Programma Televisivo: The Tudors - 1x10
Previously on the tudors.
It is my contention that this marriage can be dissolved by no power, human or divine.
You know perfectly well what the king desires and what he shall have.
My only satisfaction is that in frustrating you I hasten your fall from the king's good graces.
I have a book to show you.
These writers say that the king is both emperor and pope absolutely in his own kingdom.
Every day brings more news of the virulence of this heresy.
Of what do you speak, papa?
The disease of lutheranism.
Surely it won't come here?
It is already here.
You are leaving me.
You're married.
You must never ask to see me again.
You promise?
Do you love another?
Is that it?
We were never legally man and wife.
By all the angels I was intact when I came to your bed.
Alright!
So you were a fucking virgin!
That's not the point!
We have decided that this great matter is too important to be here decided but to prorogue this tribunal until october 1st.
Cardinal wolsey!
You are here charged with derogating the king's lawful authority.
Majesty!
Your majesty!
Majesty!
I need to appoint a new chancellor.
Someone I can trust.
I don't want to be chancellor.
You will do as I command!
I've been waiting for so long.
For what?
We will have sons!
No!
No.
Your wife won't let you go.
I should have realized.
Stay here, I beg you.
Anne!
I'm the king of england!
You think you know a story.
But you only know how it ends.
To get to the heart of the story, you have to go back to the beginning.
His majesty the king!
My lords and councilors, there is a great deal of work to do.
In the past, those who held the reins of government deceived me...
many things were done without my knowledge or my approval.
But such proceedings will stop in the future.
Your grace will be appointed president of the council...
jointly with the duke of suffolk.
Your majesty.
We shall convene again very shortly.
To discuss those matters which remain close to our hearts.
A word!
Although it pleases me much that wolsey is no longer here among us...
yet even in his absence, does he not cause you disquiet?
How so?
He was attaindered, but not for treason.
Which means he still lives.
And so long as he lives, he remains a danger both to the realm and to us.
He is far away in york.
In disgrace.
I think you exaggerate the danger.
And I think that you don't understand it!
The king, as you know, could easily change his mind.
And if he did, if wolsey ever returned to this court...
we would both have cause enough to fear his vengeance.
CBUTCB HOUSE OF CARDINAL WOLSEY YORKSBIRE This is intolerable.
We must have the roof mended.
With what?
And by whom?
We have no money and no bloody servants.
Surely the king never meant you to live so wretchedly?
After all, you are still archbishop of york!
Well, perhaps it's not the king's fault.
I have had cause to remember the old prophecy: "When the cow rideth the bull, then,priest, beware thy skull. "
You mean that cow anne boleyn?
Indeed so.
Which is why I'm writing her this letter.
Even if she is the cause of all our misery?
Well yes, since she's the cause, she can also be the cure.
If I could only persuade her that I am not her enemy, but her friend.
I still have the letter in which she promises to reward me for all my pains and efforts at such time as she becomes crowned.
I seem to remember that, at the time, you thought her promises rather amusing.
Well yes, perhaps I did.
Since then I have rather lost my sense of humour.
Sir thomas, I notice you allow yourself none of the trappings of your great office.
I'm not so vain as to display its power, master cromwell.
But I tell you this I fully intend to use it.
May I ask...
to what effect?
Here.
Here is a report of a sermon recently given in cambridge by a certain hugh latimer a senior member of the university. "
Mr.
Latimer said that holy scripture should be read "in the english tongue of all christian people, "whether priest or layman! "
He raged against the gilding of images, "the running of pilgrimages, and superstitious devotion! "
He said that all men were priests and that we had no need for priests or popes on earth! "
Times have changed, master cromwell.
I plainly see the risk and the danger involved in such an opendoor policy towards these newfangled, erroneous sects.
You condemn all reformers as heretics?
Wolsey was far too soft on them.
I intend not to be.
Will you burn them? "
This belief that the pope and the clergy possess separate "power and authority is contrary to scripture. "
The king is the representative of god on earth "and his law is god's law!
The ruler is accountable to god alone and the obedience of his subjects is an obedience required by god! "
"For the church and the pope to rule the princes of europe "is not only a shame above all shames "but an inversion of the divine order.
One king, and one law in god's name in every realm. "
This book is a book for me, and for all kings.
And there are other books like it!
Books which detail the abuses of power, privileges, the greed of the clergy in your majesty's realm.
Books which wolsey deliberately kept hidden from you.
I should like to read them.
Now that I've taken power unto myself, I shall work day and night, if necessary, to resolve things.
Including my annulment.
I swear to you now, everything will be different.
His majesty the king!
Ambassador chapuys.
Your majesty.
I hear you're a very able and intelligent diplomat.
Like me, I'm sure you're aware of all the new religious controversies.
I know of some new heresies that have sprung up here and there, certainly.
If only the pope and his cardinals could set aside their vain pomp and ceremony, and start living according to the precepts of the gospels and the early fathers.
I am well aware that your majesty is in the midst of an argument with his holiness.
Ha!
