A Man for All Seasons (1988) - full transcript

COMMON MAN:
It is perverse...

...to begin a story
made up of kings and cardinals...

...with me.

If a king or a cardinal had done the prologue,
he'd have had the right materials.

But this? Eh? Is this a costume?

Does this say anything?

Barely covers one man's nakedness.

A bit of black material that reduces
old Adam to the common man.

Oh, heh.
If they'd let me come on naked, whew...

...I'd have shown you
something of my own.

But for a proposition of my own,
I need a costume.



Matthew, the household steward
to Sir Thomas More.

[LAUGHER FROM OUTSIDE]

There's company for dinner.

All right.

Common man...

...16th-century butler.

All right, this...

The 16th century
was the century of the common man.

Like all the other centuries.

And that's my proposition.

- The wine please, Matthew.
- And that's Sir Thomas More.

It's there, Sir Thomas.

Is it good?

- Bless you, sir, I don't know.
- Bless you too, Matthew.



- But every man has his price.
- No, no, no.

Master Richard Rich.

- Yes, in money too.
- No, no.

RICH: Or pleasure.
- No.

Titles, women, bricks and mortar.
There's always something.

- Childish.
- Well, in suffering, certainly.

Buy a man with suffering?

No.
Impose suffering and offer him escape.

Ah.

For a moment,
I thought you were being profound.

Not a bit profound.

It then becomes a purely practical question
of how to make him suffer sufficiently.

Mm. And who recommended you
to read Signor Machiavelli, huh?

- Oh. Ha, ha.
- No, no, who? Huh?

- Uh, Master Cromwell.
- Well, he's a very able man.

- So he is.
- Yes, I say he is. He is very able.

- He said that he will do something for me.
- I didn't know you knew him.

Pardon me, Sir Thomas,
but how much do you know about me?

Whatever you've let me know.

I've let you know everything.

Richard, you should go back to Cambridge.
You're deteriorating.

Well, I'm not used. You know how much
I have to show for seven months' work?

- Work?
- Yes, work.

Waiting is work when you wait as I wait.
Hard.

The dean of St. Paul's has a post...

...with a house, a servant
and 50 pounds a year.

- What? What post?
- At the new school.

A teacher?

Oh, a man should go
where he won't be tempted, Richard.

Here. Here, look. See this, Richard?

- Well, it's beautiful.
THOMAS: Italian silver.

- Do you want it?
- What?

No joke. Keep it or sell it.

Why, thank you. Thank you. Of course.

You'll sell it, won't you?

Yes. Yes, I will.

THOMAS:
And buy what?

Some decent clothes.

- Oh.
- I want a gown like yours.

Heh. You will get several gowns for that,
I should think.

It was sent to me a little while ago
by some woman.

Now she's put a lawsuit
into the Court of Requests.

It's a bribe, Richard.

Oh, so you give it away, of course.

THOMAS: Yes.
- To me?

I'm not going to keep it, and you need it.

- Of course, if you feel it's contaminated...
- No, no, no. Heh.

I'll risk it.

But, Richard, this is nothing.

In office, they offer you all sorts of things.
I was once offered a whole village.

Yes, with a manor house,
heaven knows what else.

Why not be a teacher?

You'd be a fine teacher, even a great one.

- And if I was, who would know it?
- You, your pupils, your friends.

God. Not a bad public, that.

- And a quiet life.
- You say that.

Richard, I was commanded into office.

It was inflicted on me.

- Can't you believe that?
- It's hard.

- Be a teacher.
MAN: Come with me. Come with me.

It was magnificent.

Duke of Norfolk, earl marshal of England.

I'll tell you,
that falcon stooped from the clouds.

WOMAN: Meg. Come on, Meg.
NORFOLK: Alice?

ALICE: Here.
- Lady Alice, my master's wife.

- I'll tell you, he stooped from...
- Oh, he didn't.

- Goddamn it, he did.
- Oh, he couldn't.

- He does.
- Not possible.

