Actually, I should say organizational intrigues, because every large organization suffers from the same defects in human behavior. The prompt for this post is reading the three book fictionalized life of Thomas Cromwell by Hilary Mantel–Wolf Hall, Bringing up the Bodies and The Mirror and the Light. Mantel takes the real events of Cromwell’s life and fleshes them out with imagined conversations and character interactions. Cromwell was a blacksmith’s son who rose to become England’s King Henry VIII’s primary advisor, with a large array of titles and ultimately controlling most of the work of the kingdom. Mantel’s writing is outstanding and compelling. But it is her portrayal of the interactions within the King’s government that are most relevant today.
Everyone is competing to have the ear of the King, some for the mere feel of closeness to power; some to advance their own policy agendas. At the time, because of his frequent desire to shed himself of his then-current wife, England was in the process of divorcing itself from control of the Pope over its religious life. (As a side note, if you had any doubt as to the greedy, power-grabbing nature of the Catholic Church at the time, and its total disdain for the welfare of common people, these books will confirm it for you.) Cromwell was a masterful and knowledgeable administrator, who looked after the King’s welfare, while trying to advance the cause of religious freedom and a better economic life for the mass of the English.
The descriptions of how he manipulated people and how others schemed to advance themselves are relevant today. One can imagine, as we already have heard, how various Trump advisors seek to undermine other advisors’ access to the President or their counsel to him, using many of the same techniques. And the ultimate holder of the power, as with Henry VIII in Comwell’s case, often encourages or rewards such behavior, or is blithely susceptible to it. I have seen the same behaviors in large companies. It seems to be an organizational behavior dynamic that is inherent in humans. Rare is the leader who can recognize and suppress this behavior, which tends not to advance the welfare of the nation or organization in which it occurs.
Cromwell becomes victimized by the very tactics he used to eliminate those he perceived as impediments or foes. He was, wrongly, accused of heresy and treason, and beheaded. Henry you come to view as a bad leader and person, not completely, but in those aspects where true intelligence and leadership would be most important. Selfish and disloyal to those who served him best. He immediately rued going along with the murder of Cromwell, knowing he had lost his most trusted and competent advisor.
And as a reader, you come to know Cromwell intimately, with all the good he has done for those close to him, his pulling people literally from the gutter and making them important personages and providing wealth for them. Some of these betrayed him in the most craven and cowardly manner. The description of Cromwell’s last days, facing death, are poignant and moved me to tears. That is how strongly you will identify with the character that is so eloquently portrayed by Mantel. A strongly encouraged read.
Using Hilary Mantel as a reliable source on the Catholic Church is liking using MSM as an accurate source on all things Trump!
Every thing she reports about the Church, as opposed to Catholics themselves, is absolutely true, as acknowledged by the church itself. At that time the church refused to make the bible or other religious writings available in local languages, to enhance the power of the clergy; it sold relics and indulgences to enrich the clergy and church officials, further impoverishing the masses, the clergy, including monks, lived a lifestyle contrary to the supposed dictates of the religion, and on and on. The reformation was no accident, it was a long-simmering reaction to the corruption and abuse of the Church.