I'm not talking about myself.
You see, excellence, when luther attacked the vice and corruption of the clergy, he was right.
Had he stopped there, and not gone on to destroy the sacraments, and so on, I would have gladly raised my pen in his defense, rather than attacking him.
The need for reformation in the church is manifest.
The emperor has a duty to promote it.
As do I in my own domain.
I'm glad we've had this opportunity to exchange opinions.
Your majesty.
Ambassador.
I'm surprised you have so much time.
To do what?
To do nothing!
What are you saying?
Aren't you supposed to be running the country?
I leave that to norfolk.
He's had more practice.
And in any case, meetings with ambassadors are infinitely tedious.
They're all liars, hypocrites and middleaged men.
Would you prefer them to be women?
My friend, if all ambassadors were beautiful women I'd be serving my country day and night.
Ah, here we are!
Your grace.
Let me present my ward, miss catherine brooke.
This is sir anthony knivert.
Miss catherine.
Sir.
Anthony is one of our finest horsemen.
Except for when I fall off.
Are you enjoying your walk?
Yes, your grace.
Good.
Then I shan't delay you any further.
A pretty little thing, isn't she?
Indeed she is.
I'm going to marry her!
You have been in exile, mr.
Fish?
Yes, sir.
It was cardinal wolsey's pleasure to keep me in holland, for fear I might speak the truth.
So why did you try to return?
I thought, sir,that with the cardinal fallen and sent away that circumstances in this country might be changed for the better.
More tolerant.
Do you have friends in this country?
Of course, sir as an englishman.
At court?
Do you have friends at court?
Do you deny you are the author of this work: "A supplication for the beggars? "
No, sir.
What is it?
Sir, an appeal to his majesty to redress many of the terrible and scandalous abuses of the church.
Uhhuh.
You seem to suggest that the real aim of the church is to seize all power, lordship, obedience and dignity from the king.
In fact you go further, you claim that the church itself is a source of rebellion and disobedience against the king!
Don't you, mr.
Fish?
And here, mr.
Fish, if I may you say that the exactions taken from the people are not given to a kind, temporal prince, but to a cruel, devilish bloodsucker, drunken in the blood of the martyrs and saints of christ.
Shame on you, mr.
Fish.
For who are these cruel, devilish bloodsuckers...
but the anointed priests of our holy church, those who show us the way to heaven!
But then, you don't believe in that either, do you, mr.
Fish?
Who are you?
I'm a christian man, the child of everlasting joy, through the merits of the bitter passion of christ.
This is the joyful answer.
It is also heresy.
What is it?
What has she done?
She is wearing purple.
And purple is the color of royalty!
You know, I sometimes wish that all spaniards were at the bottom of the sea!
Mistress boleyn, you should not abuse the queen's honor with such language.
I care nothing for katherine.
I would rather see her hanged than acknowledge her as my mistress!
Is that it?
Yes your majesty.
Thank god.
What is it, mr.
Cromwell?
Your majesty, I...
mr.
Cromwell!
I must beg your majesty's indulgence, and forgiveness, before I...
Go on.
I had cause, recently, on a visit to waltham abbey, to speak to a learned friend there.
We spoke...
about your majesty's great matter.
We...
we came to the conclusion that your majesty's advisers might not, perhaps, be approaching the matter in the most convenient way to solve it.
You mean through the courts?
Yes.
As your majesty well knows, kings are set above the law.
They are answerable to god alone, who anointed them.
So it seems to us that the matter is not and never has been a legal one.
It is a theological one.
But in that case who should pass verdict upon it?
We would suggest that your majesty canvas the opinion of theologians at colleges around europe.
Their sentence would be soon pronounced, and could be implemented with little enough industry.
But by that simple measure, I trust that your majesty's troubled conscience might be pacified.
Will you write a paper showing your argument?
If your majesty trusts me to do so.
No.
I command you to do so.
And then I command you, as a royal agent, to visit the universities in europe.
I want the opinion of their theological faculties as soon as possible!
Thank you, mr.
Cromwell.
There is still time to recant of your heresy, mr.
Fish.
If you acknowledge that your opinions were misguided, evil, contrary to the law of god...
then you will be spared the great pains you must otherwise endure.
I beg of you acknowledge your sins.
God will welcome you back into his fold.
Recant.
You still have a moment.
The lord is my shepherd, I can want nothing.
He feedeth me in green pastures, he leadeth me to fresh waters...
though I should walk now in the valley of the shadow of death, yet I will fear no evil, for thou art with me...
thy staff and thy shield will comfort me, thou preparest a table for me, against mine enemies, my head thou anoints with oil, and filleth my cup full oh let thy lovingkindness and mercy follow me all the days of my life, that I mayest dwell in the lord's house for ever.
I have something I want to say to you.
I have decided to ennoble you and your family.
You are to be created earl of wilshire and ormonde and I am also appointing you lord privy seal.
George will become lord rochford, and be made a member of council.
Your majesty I am lost for words.
Your bounty is unceasing.
I also have high hopes for mr.
Cromwell.