- Often.
- Never.

Well, damn my soul.
Oh, thank you, Thomas.

THOMAS:
Come down, Meg.

Lady Margaret, my master's daughter.
Very lovely.

Matthew, get about your business.
We'll settle this.

Put it to Thomas. No falcon
could stoop from a cloud, could it?

- I don't know. It does seem unlikely.
- Oh.

No, I have seen falcons
do some very splendid things.

How could he stoop from a cloud? Oh.
He couldn't see where he was going.

Oh. See, Alice,
you're ignorant of the subject.

A real falcon don't care where he's going.

In any case, I'm talking to Meg.

It was the very first cast of the day,
Meg.

Sun was behind us,
and from side to side of the valley like the...

Like a roof of a tent was solid mist...

Ha! Mist.

- Mist is cloud, isn't it?
- No.

The opinion of Aristotle
is that mist is an exhalation of the earth...

...whereas cloud...
- He stooped 500 feet, whoosh, like that.

- Like an act of God, isn't he, Thomas?
- He's tremendous.

NORFOLK: Mm, tremendous.
- Did he kill the heron?

Oh, the heron was clever.

- Ha-ha-ha.
- It was a royal stoop, though.

And if you could ride, Alice,
I'd show you.

I can ride, my lord.

- Alice.
- Oh.

And I'll bet 25... No, 30 shilling...

...I see no falcon stoop from no cloud.

- Oh, ho, ho. Done, done.
- Alice, you can't ride with them.

God's body, old Thomas.

Remember who you are. I'm no city wife.

No, you've just lost yourself 30 shillings,
I should think.

- There are such birds.
NORFOLK: Mm.

- What was that of Aristotle's, Richard?
- Nothing, Sir Thomas. It was out of place.

I never find much use
in Aristotle myself, not practically.

Oh. Great philosopher, of course.
Wonderful mind.

RICH: Exactly, Your Grace.
- Huh?

Oh, Master Rich is newly converted
to the doctrines of Machiavelli.

- Oh, no.
- Well, the Italian. Yuck.

- Nasty book, from what I hear.
- Very practical, Your Grace.

NORFOLK:
You read it? Ha, ha.

Amazing girl, Thomas.

Doctrines of Machiavelli
have been largely misunderstood.

Properly apprehended,
he has no doctrine.

But Master Cromwell
has the sense of it, I believe.

You know Cromwell?

Slightly, Your Grace.

The cardinal's new secretary.

- What? How?
NORFOLK: It's a fact.

- When?
NORFOLK: Two, three days.

Oh, it'll be up quick and down quick
with Master Cromwell.

- Did you know this?
- No.

You like Master Cromwell, Master Rich?

He'll be the only man in London
if he does.

RICH:
I think I do, Lady Alice.

Oh, good.
Well, you don't need my help, then.

Sir Thomas, if only you knew
how much rather I'd have yours than his.

Heh. Speak of the cardinal's secretary,
the cardinal appears.

He wants me. Now.

- This time of the night?
- King's business.

Anne Boleyn's business.

NORFOLK:
More than likely, Alice. More than likely.

- What's the time?
- Eleven o'clock.

- Is there a boat?
- Waiting, sir.

Well, if Your Grace will excuse me.
Richard.

Now you'll go to bed.

And you go to bed.

ALL [IN UNISON]: Dear Lord, give us rest
this night, or if we must be wakeful, cheerful.

Careful only for our souls' salvation.
For Christ's sake. Amen.

And bless our lord, the king.

ALICE & MARGARET [IN UNISON]:
Bless our lord, the king.

ALL:
Amen.

Howard, are you at Richmond?

NORFOLK: Ahem. No, down the river.
- Well, good night, then.

Oh, here's a young man
desperate for employment.

Something in the clerical line.

Hmm. You recommend him?

I don't recommend him. I point him out.

He's at the New Inn.
Can you take him there?

Hmm. All right. Come on.

- Oh, my lord, I'm so glad.
- We'll hawk at Hounslow, Alice.

