The new Season of Wolf Hall (The Mirror and the Light) is about to start March 25, 2025 on PBS and the first Season of Wolf Hall is now playing on Amazon Prime (here) in anticipation. It is a fictionalized biography of the rise of Thomas Cromwell from the historical novel by English author Hilary Mantel.
In addition to superb acting and beautiful cinematography, Thomas Cromwell's life (1485-1540) takes place right during the birth of the Modern World System in England. Understanding the Historical dynamics happening during Cromwell's life makes, for me, a compelling story even more fascinating. What might be, for some readers, dry historical analysis might see daunting (to me it isn't, but see Immanuel Wallerstein's Modern World System I). However, I also have statistical models of the period that I can report on which, for me, is even more interesting (the models are based on data from Angus Maddison's Contours of the World Economy 1-2030).
I future posts,I will present results from my models and try to correlated the historical data trends to events with the Wolf Hall Miniseries. For now, take a look at the trailer for Season 2 (below). I hope you find all this as interesting as I do!
Links
- Thomas Cromwell An English statesman and lawyer who served as chief minister to King Henry VIII from 1534 to 1540, when he was beheaded on orders of the king, who later blamed false charges for the execution.
- Catherine of Aragon The first wife of King Henry VIII from their marriage on 11 June 1509 until its annulment on 23 May 1533.
- King Henry VIII King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547.
- English Reformation Took place in 16th-century England when the Church of England was forced by its monarchs and elites to break away from the authority of the Pope and the Catholic Church.
- Anne Boleyn Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 and the second wife of King Henry VIII.
- Oliver Cromwell (25 April 1599 – 3 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician, and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history.
- Thomas Wolsey An English statesman and Catholic cardinal. When Henry VIII became King of England in 1509, Wolsey became the king's almoner.
- Elizabeth Wyckes The wife of Thomas Cromwell (1485 – 28 July 1540), died in 1529 and his daughters, Anne and Grace, are believed to have died not long after their mother.
- Hans Holbein the Younger A German-Swiss painter and printmaker who worked in a Northern Renaissance style, and is considered one of the greatest portraitists of the 16th century.
- Wolf Hall A 2009 historical novel by English author Hilary Mantel, published by Fourth Estate, named after the Seymour family's seat of Wolfhall, or Wulfhall, in Wiltshire. Set in the period from 1500 to 1535, Wolf Hall is a sympathetic fictionalised biography documenting the rapid rise to power of Thomas Cromwell in the court of Henry VIII through to the death of Sir Thomas More.
- World-Systems Theory A multidisciplinary approach to world history and social change which emphasizes the world-system (and not nation states) as the primary (but not exclusive) unit of social analysis.
- Sweating Sickness A mysterious and contagious disease that struck England and later continental Europe in a series of epidemics beginning in 1485.
- Holy Roman Empire A polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor.[19] It developed in the Early Middle Ages and lasted for almost a thousand years until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars.
- Timeline of British History 1500-1599
- Timelines of World History
- The Black Death The Black Death was a bubonic plague pandemic that occurred in Europe from 1346 to 1353. It was one of the most fatal pandemics in human history.
- English Civil War a series of civil wars and political machinations between Royalists and Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651.
- Holy Roman Empire a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor.
- Peasant's Revolt a major uprising across large parts of England in 1381.
- Feudalism a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries.
- The 15th Century the century which spans the Julian calendar dates from 1 January 1401 (represented by the Roman numerals MCDI) to 31 December 1500 (MD).
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