The Mirror and the Light

While the king mourns Jane, all the talk at court and throughout Europe swirls around who will be his next queen. The public asks itself: Should Henry marry someone from France, to heal the relations there? Or someone, like the Duchess of Milan, who happens to be the Emperor’s niece? Or perhaps another English girl, someone to unite him with another powerful family? Rumors fly that the king neglected the dying queen and that Cromwell will succeed him, taxing the common man into ruin. An effigy of the prince and heir apparent Edward is found, stuck with pins through the heart. The kingdom remains unsettled.

Tensions between the Duke of Norfolk and Cromwell grow. Norfolk believes he has been slighted in the handing out of land and remunerations from the dissolved abbeys and monasteries. Norfolk’s son, the Earl of Surrey, is even more short-tempered and insulting toward Cromwell.

Meanwhile, Cromwell’s grandson is born, named after the king, and Cromwell thinks often of his allegiance to the king. When Henry takes ill yet again—his wound will not heal; he collapses while on the hunt—Cromwell asks himself, “If Henry dies, what friends have you?” (471). Cromwell remembers another collapse last year and thinks, “I could not allow you to be dead.