Thomas

Cherry

By luigi_pagano

Sat, 29 Feb 2020
  • 1102 reads
5 comments
 
Originally published on November 23, 2012 with the title "The Other Cromwell"
 
Oliver is the one whom people recall
but I shall tell, like Hilary Mantel,
the author of the novel “Wolf Hall”,
of the Earl of Essex, Thomas Cromwell; 
of his rise to power and inevitable fall
at the court of king Hal of many wives
some of whom soon went to the wall
beheaded by an axe sharper than knives.
Thomas helped engineer the dissolution
of Henry’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon
and thereby came up with the solution
that the King sought, to wed Anne Boleyn
who of virtue was clearly not a paragon.
She was later accused of grievous sin,
to have committed adultery and incest,
and that union was ended like the former.
We shall chronicle what follows next,
see the effect on Cromwell the reformer,
discuss the monarch’s new paramour,
then third consort, who was very pale
and of middling stature, Jane Seymour.
Her demise caused Thomas’s downfall:
he persuaded the King to get hitched,
although Henry didn’t want to play ball,
to Anne of Cleves, a German princess.
It didn’t work out and an annulment
ensued. Cromwell lost the King’s trust
but Anne got a generous settlement.
Not so lucky was the ex vicar general,
his actions had created a lot of ill will.
Convicted of high treason and heresy
he was later executed on Tower Hill.

 

© Luigi Pagano 2012
Certificate U
Poem
Cherry ripe
Historical Fiction
Inspiration Point (work that responds to our weekly writing cue)

Comments

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

I thought the charges against Anne Boleyn were regarded as likely false. Rhiannon

 

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

Public opinion on Anne Boleyn's bad reputation is still divided even today. According to her supporters it was unreserved while her denigrators maintain that she was a manipulative and immoral woman, having learnt the art of seduction at the French court which she used to entice Henry. Her notoriety was primarily due to political intrigues but was also influenced by her sister Mary's promiscuity who had slept with the King prior to Anne and by the fact that she enjoyed the company of young and flirting courtiers.

 

 

Submitted by Kurt Rellians on

You have told the story well, although I do believe most commentators don't really believe she was actually guilty of adultery. This is a good quick, incisive way to read history!

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

Some commentators said that she was innocent while others disagree, Kurt. Charges for which she was executed, long thought to have been cooked up, are likely to have been true, said historian George Bernard in 2010. George Bernard, professor of early modern history at Southampton University and editor of the English Historical Review, believes that the queen could well have been guilty of some of the charges laid against her – or at the very least that her behaviour was such that it was reasonable for Henry to assume she had committed adultery.
Of the conclusions he draws from this , Bernard says, "It's a hypothesis – not a proof. In a court of law you might not condemn her for the crime, but I don't think you'd acquit her either."

 

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

Merci beaucoup aux éditeurs pour les cerises. smiley