#Stephen Cromwell

[oldmanbracket]

Sexiest Old Man Tournament: Round 1

Who is hotter?

[thomascromwelll]

Are you passive-aggressive? Stephen Gardiner: I'm aggressive-aggressive, darling!

MARK RYLANCE and MARK GATISS as Thomas Cromwell and Bishop Stephen Gardiner Wolf Hall (2015) — Episode two 'Entirely Beloved'

[haveyouseenthismovie-poll]

[cosmic-walkers]

I might be the only one who doesn't think that Thomas hates being the son of a blacksmith/lowborn (and let's be real, he was a blacksmith himself.) Fandoms tends to think he hates it, and he's ashamed of it, but I just never saw it.

In the books, he is constantly calling back to his past as a blacksmith, soldier, whatever, lowborn man, and he credits his feats and survival skills he learned back then, to the man he is now. To me, a huge thing about Thomas is that he does lose himself, he does love the power that comes with climbing up in nobility like any man would. But there is never a time when he is ashamed of himself, there is never a time when he wants to hide his past and regrets it. He despises Walter -let's get that straight. He does in fact, hate Walter. But the majority of people tend to conflate that with him hating the fact that he is a lowborn man.

When in reality, he loves that about himself. He loves that he didn't have to have a governess, a sophisticated tutor, or learn at the best schools in order to sit at the king's table. In fact, he can afford all those people now (before he worked with henry tbh), to make sure the boys in his house are well-learned. He loves the fact that he climbed up social ranks without having to have a noble family or bloodline attached to him. He adores the fact that Henry has people like Norfolk and Suffolk and other natural born nobles working for him, but they still, with their god given right and power, cannot do half the stuff a lowborn man from Putney can do.

Even in the first wolf hall book, Henry and Wriothesely DO find noble Cromwells and attempts to push Thomas to claim them, and to look into the matter and he says no. Because he doesn't want to be noble by birth, he doesn't want to present as anything else than a lowborn man who rose to the top with his own merit.

There seems to be this idea in fandom that he is ashamed or embarrassed of being lowborn, but I never thought that. Like, he makes constant call backs to it in the books, and always credits his past, being a black smith, and being low born to survival.

Of course, he hates when people look down on him. That makes him upset, especially because he knows he is better than the nobles who are usually speaking down on him. But like, to be angry is natural. Insecurity when people speak down on you, is natural.

But, he does not hate his past. He never aspired to be noble by birth, he never wanted to hide who he was or his past. He began as a lowborn man, and is prideful in the fact that as a lowborn man, he could do so much more than the natural born nobles/royals.

now if you do wanna see people in wolf hall who hate the fact that they are low born or tied to low born people, thomas more and stephen gardiner are standing right there. thomas more, who is extremely self cautious about the fact that he and thomas knew each other from lambeth because he loathes the idea that a lowborn child could one day be his peer. and it has to make him acknowledge the fact that not to far off in his own lineage, he also has lowborn blood in his veins, as either his father or grandfather was a baker, and mistake, and t. more could've also been a baker. and for thomas more, someone so devout to the religious order, and nobility being ordained by god, can you imagine the fuckery that goes on in his mind? he knows that he is noble, but by his religion, should he even be here? was his life falling to shambles a part of divine punishment? perhaps, this is his thought process.

And then there is Stephen, who is not just a bastard but a bastard whom no one knows where he comes from. The theory that he is a tudor is very very, slippery at best, because there is no historical evidence to document that, and even if he was he was utterly abandoned. Historically, Stephen did not come from a family of note, and only got to where he was because of his own merit and skills, and proved himself to both Henry and Wolsey over and over again. The reason that Stephen *is* nobility now, is because he is a Bishop. That is quite literally the only reason, and he had to prove himself. Combining this with whomever we have in the books, it is very very evident that Stephen, hates the fact that he wasn't natural born nobility. He hates the fact he was a bastard, lowborn, and that he probably doesn't even know where he comes from.

So this idea that Thomas Cromwell hates being lowborn, makes no sense to me, and it doesn't hold up canonically. Especially, when we actually see characters in the show how absolutely despite the fact that they are lowborn, or related to people who *are* low born.