Wherever you like.

Hey, Alice,
the ground's hard at Hounslow.

NORFOLK: Ha, ha. Aye.
That's where the cardinal crushed his bum.

[ALL LAUGH]

THOMAS: Good night.
NORFOLK: Good night.

Sir Thomas, thank you.

THOMAS:
Be a teacher.

Margaret.

Yes?

Go to bed.

- Hey.
- What?

Oh, it's a gift, Matthew.
Sir Thomas gave it to me.

He gave it to me.

Very nice present, sir.

Yes. Well, good night, Matthew.

Sir Thomas is very fond of you, sir.

Oh, well, here you are, Matthew.

Hmm? Oh, thank you, sir.

That one will come to nothing.

My master, Sir Thomas More,
would give anything to anyone.

Some say that's good,
some say that's bad.

I say he can't help it. And that's bad.

Because someday, someone will ask him
for something he wants to keep.

And he'll be out of practice.

There must be something he wants to keep.
It's only common sense.

Thank you, gentleman.

It's half past 1. Where have you been?

[BELL TOLLS]

One o'clock, Your Grace.
I've been on the river.

Since you seem so violently opposed
to this dispatch for Rome...

...I thought you'd like to look it over.

- Thank you, Your Grace.
- Before it goes.

Your Grace is very kind.

Thank you.

Well, what do you think of it?

It seems very well phrased, Your Grace.

Heh. The devil it does.

And apart from the style, Sir Thomas?

I still think the consul should be told
before this goes to Italy.

Would you tell them?

Yes, I believe you would.

You're a constant regret to me, Thomas.

If you'd only look facts flat on
without that horrible moral squint.

With just a little common sense
you could be a statesman.

- Your Grace flatters me.
- Don't frivol.

Are you going to help me?

If Your Grace will be specific.

[SCOFFS]

You're a plodder.

Take you altogether, Thomas,
your scholarships, your experience...

...what are you?

[FANFARE PLAYING ON TRUMPETS]

WOLSEY:
Come here.

The king.

Where's he been? Do you know?

- I, Your Grace?
- Oh, spare me your discretion.

He's been out playing in the mud again
with the Boleyn wench.

- Indeed.
- Indeed. Indeed.

Are you going to oppose me?

[FANFARE PLAYING ON TRUMPETS]

WOLSEY:
Well, he's gone in.

All right, we'll plod.

The king wants a son.
What are you going to do about it?

I'm very sure the king needs
no advice from me on what to do.

Oh, sit down.

Do you favor a change of dynasty,
Thomas?

You think two Tudors is sufficient?

For God's sake, Your Grace.

Then the king needs a son.

I repeat,
what are you going to do about it?

I pray for it daily.

God's death, he means it.

That thing out there
is at least fertile, Thomas.

- But she's not his wife.
- No.

Catherine's his wife
and she's as barren as a brick.

Are you going to pray for a miracle?

- There are precedents.
- Yes. All right.

Good. Pray.

Pray, by all means.
But in addition to prayer, there is effort.

My effort is to secure a divorce.

Have I your support or have I not?

A dispensation...

...was granted so that the king
might marry Queen Catherine.

Now we are to ask the pope
to dispense with his dispensation.

I don't like plodding, Thomas.

Clearly, all we have to do
is approach His Holiness and ask him.

I think we might perhaps influence
his answer.

Like this.

Like that and in other ways.

- I've already expressed my opinion of this.
- Then good night.

Oh, your conscience is your own affair,
Thomas...

...but you're a statesman.

Do you remember the Yorkist Wars?

Very clearly.

Let him die without an heir,
and we'll have them back again.

Let him die without an heir, and this peace
you think so much of will go out.

Like that.

Very well, then. England needs an heir.

Certain measures...

...perhaps regrettable, perhaps not.

There are many things in the Church
that need reformation, Thomas.

All right, regrettable
but necessary to get us an heir.

Now explain how you,
as councilor of England...

