I should like to thank Delyth Neil for the Welsh, Leslie Wilson
for the German, and a Norfolk lady for the Flemish. Guada
Abale for lending me a song. Judith Flanders for helping me
when I couldn’t get to the British Library. Dr Christopher Haigh
for inviting me to a splendid dinner in Wolsey’s hall at Christ
Church. Jan Rogers for sharing a pilgrimage to Canterbury and a
drink at the Cranmer Arms at Aslockton. Gerald McEwen for
driving me around and putting up with my preoccupations. My
agent Bill Hamilton and my publishers for their support and
encouragement. Above all, Dr Mary Robertson; her business as a
scholar has been with the facts of Cromwell’s life, but she has
encouraged me and lent me her expertise through the production
of this fiction, put up with my fumbling speculations and been
kind enough to recognise the portrait I have produced. This
book is dedicated to her, with my thanks and love.