Wolf Hall
Encyclopedia
Wolf Hall is a multi-award winning historical novel
by English author Hilary Mantel
, published by Fourth Estate
. Set in the period from 1500 to 1535, Wolf Hall is a fictionalized biography documenting the rapid rise to power of Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex
in the court of Henry VIII of England
. The novel won both the Man Booker Prize
and the National Book Critics Circle Award
.
and subsequent marriage to Anne Boleyn
, the English church's break with Rome and the dissolution of the monasteries
.
Historical and literary accounts in the following centuries have not been kind to Cromwell; in Robert Bolt
's well-known play A Man for All Seasons
he is portrayed as the calculating, unprincipled opposite of Thomas More
's honour and rectitude.
. The narrative fleshes out the historical record of Cromwell's life to produce a complete and compelling character. It also portrays Thomas More in a negative way, as a religious fanatic. The novel ends with the execution of Thomas More
, bringing Cromwell to the height of his power and influence.
at the moment? You can't have him in London if he's supposed to be somewhere else," she explained. This depth of research is especially important when all the novel's main characters are historical figures.
in Wiltshire
; the title's allusion to the old Latin saying "Man is wolf to man"
serves as a constant reminder of the dangerously opportunistic nature of the world through which Cromwell navigates. None of the action occurs at Wolf Hall.
Historical novel
According to Encyclopædia Britannica, a historical novel is-Development:An early example of historical prose fiction is Luó Guànzhōng's 14th century Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which covers one of the most important periods of Chinese history and left a lasting impact on Chinese culture.The...
by English author Hilary Mantel
Hilary Mantel
Hilary Mary Mantel CBE , née Thompson, is an English novelist, short story writer and critic. Her work, ranging in subject from personal memoir to historical fiction, has been short-listed for major literary awards...
, published by Fourth Estate
Fourth Estate
The concept of the Fourth Estate is a societal or political force or institution whose influence is not consistently or officially recognized. The Fourth Estate now most commonly refers to the news media; especially print journalism, referred to hereon as "The Press"...
. Set in the period from 1500 to 1535, Wolf Hall is a fictionalized biography documenting the rapid rise to power of Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex
Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex
Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex, , was an English statesman who served as chief minister of King Henry VIII of England from 1532 to 1540....
in the court of Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
. The novel won both the Man Booker Prize
Man Booker Prize
The Man Booker Prize for Fiction is a literary prize awarded each year for the best original full-length novel, written in the English language, by a citizen of the Commonwealth of Nations, Ireland, or Zimbabwe. The winner of the Man Booker Prize is generally assured of international renown and...
and the National Book Critics Circle Award
National Book Critics Circle Award
The National Book Critics Circle Award is an annual award given by the National Book Critics Circle to promote the finest books and reviews published in English....
.
Historical background
Born to a working-class family of no position or name, Cromwell rose to become the right-hand man of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, adviser to the King. He survived Wolsey's fall from grace to eventually take his place as the most powerful of Henry's ministers. In that role, he oversaw Henry's divorce from Catherine of AragonCatherine of Aragon
Catherine of Aragon , also known as Katherine or Katharine, was Queen consort of England as the first wife of King Henry VIII of England and Princess of Wales as the wife to Arthur, Prince of Wales...
and subsequent marriage to Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn ;c.1501/1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 as the second wife of Henry VIII of England and Marquess of Pembroke in her own right. Henry's marriage to Anne, and her subsequent execution, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that was the...
, the English church's break with Rome and the dissolution of the monasteries
Dissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...
.
Historical and literary accounts in the following centuries have not been kind to Cromwell; in Robert Bolt
Robert Bolt
Robert Oxton Bolt, CBE was an English playwright and a two-time Oscar winning screenwriter.-Career:He was born in Sale, Cheshire. At Manchester Grammar School his affinity for Sir Thomas More first developed. He attended the University of Manchester, and, after war service, the University of...
's well-known play A Man for All Seasons
A Man for All Seasons
A Man for All Seasons is a play by Robert Bolt. An early form of the play had been written for BBC Radio in 1954, and a one-hour live television version starring Bernard Hepton was produced in 1957 by the BBC, but after Bolt's success with The Flowering Cherry, he reworked it for the stage.It was...
he is portrayed as the calculating, unprincipled opposite of Thomas More
Thomas More
Sir Thomas More , also known by Catholics as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, social philosopher, author, statesman and noted Renaissance humanist. He was an important councillor to Henry VIII of England and, for three years toward the end of his life, Lord Chancellor...
's honour and rectitude.
Alternative story
Mantel's novel offers an alternative to that characterization, a more intimate and well-rounded portrait of Cromwell as a pragmatic and talented man attempting to serve king and country amid the political machinations of Henry's court and the religious upheavals of the Protestant reformationProtestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
. The narrative fleshes out the historical record of Cromwell's life to produce a complete and compelling character. It also portrays Thomas More in a negative way, as a religious fanatic. The novel ends with the execution of Thomas More
Thomas More
Sir Thomas More , also known by Catholics as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, social philosopher, author, statesman and noted Renaissance humanist. He was an important councillor to Henry VIII of England and, for three years toward the end of his life, Lord Chancellor...