...can obstruct those measures for the sake
of your own private conscience.

Well, I believe when a statesman
forsakes his own private conscience...

...for the sake of his public duty...

...he leads his country
by a short route to chaos.

And then we shall have my prayers
to fall back on.

You'd like that, wouldn't you?

To govern the country by prayer.

- Yes, I would.
- I'd like to be here to see you try it.

Who will? Who will put his neck in this...

...after me? You, Fisher, Suffolk?

- Fisher for me.
- Aye, but for the king.

- How about my secretary, Master Cromwell?
- Cromwell.

- You'd rather do it yourself.
- Me rather than Cromwell.

Then come down to Earth, Thomas.

But until you do, bear in mind,
you have an enemy.

Where, Your Grace?

Here, Thomas.

As Your Grace pleases.

As God wills.

Perhaps, Your Grace.

Thomas More,
you should have been a cleric.

Like yourself, Your Grace.

Ah, Sir Thomas More.

Signor Chapuys.
And you're up very late, Your Excellency.

So is the cardinal, Sir Thomas.

- He sleeps very little.
- You have just left him, I think.

- You are correctly informed, as always.
- Ha, ha.

I will not ask you the subject
of your conversation.

No, of course not.

Sir Thomas, I will be plain with you.

Well, plain so far as diplomacy permits.

My master, Charles, King of Spain...

...feels himself concerned
about his father's sister...

...Queen Catherine,
King Henry's lawful wife.

Now, should she be insulted...

...the king of Spain
would feel himself insulted.

His feeling would be natural.

[CHAPUYS SIGHS]

Sir Thomas, may I ask
if you and the cardinal parted, um...

...well, how shall I say, amicably?
- Amicably, yes.

- But in agreement?
- Amicably.

Ah. Say no more, Sir Thomas.
I understand.

- I hope you do, Your Excellency.
- You are a good man.

I don't see how you deduce that
from what I've just told you.

I understand.

You are a good man.

[SPEAKING IN LATIN]

[SPEAKING IN LATIN]

Boat?

Boatman?

Boatman?

Boatman, please.

Uh, boat here, sir.

Boatman?

Yes, sir.

Boatman.

- Take me home.
- I was just going home myself, sir.

THOMAS:
Then find me another boat.

Bless you, sir, that's all right.
I'll expect you'll make it worth my while.

Boatman, have you a license?

- Bless you, sir. Yes, I've got a license.
- Then you know the fares are fixed.

Oh, why, it's Sir Thomas.

Good evening, Master Cromwell.
You work very late.

I'm on my way to the cardinal.

- You've just left him, I think.
- Yes, I have.

You left him in his laughing mood,
I hope.

On the whole, I would say not.
No, not laughing.

I'm sorry.

I'm one of your multitudinous admirers,
Sir Thomas.

Penny ha'penny to Chelsea, boatman.

- The, uh, coming man, they say, sir.
- Do they?

People like that think the boats stay afloat
on their own, sir.

But they don't. They cost money.

Take anchor rope. You may not believe
for a skiff like mine is a penny a fathom.

And what with a young wife,
as you know, sir...

I'll pay you what I always pay you.

- How is your wife?
- Losing her shape, sir. Losing it fast.

THOMAS: So are we all.
- Oh, yeah, it's common.

- Well, take me home.
- That I will, sir.

From Richmond to Chelsea,
penny ha'penny.

From Chelsea to Richmond,
penny ha'penny.

From Richmond to Chelsea,
it's an easy float downstream.

From Chelsea to Richmond,
it's a hard pull upstream.

And it's a penny ha'penny either way.

Whoever makes the regulations
doesn't row a boat.

[DOOR OPENS]

- Oh!
- Good morning, Matthew.

Good morning, sir.

[THOMAS GRUNTS]

- Lady Alice in bed?
- Yes, sir.

Lady Margaret?

Master Roper is here, sir.

At this hour? Who let him in?

He's a hard man to keep out, sir.