I'm glad.
He is a friend of the family.
You know his thesis!
I want you to visit the pope and the emperor at bologna I want you to put to them our new case.
Please tell me you are not losing hope?
It's true.
I...
I had always fancied that the king, after pursuing his course for some time, would turn away, would yield to his conscience, as he has done so often before.
I believed with all my heart that he would return to reason...
but now, I...
madam, I pray you.
Don't give way.
No, excellence.
I shall never give way.
Thank you for what you have done for my father.
For my whole family.
There is more...
I've made alterations to wolsey's old palace at york place.
You said you liked it...
I am giving it to you.
What is it?
Have I made you unhappy?
No.
I would only be unhappy if you ever stopped loving me.
London would have to melt into the thames first.
It is everything now for the lady anne!
Sir thomas, does this not remind you of a wedding feast?
It seems to me that nothing is wanted but a priest to give away the nuptial rings and pronounce the blessing.
God forbid that should happen.
It's none of my business.
My new job as chancellor will be to do my utmost to contend for the interests of christendom.
Perhaps the king's majesty is more inclined towards the reformers than you know.
I don't think so.
I know him better than you do, excellence.
His deepest instincts are traditional and faithful.
He may threaten to break with rome, but I don't think he will ever do so.
I hope you are right.
The consequences would be unthinkable.
Everything seems to move in your favor, your grace.
I have bad news.
I happen to know that the king has sent wolsey an intaglio portrait of himself.
So?
So, it is traditionally a sign of goodwill.
It may presage a reconciliation.
A small gift to ease the king's conscience is hardly a sign t hat the bishop of york will be restored to his former glory.
Think of it this way: After satan fell from heaven, was he ever invited back?
You were.
I see that you have accepted the patronage of mr.
Cromwell, mr.
Wyatt.
How very transparent the world is!
But was I wrong to do so, mr.
Tallis?
I think so.
Yes.
You should be your own man.
Don't be a fool, tallis.
You never will survive long in this slippery world without the support of a great man.
You think mr.
Cromwell is a great man?
No, I think he's a coming man!
Mark my words.
For what it's worth, I did fuck her!
What is it, thomas?
I have had a reply to my letter.
From mistress boleyn?
What did she say?
That she will not speak to the king on my behalf.
Then our hopes are over!
No.
I have resolved to write to another lady who is far greater, far greater than that mischievous whore and far more likely to be kind.
Madam, the king is here.
Please.
Be seated.
Majesty.
I came because I heard you were unwell.
And that it was necessary for the physician to have bled you.
How are you feeling now?
I am very well.
Your majesty is kind to show concern.
How is our daughter?
She writes to me in perfect latin, and tells me she dances the galliards every day, and can play the lute, much to everyone's satisfaction and joy.
You should be proud of her.
I am proud of her.
You ought to invite her to court, you could watch her dancing and playing.
It might please you.
Katherine, I I hear that several of your agents have been sent abroad to canvas theological opinion about the divorce.
For every scholar that votes for you, I could find a thousand who would vote for me!
My lords...
every day I'm forced to read new reports of dissatisfaction, confusion and delays throughout my kingdom.
My exchequer is empty and we are borrowing money at a biting rate!
Your graces are presidents of this council.
And yet I hear nothing from you on these matters, nor any other matter.
Your majesty must forgive me, I yes, yes, I know I must forgive you, I must always forgive you.
But I grow tired of forgiving you!
I have given you everything, including the right to call yourself prince!
And what do I get in return?
I used to think the cardinal vain, selfserving and greedy, just as you told me!
But now I understand the burden he carried...
uncomplainingly.
Your majesty should not forget that he also stole from you, and he served the interests of the french even above those of england.
Is that what you think, thomas?
It is certainly true that the cardinal was vainglorious beyond measure.
It did him tremendous harm, and made him abuse the considerable gifts god gave him.
And yet he is a better man than any of you for managing this kingdom's matters!
I will talk to him.
Yes, you must!
Ambassador chapuys, your majesty.
Ambassador.
I have a letter for your majesty.
From the emperor?
No.
From cardinal wolsey.
S is...
so strange.
Do you know what it says?
The cardinal is offering to create a rapprochement between you and he, the emperor, and rome.
The coup would be signaled by the arrival of a papal edict ordering henry to leave anne boleyn and return to his marriage.
The emperor will offer his financial and moral support, and insist that wolsey be reinstated as chancellor.
Do you think it could work?
The cardinal is nothing if not ingenious.
I want you to set up a new parliament.
Important things need to be done.
My exchequer is empty, for one thing.
I will do as your majesty commands.
But I must warn you that you may not find this parliament as...
compliant as those before.
How so?
Well, though I must confess to being amongst those who called for greater tolerance and freedom of speech...
I fear that the freedom so given, by your majesty's kindness, is now openly abused.
There are many dissenting voices in the kingdom...
chiefly on religious matters.
There are calls for a reformation.
How many have you burned, thomas?
Six.
All lawful, necessary and...
and welldone.
Welldone?
