#cromwellposting

christophe is hilary mantel’s self-insert OC

wolf hall actually much more homoerotic on second reading. why does cromwell never stop talking about henry’s mouth

thinking about thomas cromwell and the way hes always called to deal with socially disgraced women and - despite being a bully and a briber and a manipulator - does so with a measure of emotional intelligence and respect for their motives. thinking about his respect for women’s work of embroidery and needlework and his understanding of the social capital and significance of women’s gossip and how he really sees that these things hold a subtle but undeniable power. thinking about how ‘he can’t see richard riche framing a law against embroidery’ because it’s obviously ridiculous to interpret needlework as a form of treason but cromwell sees that perhaps it can be. and being told ‘it’s not much, to know that all the merry young whores are on your side. all the kept women, and the runaway daughters’ but he knows that actually these women are such important allies