[THOMAS GRUMBLES]

- Where are they?
MARGARET: Here, Father.

Thank you, Matthew.

Good morning, William.

- You're a little early for breakfast.
- I haven't come for breakfast.

Oh?

Will wants to marry me, Father.

- Well, he can't marry you.
ROPER: Sir Thomas.

I'm to be called to the Bar.

Oh, congratulations, Roper.

My family may not be at the palace, sir,
but in the city...

There's nothing wrong with your family,
with your fortune.

There's nothing wrong with you,
except you need a clock.

I can buy a clock, sir.

Roper, the answer is no.
And it will be no so long as you're a heretic.

That's a...

- That's a word I don't like, Sir Thomas.
- Not a likable word, not a likable thing.

The Church is heretical.
Dr. Luther's proved that to my satisfaction.

- Luther is an excommunicate.
- From a heretic church.

Church? Heh.

It's a shop.

Forgiveness by the florin.

Job lots now in Germany. Huh.

And divorces.

- Divorces.
- Oh, half England's buzzing with that.

Heh. Half England.

Inns of Court may be buzzing.
England doesn't buzz so easily.

It will.

And is that a church? Is that a cardinal?

- Is that a pope? Or Antichrist?
MARGARET: Will.

- Look, what I know, I'll say.
- You have no sense of the place.

- He has no sense of the time.
- I have...

Roper, two years ago,
you were a passionate churchman.

Now you're a passionate Lutheran.

We must pray when your head's finished
turning, your face will be to the front again.

- Don't lengthen your prayers with me, sir.
- Oh, one more or less.

- Is your horse here?
- No, I walked.

Well, take a horse from the stables
and get back home.

Go along now.

May I come again?

[THOMAS GRUNTS]

Oh, yes. Soon.

Good night, sir.

Good morning, Will.

[DOOR OPENS THEN CLOSES]

Oh, is that final, Father?

So long as he's a heretic, Meg,
that is absolute.

Oh, he's a nice boy.

- Terribly strong principles, though.
- Tsk.

- I thought I told you to go to bed.
- Yes. Why?

Because I intended you to go to bed.
Oh, you're very pensive.

You're very gay.

Did the cardinal talk about the divorce?

You know, I think we've been
on the wrong track with Will.

- It's no good arguing with a Roper.
- Father, did he?

Old Roper was just the same.
Let him think he's going with the current...

...he'll turn right around and start
swimming in the opposite direction.

What we need is a really substantial attack
on the Church.

MARGARET:
We're going to get it, aren't we?

I won't have you talk treason, Meg.

I won't have you repeat lawyers' gossip
either.

I'm a lawyer myself.
I know what it's worth.

ALICE: Thomas!
- Now look what you've done.

I've just seen that young Roper
on my horse.

THOMAS:
Never mind, dear. He'll bring it back.

He's been to see Margaret.

Oh, why don't you beat that girl?

No, no, she's full of education.

- It's a delicate commodity.
- Humph. The more's a pity.

Yes, but it's in there now
and think what it cost.

[THOMAS SNEEZES]

- Aah. Margaret, get some hot water.
- Oh, I'm sorry, you were wakened, chick.

Thomas, what did Wolsey want?

Young Roper asked me for Margaret.

- Oh, what impudence.
- Yes, wasn't it? Ooh.

Oh, you old fox.
What did Wolsey want, Thomas?

He wanted me to read a dispatch.

- Was that all?
- A Latin dispatch.

ALICE:
Oh, so you don't want to talk about it.

No.

Norfolk was talking of you for chancellor.

Well, he's a dangerous friend, then.

Wolsey's chancellor, God help him.
We don't need another.

I don't need this.

You drink it. Great men get colds
in the head just the same as commoners.

That's dangerous leveling talk, Alice.
Beware of the tower.

- You drink it.
- I will, I will. I'll drink it in bed.

- Would you want to be chancellor?
- No.

That's what I said.
But Norfolk said if Wolsey fell, the king...