Yes, harry.
What did he say?
In so many words, he told me that he was inclined to pardon wolsey, and restore him to royal favour.
And what did you say?
I agreed with his majesty that the cardinal had many talents.
You did what?
I agreed with the king that his eminence had many talents.
I cannot believe this!
Have you not spoken yourself of the terrible vengeance he would exact on all of us, if he ever again had the power?
Or perhaps you don't think "vengeance" to be one of his many "talents"!
I do, indeed.
Which is why I cultivate the king's good graces.
Your majesty will be pleased to know that the university of paris, the greatest prize of all, has declared in your favour.
And italy?
I confess that the universities there are divided.
But padua, florence and venice have all declared for your majesty.
Spain?
Katherine's country.
Spain is against.
Are you surprised?
And you, my lord!
Did you get to see the emperor and his holiness?
How are they?
Your majesty, the emperor refused to see me.
And his holiness?
The pope simply gave me this edict, to bring to your majesty.
What does it say?
The edict instructs your majesty to order lady anne boleyn to leave your court.
It refuses to allow your majesty permission to remarry while the papal curia is deciding your majesty's case.
Mr.
Wyatt.
I am busy.
There is someone you should see.
Not now, mr.
Wyatt.
It concerns the cardinal.
Your excellency.
What can I do for you?
My lord, i would ask a very great favour.
These are troubled times.
It seems to me that, in certain quarters, there is now a blatant and open hostility to our holy church.
As we discovered in germany and what do you expect me to do?
I beg you to use the great influence you have, here at court, to pull england back from the brink of catastrophe and ruin!
For the love we all bear for christ and his apostles.
What apostles?
I don't believe christ had apostles not even st.
Peter!
Those men were all liars and charlatans who pretended to follow christ and speak in his name.
And they built a church upon their lies!
Your honour...
your honour...
so grateful.
Sir, this is augustin de augustinis.
A private physician to thomas wolsey.
Wolsey.
What do you know about him?
Sir, I know that wolsey sought the help of the emperor and the P...
P...
the pope?
Yes, your honour.
His holiness, the pope, against his M...
majesty.
They communicated?
Yes...
and who else?
Wolsey conspired with queen katherine, because he said it was the only way he could be...
restored to power.
Yes...
yes...
the king must know of this.
Now you know the truth, you must act against him.
He and his fellow priests and prelates think they can control your majesty's realm!
That they are higher than you...
and by taking instruction from the pope, was not wolsey acting as an agent of a foreign country?
The presumptionf the pope!
Thinking he could tell you...
you...
what to do!
Hold!
You within!
In the name of the king!
Get out!
Get out of bed!
Thomas wolsey, you are arrested by order of the king, and charged with high treason.
You will be taken from here to london, where you will be tried.
There, there joan.
No tears.
No tears for me, I beg you.
Forgive me, that you have not much to remember me by.
No.
I have a life and everything in it to remember you by.
Guards, shackle him.
If I had served god as diligently as I served the king, he would not have given me up in my grey hairs.
Move on!
Joan...
Joan!
I regret to have to inform your majesty that I can no longer continue to serve the emperor at this court.
There is so much hatred here for everything that is sacred and true that those who speak brazenly of it have driven me away.
You are not to blame.
You have always served me with wisdom and kindness.
I will not forget it.
Send my love to my nephew.
I will inform his highness of your plight and of the malice and unkindness of his majesty towards you.
Yes, tell him.
But this also, for the love I bear this country as well as him.
He must not think to use force against his majesty or his people.
It would be a sin against my conscience...
and against god!
Lord, we have not spoken as long or as often as we should.
I have often been about other business.
If I wanted forgiveness I should ask for it...
but for all that I have done, and for all that I am yet to do, there can be no forgiveness.
And yet, I think, I am not an evil man, though evil men pray louder, seek penance, and think themselves closer to heaven than I am.
I shall not see its gates lord, nor hear your sweet words of salvation...
I have seen eternity, I swear...
but it was only in a dream, and in the morning all was gone.
I know myself for what I am.
And I throw my poor soul upon your forgiveness.
In the full knowledge that...
I deserve none at your loving hands.
Welcome...
to hell!
Ah!
Mr.
Cromwell.
Majesty...
cardinal wolsey is dead.
I'm sorry to hear that.
I wish he had lived.
How did he die?
He took his own life...
No one must ever know.
Do you understand?
No one.
Never!
I'll finish my game, and we'll talk.
Go.
Go!
Sir thomas, I have just heard!
By his majesty's order, fifteen senior clergymen have been arrested for recognizing wolsey's authority.
There is also a statute before parliament which recognizes that, in matters, temporal and spiritual, the king is above the law and shall give account to god alone!
What can be done?
I'm reminded of something wolsey once told me: That I should only ever tell the king what he ought to do, not what he could do. "
For if the lion knows his own strength, no man could control him. "
We're standing on the edge of the abyss...
and god knows what shall become of us!
I want you.
I'm going to come.
No.
You mustn'T.
