Welcome to our final discussion of Hilary Mantel's Bring Up the Bodies! Has the mask of reasonable, humane Cromwell dropped as he deals ruthlessly with the accused? Is the Cromwell we thought we knew from the history books now appearing?

Henry Norris, William Brereton, George Boleyn, and Francis Weston: In the prior book, Wolf Hall, these four men mocked Cardinal Wolsey after his death. In a crude entertainment before the court, they dragged the cardinal off to Hell--left forepaw, left hindpaw, right forepaw, right hindpaw. Crowell has not forgotten. Now we find them locked in the Tower of London.

Cromwell begins with Henry Norris. But Norris is no Mark Smeaton--he does not admit treason or turn on his fellow accused. Nor does William Brereton. George Boleyn is confronted with allegations of incest with his sister, but denies. However, he lets slip a weakness: he does not hesitate to scorn the king's abilities in the bedroom. Young Weston takes a better tack by immediately apologizing for his past insults to Cromwell and reminding Cromwell that he has a young wife at home. Cromwell has him on the verge of a denunciation, but then blinks and walks away.

Next, he spars with Anne. He suggests that the gentlemen have confessed and that Anne's ladies have turned against her. He reminds her that how she conducts herself now will affect how Henry views her daughter, Elizabeth. She protests her innocence, but her performance does not convince. As if convincing Cromwell at this point could change her fate.

He then escorts Thomas Wyatt to the Tower, for he is suspect too. And yet he is safe, for no friend of Cromwell's will suffer. Wyatt's gift for verse also favors him in Cromwell's estimation. He is treated with all honor and is not charged. All he has to do is to be ready to say a word against Anne if need be.

The charges against Anne, her brother George, the three gentlemen, and Smeaton are ugly, sordid--Henry's influence, not Cromwell's. What is the crime? Ultimately, it is that Henry now regrets his marriage to Anne and wishes to be done with her, to not only kill her but to humiliate her and annul their marriage. And the gentlemen and Smeaton? It is enough that they are guilty of something, no matter whether it appears in the charging papers or not.

The order comes to bring up the bodies. Norris, Brereton, Weston, and Smeaton stand trial first, Norfolk presiding. Only Smeaton admits guilt, though the others express an undefined remorse. All are convicted. Anne is next. As queen, she is tried by peers of the realm, the dukes and earls. She must answer before the court the dizzying catalog of lewd activities and treacherous words that she stands accused of. She denies all, except that she admits once giving money to Weston. She is convicted. George Boleyn's trial follows. The evidence against him is flimsy, but he damns himself before his peers when he reads aloud, with great relish, the allegation that the queen said the king is incapable of copulating with a woman. He is convicted, but not before Percy, Earl of Northumberland and Anne's suspected prior betrothed, falls dead before his peers.

Cromwell meets with Archbishop Cranmer after about the annulment proceedings. He learns from Cranmer that the rumor at court is that he, Cromwell, has had adulterous relations with Lady Worchester (a lady of Anne's privy chamber and one of her accusers) and was the father of her child. What goes around comes around?

Henry signs the death warrants. The convicts are to have their heads chopped off by a swordsman. Cromwell suggests this, and perhaps it is a mercy. The alternative is to be hung by the neck and then, while still alive, disemboweled. The men go first. George makes an eloquent speech and requires three chops to be slain. The others proclaim themselves sinners and die cleanly with one swing of the blade.

Anne will get her turn, but the annulment must occur first. On what grounds? Witching Henry into the marriage? The annulment is swift and the reason kept secret.

The time comes for Anne. Cromwell attends the execution. He chats with the swordsman and holds the weapon beforehand. His son Gregory tags along. Anne climbs the platform to her fate, seemingly thinking until the end that the king might grant her a reprieve. Instead, with one swift blow she dies. Four loyal women attend to her body.

After, Henry swiftly and privately marries Jane and the accounting for the dead woman is done. Cromwell becomes a baron.