If Wolsey fell, the splash would swamp
a few small boats like ours.

There will be no new chancellors
while Wolsey lives.

Oh.

"Whether we follow tradition in ascribing
Wolsey's death to a broken heart...

...or accept a less feeling diagnosis
of pulmonary pneumonia...

...its effective cause
was the king's displeasure.

He died at Leicester
on the 29th of November, 1530...

...while on his way to the tower
under charge of high treason."

England's next lord chancellor
was Sir Thomas More...

... a scholar and,
by popular repute, a saint.

His scholarship is supported
by his writings.

Saintliness is a quality less easy
to establish.

From his willful indifference to realities...

... which were obvious
to quite ordinary contemporaries...

... it seems all too probable that he had it.

CROMWELL:
Rich?

- Oh.
- What brings you to Hampton?

I came with the duke of Norfolk last night,
Master Cromwell. They're hunting again.

Oh, it's a kingly pastime, Master Rich.

I'm glad you found employment.

- You're the duke's secretary, are you not?
- My work is mostly secretarial, yes.

Or is it his librarian you are?

Well, I do look after His Grace's library,
yes.

Oh, well, that's something.

I don't suppose you're bothered much
by His Grace in the library. Hmm?

You know, it's odd
how differently men's fortunes flow.

My late master, the cardinal,
died in disgrace...

...and here I am
in the king's own service...

...and there you are
in a comparative backwater.

And yet the new lord chancellor
is an old friend of yours.

- He isn't really my friend.
- Oh, I thought he was.

- In a sense, he is.
- I always understood he set you up in life.

He recommended me to the duke.

Are you...?

Are you very attached
to His Grace's library?

Or are you free to accept an office?

RICH:
Have you offices in gift?

I am listened to by those that have.

Master Cromwell,
what is it that you do for the king?

[CHUCKLES]

Yes. I should like to know that,
Master Cromwell.

Ah, Signor Chapuys.
You know His Excellency, Rich?

The Spanish ambassador...

...the duke of Norfolk's librarian.

But how should we introduce you, uh,
Master Cromwell, if we had the happiness?

CROMWELL:
Oh, sly.

Do you notice how sly he is, Rich?

Well, I suppose
you would call me the king's ear.

It's a useful organ, the ear.

But in fact,
it's even simpler than that.

When the king wants something done,
I do it.

For example, Master Cromwell?

Well, now, for example,
next week at Deptford...

...we are launching the Great Harry,
1000 tons, four masts, 66 guns...

...an overall length of 175 feet.

It's expected to be very effective.
All this, you probably know.

However, you probably do not know...

...that the king himself
will guide her down the river.

Oh, yes, yes,
the king himself will be her pilot.

And he will have assistants, of course,
but he himself will be her pilot.

He will have a pilot's whistle
upon which he will blow.

And he will wear, in every respect,
a common pilot's uniform...

...except for the material,
which will be cloth of gold.

[CHAPUYS CHUCKLES]

These innocent fancies
require more preparation...

...than you might suppose,
and someone has to do it.

Meantime, I do prepare myself
for higher things. I stock my mind.

Ha-ha-ha.
Alas, Master Cromwell, don't we all?

That ship, for instance,
it has 56 guns, by the way, not 66...

...and only 40 of them are heavy.

I understand that after the launching...

...the king will take his barge down
to Chelsea.

- Yes, yes.
- To?

Sir Thomas More's, yes.

- Will you be there?
- Oh, no. They'll talk about the divorce.

The king will ask him for an answer.

He has given his answer.

- The king will ask for another.
- Sir Thomas is a good son of the Church.

Sir Thomas is a man.

Isn't that his steward?

CROMWELL:
Yes, yes, I believe so.

- Well, good day, Your Excellency.
- Oh, good day, Master Cromwell.

Good day.

- Sir.
- Hmm.

Sir Thomas doesn't talk about it.

He doesn't talk about it to his wife.

This is worth nothing.