Perhaps you could imagine a way to keep his interest more...
prolonged?
It is my contention that this marriage can be dissolved by no power, human or divine.
You know perfectly well what the king desires and what he shall have.
My only satisfaction is that in frustrating you I hasten your fall from the king's good graces.
I have a book to show you.
These writers say that the king is both emperor and pope absolutely in his own kingdom.
Every day brings more news of the virulence of this heresy.
Of what do you speak, papa?
The disease of lutheranism.
Surely it won't come here?
It is already here.
You are leaving me.
You're married.
You must never ask to see me again.
You promise?
Do you love another?
Is that it?
We were never legally man and wife.
By all the angels I was intact when I came to your bed.
Alright!
So you were a fucking virgin!
That's not the point!
We have decided that this great matter is too important to be here decided but to prorogue this tribunal until october 1st.
Cardinal wolsey!
You are here charged with derogating the king's lawful authority.
Majesty!
Your majesty!
Majesty!
I need to appoint a new chancellor.
Someone I can trust.
I don't want to be chancellor.
You will do as I command!
I've been waiting for so long.
For what?
We will have sons!
No!
No.
Your wife won't let you go.
I should have realized.
Stay here, I beg you.
Anne!
I'm the king of england!
You think you know a story.
But you only know how it ends.
To get to the heart of the story, you have to go back to the beginning.
His majesty the king!
My lords and councilors, there is a great deal of work to do.
In the past, those who held the reins of government deceived me...
many things were done without my knowledge or my approval.
But such proceedings will stop in the future.
Your grace will be appointed president of the council...
jointly with the duke of suffolk.
Your majesty.
We shall convene again very shortly.
To discuss those matters which remain close to our hearts.
A word!
Although it pleases me much that wolsey is no longer here among us...
yet even in his absence, does he not cause you disquiet?
How so?
He was attaindered, but not for treason.
Which means he still lives.
And so long as he lives, he remains a danger both to the realm and to us.
He is far away in york.
In disgrace.
I think you exaggerate the danger.
And I think that you don't understand it!
The king, as you know, could easily change his mind.
And if he did, if wolsey ever returned to this court...
we would both have cause enough to fear his vengeance.
CBUTCB HOUSE OF CARDINAL WOLSEY YORKSBIRE This is intolerable.
We must have the roof mended.
With what?
And by whom?
We have no money and no bloody servants.
Surely the king never meant you to live so wretchedly?
After all, you are still archbishop of york!
Well, perhaps it's not the king's fault.
I have had cause to remember the old prophecy: "When the cow rideth the bull, then,priest, beware thy skull. "
You mean that cow anne boleyn?
Indeed so.
Which is why I'm writing her this letter.
Even if she is the cause of all our misery?
Well yes, since she's the cause, she can also be the cure.
If I could only persuade her that I am not her enemy, but her friend.
I still have the letter in which she promises to reward me for all my pains and efforts at such time as she becomes crowned.
I seem to remember that, at the time, you thought her promises rather amusing.
Well yes, perhaps I did.
Since then I have rather lost my sense of humour.
Sir thomas, I notice you allow yourself none of the trappings of your great office.
I'm not so vain as to display its power, master cromwell.
But I tell you this I fully intend to use it.
May I ask...
to what effect?
Here.
Here is a report of a sermon recently given in cambridge by a certain hugh latimer a senior member of the university. "
Mr.
Latimer said that holy scripture should be read "in the english tongue of all christian people, "whether priest or layman! "
He raged against the gilding of images, "the running of pilgrimages, and superstitious devotion! "
He said that all men were priests and that we had no need for priests or popes on earth! "
Times have changed, master cromwell.
I plainly see the risk and the danger involved in such an opendoor policy towards these newfangled, erroneous sects.
You condemn all reformers as heretics?
Wolsey was far too soft on them.
I intend not to be.
Will you burn them? "
This belief that the pope and the clergy possess separate "power and authority is contrary to scripture. "
The king is the representative of god on earth "and his law is god's law!
The ruler is accountable to god alone and the obedience of his subjects is an obedience required by god! "
"For the church and the pope to rule the princes of europe "is not only a shame above all shames "but an inversion of the divine order.
One king, and one law in god's name in every realm. "
This book is a book for me, and for all kings.
And there are other books like it!
Books which detail the abuses of power, privileges, the greed of the clergy in your majesty's realm.
Books which wolsey deliberately kept hidden from you.
I should like to read them.
Now that I've taken power unto myself, I shall work day and night, if necessary, to resolve things.
Including my annulment.
I swear to you now, everything will be different.
His majesty the king!
Ambassador chapuys.
Your majesty.
I hear you're a very able and intelligent diplomat.
Like me, I'm sure you're aware of all the new religious controversies.
I know of some new heresies that have sprung up here and there, certainly.
If only the pope and his cardinals could set aside their vain pomp and ceremony, and start living according to the precepts of the gospels and the early fathers.
I am well aware that your majesty is in the midst of an argument with his holiness.
Ha!
I'm not talking about myself.
