Most historians agree that Anne’s crime was not adultery but ambition. It is perhaps not unexpected that the self-made men at Henry’s court—the butcher’s son Thomas Wolsey and the brewer’s son Thomas Cromwell, both of whom became the most powerful men in the country after the king—have never been accused of overweening ambition. They have usually been admired for their hard work, intelligence, and cunning to rise so high. Yes, yes, Wolsey was incredibly greedy, with numerous luxurious palaces, and had a mistress even though he was a cardinal. And to do the king’s bidding, Cromwell crafted
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