But he doesn't talk about it
to Lady Margaret.

That's his daughter, sir.

- So?
- So he's worried, sir.

He's frightened.

He goes white when it's mentioned.

CROMWELL:
All right.

Oh, sir.

CROMWELL:
Are you coming in my direction, Rich?

Oh, no, no, no.

Oh, I think you should, you know.

I can't tell you anything.

- Well?
- Sir Thomas rises at 6...

...and prays for an hour and a half, sir.

Yes?

During Lent,
he lived entirely on bread and water.

Sir Thomas is a true son of the Church.

That he is, sir.

- What did Master Cromwell want?
- Same as you, sir.

Now, no man can serve two masters,
steward.

Indeed no, sir. I serve one.

Right.

Good, simple fellow, here. Take this.

And our Lord watch you.

You too, sir.

That is a very religious man.

Psst. Matthew.

What does Signor Chapuys want?

I have no idea, sir.

What did you tell him?

Sir Thomas says his prayers
and goes to confession, sir.

- Why that?
- That's what he wanted to hear, sir.

Oh, I could have told him
any number of things about Sir Thomas.

He has rheumatism,
prefers red wine to white...

...is easily seasick, afraid of drowning,
but that's what he wanted.

- What did he say?
- Sir Thomas was a good churchman, sir.

- That's true, isn't it?
- I'm only telling you what he said.

Uh, Master Cromwell went that way, sir.

Did I ask you
which way Master Cromwell went?

The great thing is
not to get out of your depth.

What I can tell them
is common knowledge.

But now they paid money for it...

...and everyone wants value
for his money.

They'll make it secret
to prove they've not been bilked.

They'll make a secret of it
by making it dangerous.

[CHUCKLES]

Oh, when I can't touch the bottom,
I'll go deaf, blind and dumb.

And that's more than I can earn
in a fortnight.

Thomas!

Thomas!

Thomas! Aah!

No sign of him, my lord.

[ALICE PANTING]

NORFOLK:
God's body, Alice, he must be found.

Then he must be in the house.

- He's not in the house, Mother.
- He must be in the garden.

Why the garden? Where's your master?

MARGARET: Matthew, where's my father?
ALICE: Where's Sir Thomas?

[FANFARE PLAYING ON TRUMPETS]

- Oh, my God!
- Jesus.

- My lady, the king?
NORFOLK: Yes, fool.

If the king arrives
and the chancellor's not here...

- Sir...
- Huh?

My lady, it's not my fault.

[SPUTTERS]

- The chapel.
- The chapel? Oh, God's blood.

[MATTHEW GRUNTS]

NORFOLK: He takes things too far, Alice.
- Do I not know it?

- It will end badly for him.
- I know that too.

This is not how Wolsey
made himself great.

ALICE: Thomas!
MARGARET: Father!

Lord chancellor, what sort of fooling is this?
Does the king visit you every day?

- No, but I go to vespers almost every day.
- He's here.

- But isn't this visit meant to be a surprise?
- Well, for you, yes, not for him.

MARGARET: Father.
NORFOLK: My lord chancellor...

...do you propose to meet the king
dressed as a parish clerk?

Parish clerk, my lord chancellor.
You dishonor the king and his office.

The service of God
is not a dishonor to any office.

Believe me, my friend, I do not belittle
the honor His Majesty is doing me.

Give him the chain.
For God's sake, give him the chain.

- Oh, no, no.
- Enough's enough!

Haven't you done...?

[WHISTLE BLOWING]

Your Majesty does my house more honor
than I fear my household can bear.

No ceremony, Thomas.
No ceremony. A passing fancy.

I happened to be on the river. Look.

Mud. Ha, ha.

THOMAS: We do that in better style,
Your Grace, when we come by the road.

Ah, the road.
There's the road for me, Thomas, the river.

My river.

By heaven, what an evening, Lady Alice.

I fear we called upon you unexpectedly.

Oh, no, Your Grace... Oh, that is...
Yes, but we are ready.