You see, excellence, when luther attacked the vice and corruption of the clergy, he was right.
Had he stopped there, and not gone on to destroy the sacraments, and so on, I would have gladly raised my pen in his defense, rather than attacking him.
The need for reformation in the church is manifest.
The emperor has a duty to promote it.
As do I in my own domain.
I'm glad we've had this opportunity to exchange opinions.
Your majesty.
Ambassador.
I'm surprised you have so much time.
To do what?
To do nothing!
What are you saying?
Aren't you supposed to be running the country?
I leave that to norfolk.
He's had more practice.
And in any case, meetings with ambassadors are infinitely tedious.
They're all liars, hypocrites and middleaged men.
Would you prefer them to be women?
My friend, if all ambassadors were beautiful women I'd be serving my country day and night.
Ah, here we are!
Your grace.
Let me present my ward, miss catherine brooke.
This is sir anthony knivert.
Miss catherine.
Sir.
Anthony is one of our finest horsemen.
Except for when I fall off.
Are you enjoying your walk?
Yes, your grace.
Good.
Then I shan't delay you any further.
A pretty little thing, isn't she?
Indeed she is.
I'm going to marry her!
You have been in exile, mr.
Fish?
Yes, sir.
It was cardinal wolsey's pleasure to keep me in holland, for fear I might speak the truth.
So why did you try to return?
I thought, sir,that with the cardinal fallen and sent away that circumstances in this country might be changed for the better.
More tolerant.
Do you have friends in this country?
Of course, sir as an englishman.
At court?
Do you have friends at court?
Do you deny you are the author of this work: "A supplication for the beggars? "
No, sir.
What is it?
Sir, an appeal to his majesty to redress many of the terrible and scandalous abuses of the church.
Uhhuh.
You seem to suggest that the real aim of the church is to seize all power, lordship, obedience and dignity from the king.
In fact you go further, you claim that the church itself is a source of rebellion and disobedience against the king!
Don't you, mr.
Fish?
And here, mr.
Fish, if I may you say that the exactions taken from the people are not given to a kind, temporal prince, but to a cruel, devilish bloodsucker, drunken in the blood of the martyrs and saints of christ.
Shame on you, mr.
Fish.
For who are these cruel, devilish bloodsuckers...
but the anointed priests of our holy church, those who show us the way to heaven!
But then, you don't believe in that either, do you, mr.
Fish?
Who are you?
I'm a christian man, the child of everlasting joy, through the merits of the bitter passion of christ.
This is the joyful answer.
It is also heresy.
What is it?
What has she done?
She is wearing purple.
And purple is the color of royalty!
You know, I sometimes wish that all spaniards were at the bottom of the sea!
Mistress boleyn, you should not abuse the queen's honor with such language.
I care nothing for katherine.
I would rather see her hanged than acknowledge her as my mistress!
Is that it?
Yes your majesty.
Thank god.
What is it, mr.
Cromwell?
Your majesty, I...
mr.
Cromwell!
I must beg your majesty's indulgence, and forgiveness, before I...
Go on.
I had cause, recently, on a visit to waltham abbey, to speak to a learned friend there.
We spoke...
about your majesty's great matter.
We...
we came to the conclusion that your majesty's advisers might not, perhaps, be approaching the matter in the most convenient way to solve it.
You mean through the courts?
Yes.
As your majesty well knows, kings are set above the law.
They are answerable to god alone, who anointed them.
So it seems to us that the matter is not and never has been a legal one.
It is a theological one.
But in that case who should pass verdict upon it?
We would suggest that your majesty canvas the opinion of theologians at colleges around europe.
Their sentence would be soon pronounced, and could be implemented with little enough industry.
But by that simple measure, I trust that your majesty's troubled conscience might be pacified.
Will you write a paper showing your argument?
If your majesty trusts me to do so.
No.
I command you to do so.
And then I command you, as a royal agent, to visit the universities in europe.
I want the opinion of their theological faculties as soon as possible!
Thank you, mr.
Cromwell.
There is still time to recant of your heresy, mr.
Fish.
If you acknowledge that your opinions were misguided, evil, contrary to the law of god...
then you will be spared the great pains you must otherwise endure.
I beg of you acknowledge your sins.
God will welcome you back into his fold.
Recant.
You still have a moment.
The lord is my shepherd, I can want nothing.
He feedeth me in green pastures, he leadeth me to fresh waters...
though I should walk now in the valley of the shadow of death, yet I will fear no evil, for thou art with me...
thy staff and thy shield will comfort me, thou preparest a table for me, against mine enemies, my head thou anoints with oil, and filleth my cup full oh let thy lovingkindness and mercy follow me all the days of my life, that I mayest dwell in the lord's house for ever.
I have something I want to say to you.
I have decided to ennoble you and your family.
You are to be created earl of wilshire and ormonde and I am also appointing you lord privy seal.
George will become lord rochford, and be made a member of council.
Your majesty I am lost for words.
Your bounty is unceasing.
I also have high hopes for mr.
Cromwell.
I'm glad.
He is a friend of the family.
