The hotly anticipated second series of the late Hilary Mantell鈥檚 has finally hit our screens, nearly ten years after the first. The six episodes adapt the trilogy鈥檚 last book, , and cover the years from the execution of Henry VIII鈥檚 second wife, Anne Boleyn, in 1536, to the climax of Thomas Cromwell鈥檚 execution in 1540.
In the first episode, we see the sensational drama of Boleyn鈥檚 execution. It also features tensions mounting as the king threatens his daughter, Princess Mary, with the same fate.
Mary is devoted to her recently deceased mother, Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII鈥檚 first wife. Her father had divorced Catherine, claiming the marriage was incestuous and illegal because she had previously been married to his dead brother, Arthur.
Mary refuses to accept these claims, leaving herself open to the full penalties of the law. Played by Lilit Lesser, the princess is portrayed as vulnerable and alone when Cromwell visits her 鈥 he is the only man at court who wants to rescue her.
In the peril in which she stands, Mary bemoans that 鈥渘o other lord has spoken for me 鈥 not even the Poles or the Courtenays鈥 鈥 to which a sympathetic Cromwell responds: 鈥淭hey have left you to bear the risk.鈥
It seems that Cromwell, the blacksmith鈥檚 son from Putney, is the only one striving to do what is right, at great risk to himself, while surrounded by conniving and unscrupulous individuals. However, this is not true. As someone who has researched the lives of the Poles and Courtenays, I can tell you they did try to help Mary.
Mary鈥檚 second mother
, played by Harriet Walter, is countess of Salisbury and niece of Kings Edward IV and Richard III. She is depicted as defiant and disdainful, a woman who has to be threatened into writing to Mary in a bid to save the princess from the axe.
In reality, Pole had been Mary鈥檚 governess from May 1520. In July the following year, she was removed from the post after the execution of her son-in-law, the duke of Buckingham, for treason. But she was re-appointed in 1525, and remained at Mary鈥檚 side until 1535.
As I write in , she was regarded as the princess鈥檚 second mother, and needed no prompting from Cromwell to act in Mary鈥檚 defence in 1536. She had already done much to shield Mary from the consequences of her parents鈥 disintegrating marriage, and had incurred the king鈥檚 wrath before.
When Mary鈥檚 household was broken up in the autumn of 1535 鈥 due to her refusal to accept her illegitimacy and the loss of her title as princess 鈥 Pole was discharged and Mary was placed in the household of her baby sister, Elizabeth, daughter of Anne Boleyn.
The king refused Pole鈥檚 offer to follow and serve the princess at her own expense, so the distressed countess returned to her own residence, where it appears she suffered some sort of collapse.
While she evaded punishment at the time, Pole would be arrested in 1538 and executed in 1541 due to the treasonous activities of her sons, and Henry VIII鈥檚 fears that her extensive estates in the south of England might be used as an entry point for a foreign invasion. It is most likely that Cromwell fabricated evidence against her to ensure her conviction.
The king鈥檚 first cousin and his wife
Unlike the Pole family, the Courtenays have mostly been airbrushed out of the show. All that remains are unflattering references in episode one, as Cromwell tells Mary they are among those who 鈥渉ave practice of scuttling into cover鈥, leaving Mary exposed.
Like the Poles, they were of royal descent. Henry Courtenay, earl of Devon and marquis of Exeter, was the king鈥檚 first cousin.
In a dramatic scene, the incredulous imperial ambassador for the holy Roman emperor (and Catherine of Aragon鈥檚 nephew) Charles V, Eustace Chapuys, asks Cromwell if he will risk his life for Mary. In reality, the Courtenays had already beaten him to it.
Gertrude Courtenay, marchioness of Exeter, had taken a great risk by visiting Chapuys in person in November 1535, needing the protection of a disguise to do so. Warning him of the danger in which the princess and her mother stood, she begged him 鈥渨ith the greatest possible speed鈥 to write to his master and ask for 鈥渁 prompt and efficacious remedy to these many evils鈥. Chapuys would recount this exchange in a letter to Charles V, adding that he considered the danger to them imminent.
Henry Courtenay, unlike many, had a genuine affection for Henry VIII, but also remained loyal to Mary. He was a member of the , the governmental group who advised the king. When the council went into emergency session in the summer of 1536 following Mary鈥檚 refusal to accept the invalidity of her parents鈥 marriage, Courtenay was removed because of his known loyalty to her. In the TV series, however, he is not depicted in the scene that dramatises this event.
In January 1539, Chapuys reminded Charles V of the love that Henry Courtenay had born the princess 鈥 鈥渋n whose service he would willingly, as he has often sent to tell me, shed his blood.鈥 But by this time, Courtenay鈥檚 blood had indeed been shed. In December 1538, as his cousin Henry VIII partied at Westminster, he faced a trial and execution as shocking as that of Anne Boleyn鈥檚. Once again, Cromwell savoured another victory over his enemies.
While the writers of the TV series might have chosen to forget the loyalty these players showed Mary, she did not forget them. When she became queen in 1553, she made grants to Margaret Pole鈥檚 granddaughters 鈥渋n consideration of the service to the queen in her tender age of the said countess of Salisbury鈥. And Gertrude, marchioness of Exeter, was immediately welcomed to her court as one of her closest companions.
Some may grudge at historians holding forth about the fact or fiction of an enjoyable TV series, when it is understood that dramatic licence must be taken. But I believe such points of contention should be welcomed. After all, The Mirror and the Light is doing what every good historical drama should do 鈥 making us all want to know more.
, Research Fellow in the School of History, Law and Social Sciences,
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