Hope? Knives Out
Wolf Hall – The Mirror and the Light - Episode 4 Jenneke
Well, I was following it, then I wasn’t, and then I think I was again. Cromwell got to know his surprise daughter as Henry and Jane’s son was born, leaving the mother weak. Cromwell was fussing about what they were feeding her, although I suspected Tudor lack of midwifery knowledge – ah, well, it was hinted that not all these women were taking due care of their (latest) queen. The king was pleased he had an heir, Cromwell was worried, and then it was last rites and sacrament and queen Jane was gone. Cromwell, in his grief, dared criticise the king.
Gregory was talking a bit loosely to his new half-sister. Jenneke had had one conversation with Cromwell where he was proposing he’d pay for a marriage to an Englishman of her choosing, but by the end was asking her to move in with him to an abbey where they made fancy honey once he’d turfed the monks out and got it for his own, and retired, of course. As well as discussing bits of his love life, she pressed on him to ask his king to release him from his job. Ha, ha no. The bit I really didn’t follow was why he’d decided to send her back to Antwerp.
Politics interfered with grief over Jane. The council wanted Henry remarried, pronto, as one tiny young baby boy was not quite security enough for them. The question was whether it would be to a German princess or a French one. France and Spain had signed a treaty, and the consensus was that this might embolden the Emperor of Spain to attack England (which wouldn’t be able to repel it) and put Mary on the throne, returning England to Catholicism with the support of the Catholic families. Cromwell made some moves to stop that, having to have a word with Mary about living it up as a princess on her father’s expense. She was all ‘you brought me back to court!’ and informed him about the return of Stephen Gardener (Alex Jennings, quite able to match Rylance’s performance as his equally smart opponent. No disrespect to Spall, who is playing Norfolk well, but Norfolk is not in the top league of statecraft) to court. Cromwell was none too delighted. And we’d soon see why.
We learned that Gregory was NOT in his father’s confidence.
There were far too many shots of Henry’s disgusting leg after he had quite a serious turn for the worst.
A priest, John Lambert, was being denounced for being an Anabaptist heretic/spouting views that sound traditionally Anglican, and the king’s new best mate Stephen was using it to test Cromwell, who we were reminded was motivated by a desire to establish Protestantism more fully, knowing that for Henry it was an ego trip, a means of allowing him to marry who he would and secure his throne. Cromwell felt bad for not speaking up at the public ‘debate’, knowing that Henry could all too easily burn anyone as a heretic, admitting to his most secret confederates that he agreed with Lambert, and so started the nightmares.
It got worse because Cromwell fell sick, possibly from psychosomatic fever, returned to work too early, trying to promote a marriage to Anne of Cleves and regain his standing with the King, who instead said that Gardener and Cromwell should sup at the Archbishop of Canterbury’s in the hope that they could make up (er, when one of them was all for returning to Rome and the other wasn’t, and they were wrestling for position nearest to your ear, Henry?) Cromwell was off his game, as Gardener, assisted by Norfolk, accused the dead Wolsey of murder and insinuated Cromwell had been involved. It was the attacks on Wolsey that got Cromwell’s temper up, and he tried to throttle Norfolk. Gardener was tickled pink by his evening’s work.
Well, I was following it, then I wasn’t, and then I think I was again. Cromwell got to know his surprise daughter as Henry and Jane’s son was born, leaving the mother weak. Cromwell was fussing about what they were feeding her, although I suspected Tudor lack of midwifery knowledge – ah, well, it was hinted that not all these women were taking due care of their (latest) queen. The king was pleased he had an heir, Cromwell was worried, and then it was last rites and sacrament and queen Jane was gone. Cromwell, in his grief, dared criticise the king.
Gregory was talking a bit loosely to his new half-sister. Jenneke had had one conversation with Cromwell where he was proposing he’d pay for a marriage to an Englishman of her choosing, but by the end was asking her to move in with him to an abbey where they made fancy honey once he’d turfed the monks out and got it for his own, and retired, of course. As well as discussing bits of his love life, she pressed on him to ask his king to release him from his job. Ha, ha no. The bit I really didn’t follow was why he’d decided to send her back to Antwerp.
Politics interfered with grief over Jane. The council wanted Henry remarried, pronto, as one tiny young baby boy was not quite security enough for them. The question was whether it would be to a German princess or a French one. France and Spain had signed a treaty, and the consensus was that this might embolden the Emperor of Spain to attack England (which wouldn’t be able to repel it) and put Mary on the throne, returning England to Catholicism with the support of the Catholic families. Cromwell made some moves to stop that, having to have a word with Mary about living it up as a princess on her father’s expense. She was all ‘you brought me back to court!’ and informed him about the return of Stephen Gardener (Alex Jennings, quite able to match Rylance’s performance as his equally smart opponent. No disrespect to Spall, who is playing Norfolk well, but Norfolk is not in the top league of statecraft) to court. Cromwell was none too delighted. And we’d soon see why.
We learned that Gregory was NOT in his father’s confidence.
There were far too many shots of Henry’s disgusting leg after he had quite a serious turn for the worst.
A priest, John Lambert, was being denounced for being an Anabaptist heretic/spouting views that sound traditionally Anglican, and the king’s new best mate Stephen was using it to test Cromwell, who we were reminded was motivated by a desire to establish Protestantism more fully, knowing that for Henry it was an ego trip, a means of allowing him to marry who he would and secure his throne. Cromwell felt bad for not speaking up at the public ‘debate’, knowing that Henry could all too easily burn anyone as a heretic, admitting to his most secret confederates that he agreed with Lambert, and so started the nightmares.
It got worse because Cromwell fell sick, possibly from psychosomatic fever, returned to work too early, trying to promote a marriage to Anne of Cleves and regain his standing with the King, who instead said that Gardener and Cromwell should sup at the Archbishop of Canterbury’s in the hope that they could make up (er, when one of them was all for returning to Rome and the other wasn’t, and they were wrestling for position nearest to your ear, Henry?) Cromwell was off his game, as Gardener, assisted by Norfolk, accused the dead Wolsey of murder and insinuated Cromwell had been involved. It was the attacks on Wolsey that got Cromwell’s temper up, and he tried to throttle Norfolk. Gardener was tickled pink by his evening’s work.