You know his thesis!
I want you to visit the pope and the emperor at bologna I want you to put to them our new case.
Please tell me you are not losing hope?
It's true.
I...
I had always fancied that the king, after pursuing his course for some time, would turn away, would yield to his conscience, as he has done so often before.
I believed with all my heart that he would return to reason...
but now, I...
madam, I pray you.
Don't give way.
No, excellence.
I shall never give way.
Thank you for what you have done for my father.
For my whole family.
There is more...
I've made alterations to wolsey's old palace at york place.
You said you liked it...
I am giving it to you.
What is it?
Have I made you unhappy?
No.
I would only be unhappy if you ever stopped loving me.
London would have to melt into the thames first.
It is everything now for the lady anne!
Sir thomas, does this not remind you of a wedding feast?
It seems to me that nothing is wanted but a priest to give away the nuptial rings and pronounce the blessing.
God forbid that should happen.
It's none of my business.
My new job as chancellor will be to do my utmost to contend for the interests of christendom.
Perhaps the king's majesty is more inclined towards the reformers than you know.
I don't think so.
I know him better than you do, excellence.
His deepest instincts are traditional and faithful.
He may threaten to break with rome, but I don't think he will ever do so.
I hope you are right.
The consequences would be unthinkable.
Everything seems to move in your favor, your grace.
I have bad news.
I happen to know that the king has sent wolsey an intaglio portrait of himself.
So?
So, it is traditionally a sign of goodwill.
It may presage a reconciliation.
A small gift to ease the king's conscience is hardly a sign t hat the bishop of york will be restored to his former glory.
Think of it this way: After satan fell from heaven, was he ever invited back?
You were.
I see that you have accepted the patronage of mr.
Cromwell, mr.
Wyatt.
How very transparent the world is!
But was I wrong to do so, mr.
Tallis?
I think so.
Yes.
You should be your own man.
Don't be a fool, tallis.
You never will survive long in this slippery world without the support of a great man.
You think mr.
Cromwell is a great man?
No, I think he's a coming man!
Mark my words.
For what it's worth, I did fuck her!
What is it, thomas?
I have had a reply to my letter.
From mistress boleyn?
What did she say?
That she will not speak to the king on my behalf.
Then our hopes are over!
No.
I have resolved to write to another lady who is far greater, far greater than that mischievous whore and far more likely to be kind.
Madam, the king is here.
Please.
Be seated.
Majesty.
I came because I heard you were unwell.
And that it was necessary for the physician to have bled you.
How are you feeling now?
I am very well.
Your majesty is kind to show concern.
How is our daughter?
She writes to me in perfect latin, and tells me she dances the galliards every day, and can play the lute, much to everyone's satisfaction and joy.
You should be proud of her.
I am proud of her.
You ought to invite her to court, you could watch her dancing and playing.
It might please you.
Katherine, I I hear that several of your agents have been sent abroad to canvas theological opinion about the divorce.
For every scholar that votes for you, I could find a thousand who would vote for me!
My lords...
every day I'm forced to read new reports of dissatisfaction, confusion and delays throughout my kingdom.
My exchequer is empty and we are borrowing money at a biting rate!
Your graces are presidents of this council.
And yet I hear nothing from you on these matters, nor any other matter.
Your majesty must forgive me, I yes, yes, I know I must forgive you, I must always forgive you.
But I grow tired of forgiving you!
I have given you everything, including the right to call yourself prince!
And what do I get in return?
I used to think the cardinal vain, selfserving and greedy, just as you told me!
But now I understand the burden he carried...
uncomplainingly.
Your majesty should not forget that he also stole from you, and he served the interests of the french even above those of england.
Is that what you think, thomas?
It is certainly true that the cardinal was vainglorious beyond measure.
It did him tremendous harm, and made him abuse the considerable gifts god gave him.
And yet he is a better man than any of you for managing this kingdom's matters!
I will talk to him.
Yes, you must!
Ambassador chapuys, your majesty.
Ambassador.
I have a letter for your majesty.
From the emperor?
No.
From cardinal wolsey.
S is...
so strange.
Do you know what it says?
The cardinal is offering to create a rapprochement between you and he, the emperor, and rome.
The coup would be signaled by the arrival of a papal edict ordering henry to leave anne boleyn and return to his marriage.
The emperor will offer his financial and moral support, and insist that wolsey be reinstated as chancellor.
Do you think it could work?
The cardinal is nothing if not ingenious.
I want you to set up a new parliament.
Important things need to be done.
My exchequer is empty, for one thing.
I will do as your majesty commands.
But I must warn you that you may not find this parliament as...
compliant as those before.
How so?
Well, though I must confess to being amongst those who called for greater tolerance and freedom of speech...
I fear that the freedom so given, by your majesty's kindness, is now openly abused.
There are many dissenting voices in the kingdom...
chiefly on religious matters.
There are calls for a reformation.
How many have you burned, thomas?
Six.
All lawful, necessary and...
and welldone.
Welldone?
Yes, harry.
What did he say?