[mametupa]

[cinemaocd]

Chapter 2 of Valor Ecclesiasticus is up on AO3

Stephen begins his memoir with a romantic tale, with an intermission to address the ghosts in the room.

Huge thanks to @liliana-von-k, for her help with this project. :D

[austin-friars]

another fun project I want to work on and put together, is just writing about queer historical figures, and historical figures that i actually suspect were gay, queer, etc. not just tudor era people but like...just queer people both confirmed, and speculated through history.

[dxcstrange-stuff]

There we go again with the annual summary of art!! (It feels like I made the last one yesterday, help) ✨

In comparison to last year I do feel some change within my art style and overall process. Lots of things happened this year, whether it was new art techniques I discovered and started using myself, or other things like my first exhibition, being able to gift my muse Mark Rylance my art in person, or finishing my Wolf Hall animatic. I hope next year will be the same, if not even better 💖

[stilltrails]

The interesting thing about Wolf Hall is that Stephen Gardiner isn't evil. He's a villain to Thomas, but in the grand scheme of things what he's doing makes sense (in the same way Thomas bringing down Anne Boleyn does). He's working in his own self-interest and of his faith, which will eventually kill Thomas, but Thomas would do the same for him.

And Thomas does the exact same thing with Protestantism.

Stephen is also working in the best interest of the Catholics, who at the time, were an incredibly oppressed class experiencing a genocide that would continue to ravage Europe well after Elizabeth's time.

He tends to his flock as a Bishop, and seeks to ensure the souls of his people are not going to be damned. Which as a priest who is responsible for the resurgence of Catholicism after Edward dies, we can tell he takes very seriously.

He has valid reasons to move against Thomas, considering Thomas has taken his job, his home, and historically sent spies against him.

I'm not saying i'm rooting for him, but his beef with Thomas and his need for self-preservation at the expense of Thomas's life is exactly what Thomas did to Anne Boleyn.

And it makes sense.

[austinsarts]

The POV is that you dream about that guy you killed twenty years ago. I had this twisted idea that Stephen has nightmares about the people he had a hand in killing, and a headless Thomas Cromwell always pops up in his nightmares - or sometimes just his head.

colored versions of this wip under the cut

[frivolouscake]

[oldmanbracket]

Sexiest Old Man Tournament: Round 2

Who is hotter?

[thomascromwelll]

He's such a mean girl!! hahahah

ALEX JENNINGS as Stephen Gardiner in WOLF HALL: THE MIRROR AND THE LIGHT — Episode four.

[hiddenxrituals]

closed starter for @frcmbelow (auden) location: error 404 file not found

"How're you cemetery friends?" Stephen gently elbowed Auden in the ribs, giving her a grin. "What a sorry pair we are. Your friends are all in the ground, and my girlfriend is on the internet. If it wasn't for each other, we might not ever talk to a physical human being. Not counting Wendy, of course."

[cosmic-walkers]

there was something so intense about stephen staring at thomas during the whole interrogation scene, as if he was attempting to find this "evil" man he had conjured up in his mind. the lies stephen has fed himself over the years about thomas all amounted to this moment, and toward the end, not only did he realize he was wrong about thomas but you can tell he knew they had made a mistake but he regretted it.

the part where he and thomas were alone together, and thomas spoke to him in a calm, casual manner, as if they were friends also showed that. stephen didn't bite back, or reply to him coldly because he knew he'd messed up. and honestly i think stephen would've rather thomas have been cold and cruel to him in their last conversation, over being friendly. because at least there would be some little justification for what Stephen is doing. but nope, it wasn't there. just thomas talking casually, as if they were still working under wolsey.

aside from knowing that thomas was right - without him all things will fall apart, and they do - from a personal level, you can see how stephen realized that this was a mistake. that last part thomas said, about history judging them, and stephen turned it and said that they all would be judged for what they did - specifically for what they did with thomas. oh, he knew, and he knew he fucked up, he knew they all did. he knew it was a mistake, and that they were essentially putting an innocent man to death.

more importantly, as the episode went on, this was a small dick move from norfolk and i think stephen was starting to realize that. just how ridiculous it was, and how he was roped into it as well.

[mametupa]

Not an empty threat.