, bringing Cromwell to the height of his power and influence.
Process
Mantel spent five years researching and writing the book; the trickiest part, she said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, was trying to match her version of events to the historical record. To avoid contradicting history, she created a card catalogue, organized alphabetically by character, with each card containing notes indicating where a particular historical figure was on relevant dates. "You really need to know, where is the Duke of SuffolkCharles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk
Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, 1st Viscount Lisle, KG was the son of Sir William Brandon and Elizabeth Bruyn. Through his third wife Mary Tudor he was brother-in-law to Henry VIII. His father was the standard-bearer of Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond and was slain by Richard III in person at...
at the moment? You can't have him in London if he's supposed to be somewhere else," she explained. This depth of research is especially important when all the novel's main characters are historical figures.
Characters
Wolf Hall includes a large cast of fictionalized historical persons. In addition to those already mentioned, prominent characters include:- Stephen GardinerStephen GardinerStephen Gardiner was an English Roman Catholic bishop and politician during the English Reformation period who served as Lord Chancellor during the reign of Queen Mary I of England.-Early life:...
, Master Secretary to King Henry - Mary, the daughter and only surviving child of Henry and Catherine, later Queen Mary I of EnglandMary I of EnglandMary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...
- Mary BoleynMary BoleynMary Boleyn , was the sister of English queen consort Anne Boleyn and a member of the Boleyn family, which enjoyed considerable influence during the reign of King Henry VIII of England...
, sister of Anne - Thomas Boleyn, father of Anne and Mary
- Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of NorfolkThomas Howard, 3rd Duke of NorfolkThomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, KG, Earl Marshal was a prominent Tudor politician. He was uncle to Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, two of the wives of King Henry VIII, and played a major role in the machinations behind these marriages...
, Anne's uncle - Thomas CranmerThomas CranmerThomas Cranmer was a leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a short time, Mary I. He helped build a favourable case for Henry's divorce from Catherine of Aragon which resulted in the separation of the English Church from...
, Archbishop of Canterbury - Jane SeymourJane SeymourJane Seymour was Queen of England as the third wife of King Henry VIII. She succeeded Anne Boleyn as queen consort following the latter's execution for trumped up charges of high treason, incest and adultery in May 1536. She died of postnatal complications less than two weeks after the birth of...
, who later became the third of Henry's six wives
The title
The title comes from the name of the Seymour family seat at Wolf Hall or WulfhallWulfhall
Wulfhall or Wolfhall is an early 17th century manor house and the site of a deserted medieval village in the civil parish of Burbage , on the edge of Savernake Forest, in the English county of Wiltshire...
in Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
; the title's allusion to the old Latin saying "Man is wolf to man"
Homo homini lupus
Homo homini lupus est is a Latin phrase meaning "man is a wolf to [his fellow] man." First attested in Plautus' Asinaria , the phrase is sometimes translated as "man is man's wolf", which can be interpreted to mean that man preys upon man...
serves as a constant reminder of the dangerously opportunistic nature of the world through which Cromwell navigates. None of the action occurs at Wolf Hall.
Awards and nominations
- Winner - 2009 Man Booker Prize James NaughtieJames NaughtieJames Naughtie is a British radio presenter and radio news presenter for the BBC. Since 1994 he has been one of the main presenters of Radio 4's Today programme.- Biography :...
, the chairman of the Booker prize judges, said the decision to give Wolf Hall the award was "... based on the sheer bigness of the book. The boldness of its narrative, its scene setting ... The extraordinary way that Hilary Mantel has created what one of the judges has said was a contemporary novel, a modern novel, which happens to be set in the 16th century." - Winner - 2009 National Book Critics Circle AwardNational Book Critics Circle AwardThe National Book Critics Circle Award is an annual award given by the National Book Critics Circle to promote the finest books and reviews published in English....
for fiction. - Winner - 2010 Walter Scott PrizeWalter Scott PrizeThe Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction is a British literary award founded in 2010. At £25,000 it is one of the largest literary awards in the UK...
for historical fiction. - Winner - 2010 The Morning NewsThe Morning NewsThe Morning News may refer to:* ITV Morning News, in the United Kingdom* Morning News , in Canada* The Morning News * The Morning News * The Morning News...
Tournament of Books.
External links
- Wolf Hall, official website
- Wolf Hall iPhone App
- Hilary Mantel on Wolf Hall, interview by Man Booker.
- Wolf Hall at complete reviewComplete reviewcomplete review is a literary website founded in March 1999. It is best known for reviews of novels in English translation, in particular drawing attention to otherwise neglected contemporary works from around the world, but there are also reviews of classics, non-fiction, drama and poetry...
, an aggregation of reviews from papers and magazines. - (Video) Hilary Mantel on Wolf Hall, The Guardian