In so many words, he told me that he was inclined to pardon wolsey, and restore him to royal favour.
And what did you say?
I agreed with his majesty that the cardinal had many talents.
You did what?
I agreed with the king that his eminence had many talents.
I cannot believe this!
Have you not spoken yourself of the terrible vengeance he would exact on all of us, if he ever again had the power?
Or perhaps you don't think "vengeance" to be one of his many "talents"!
I do, indeed.
Which is why I cultivate the king's good graces.
Your majesty will be pleased to know that the university of paris, the greatest prize of all, has declared in your favour.
And italy?
I confess that the universities there are divided.
But padua, florence and venice have all declared for your majesty.
Spain?
Katherine's country.
Spain is against.
Are you surprised?
And you, my lord!
Did you get to see the emperor and his holiness?
How are they?
Your majesty, the emperor refused to see me.
And his holiness?
The pope simply gave me this edict, to bring to your majesty.
What does it say?
The edict instructs your majesty to order lady anne boleyn to leave your court.
It refuses to allow your majesty permission to remarry while the papal curia is deciding your majesty's case.
Mr.
Wyatt.
I am busy.
There is someone you should see.
Not now, mr.
Wyatt.
It concerns the cardinal.
Your excellency.
What can I do for you?
My lord, i would ask a very great favour.
These are troubled times.
It seems to me that, in certain quarters, there is now a blatant and open hostility to our holy church.
As we discovered in germany and what do you expect me to do?
I beg you to use the great influence you have, here at court, to pull england back from the brink of catastrophe and ruin!
For the love we all bear for christ and his apostles.
What apostles?
I don't believe christ had apostles not even st.
Peter!
Those men were all liars and charlatans who pretended to follow christ and speak in his name.
And they built a church upon their lies!
Your honour...
your honour...
so grateful.
Sir, this is augustin de augustinis.
A private physician to thomas wolsey.
Wolsey.
What do you know about him?
Sir, I know that wolsey sought the help of the emperor and the P...
P...
the pope?
Yes, your honour.
His holiness, the pope, against his M...
majesty.
They communicated?
Yes...
and who else?
Wolsey conspired with queen katherine, because he said it was the only way he could be...
restored to power.
Yes...
yes...
the king must know of this.
Now you know the truth, you must act against him.
He and his fellow priests and prelates think they can control your majesty's realm!
That they are higher than you...
and by taking instruction from the pope, was not wolsey acting as an agent of a foreign country?
The presumptionf the pope!
Thinking he could tell you...
you...
what to do!
Hold!
You within!
In the name of the king!
Get out!
Get out of bed!
Thomas wolsey, you are arrested by order of the king, and charged with high treason.
You will be taken from here to london, where you will be tried.
There, there joan.
No tears.
No tears for me, I beg you.
Forgive me, that you have not much to remember me by.
No.
I have a life and everything in it to remember you by.
Guards, shackle him.
If I had served god as diligently as I served the king, he would not have given me up in my grey hairs.
Move on!
Joan...
Joan!
I regret to have to inform your majesty that I can no longer continue to serve the emperor at this court.
There is so much hatred here for everything that is sacred and true that those who speak brazenly of it have driven me away.
You are not to blame.
You have always served me with wisdom and kindness.
I will not forget it.
Send my love to my nephew.
I will inform his highness of your plight and of the malice and unkindness of his majesty towards you.
Yes, tell him.
But this also, for the love I bear this country as well as him.
He must not think to use force against his majesty or his people.
It would be a sin against my conscience...
and against god!
Lord, we have not spoken as long or as often as we should.
I have often been about other business.
If I wanted forgiveness I should ask for it...
but for all that I have done, and for all that I am yet to do, there can be no forgiveness.
And yet, I think, I am not an evil man, though evil men pray louder, seek penance, and think themselves closer to heaven than I am.
I shall not see its gates lord, nor hear your sweet words of salvation...
I have seen eternity, I swear...
but it was only in a dream, and in the morning all was gone.
I know myself for what I am.
And I throw my poor soul upon your forgiveness.
In the full knowledge that...
I deserve none at your loving hands.
Welcome...
to hell!
Ah!
Mr.
Cromwell.
Majesty...
cardinal wolsey is dead.
I'm sorry to hear that.
I wish he had lived.
How did he die?
He took his own life...
No one must ever know.
Do you understand?
No one.
Never!
I'll finish my game, and we'll talk.
Go.
Go!
Sir thomas, I have just heard!
By his majesty's order, fifteen senior clergymen have been arrested for recognizing wolsey's authority.
There is also a statute before parliament which recognizes that, in matters, temporal and spiritual, the king is above the law and shall give account to god alone!
What can be done?
I'm reminded of something wolsey once told me: That I should only ever tell the king what he ought to do, not what he could do. "
For if the lion knows his own strength, no man could control him. "
We're standing on the edge of the abyss...
and god knows what shall become of us!
I want you.
I'm going to come.
No.
You mustn'T.
Perhaps you could imagine a way to keep his interest more...
prolonged?