Ready to entertain you,
that is, Your Grace.

This is my daughter, Margaret, sire.

She has not yet had the honor
to meet Your Grace.

Why, Margaret...

...they told me you were a scholar.

Answer, Margaret.

Among women, I pass for one,
Your Grace.

[SPEAKING IN LATIN]

[SPEAKING IN LATIN]

[SPEAKING IN LATIN]

[THOMAS & MARGARET LAUGHING]

[SPEAKING IN LATIN]

[SPEAKING IN LATIN]

[THOMAS & MARGARET LAUGHING]

Oh.

[GRUNTS]

Take care, Thomas.
There is no end to the making of books...

...and too much reading is a weariness
of the flesh.

Can you dance too?

- Not well, Your Grace.
- Well, I dance superlatively.

That, Margaret, is a dancer's leg.

[BOTH LAUGHING]

HENRY: Hey, Norfolk.
- Sire?

Now, that is a wrestler's leg,
but I can still throw it.

- Shall I show them how?
- Oh, heh.

- Shall I?
MARGARET: No, Your Grace.

You are gentle, that's good.
You shall read to me.

No, no, you shall read to me.

[GROANS]

Lady Alice,
the river has given me an appetite.

Oh, if Your Grace
would share a very simple supper.

It would please me to.

I'm something of a scholar too,
did you know?

Oh, all the world knows
Your Grace's book...

...asserting the seven sacraments
of the Church.

Ah, yes, between ourselves,
your father had a hand in that, eh, Thomas?

Here and there, Your Grace,
in a minor capacity.

He seeks to shame me with his modesty.

On second thought, Lady Alice,
we will follow.

Thomas and I will follow.

Wait.

- Margaret, are you fond of music?
- Yes, Your Grace.

Blow.

Blow.

[BLOWS WHISTLE]

Louder.

[BLOWING WHISTLE]

[BAND PLAYING RENAISSANCE MUSIC]

[ALL LAUGHING]

Oh. Oh.

[ALICE CLAPPING]

I brought them with me.

[ALICE LAUGHS]

HENRY:
Lady Alice, take them in.

Thomas.

Listen to this, Thomas.

- You know it?
- No, Your Grace, l...

Shh.

- I launched a ship today, Thomas.
- You have many accomplishments...

Shh.

It was a great experience.

- A great experience, Thomas.
- Yes, Your Grace.

[HENRY LAUGHING]

- I am a fool.
- How so, Your Grace?

What else but a fool to live in a court
with a licentious mob...

...when I have friends with gardens.

- Your Grace.
- No courtship, no ceremony.

- Be seated, Thomas.
- Yes.

- You are my friend, are you not?
- Your Majesty.

And thank God I have a friend
for my chancellor...

...readier to be friends, I trust,
than he was to be chancellor.

[THOMAS CHUCKLES]

- My own knowledge of my poor abilities.
- I will judge your abilities, Thomas.

Did you know Wolsey named you
for chancellor?

- Wolsey.
- Aye, before he died.

Wolsey named you
and Wolsey was no fool.

He was a statesman
of incomparable abilities, Your Grace.

Then why did he fail me?

Villainy.
I was right to break him, Thomas.

He was all pride.

A proud man, Thomas, and he failed me!

He failed me, Thomas,
in the one thing that matters.

The one thing that matters,
Thomas, then or now.

And why?
Because he wanted to be pope.

Oh, yes,
he wanted to be bishop of Rome.

I will tell you something, Thomas,
and you could check this for yourself.

It was never merry in England
while there were cardinals amongst us.

Remember that, Thomas.

Touching this matter of my divorce...

...have you thought about it
since we last talked?

- Of little else.
- Then you see your way clear to me.

That you should put away Queen Catherine,
sire?

Alas, as I think of it, I see so clearly
that I cannot come with Your Grace...

...my endeavor has been not to think of it
at all.

Then you have not thought enough.
Great God, Thomas.

Why do you hold out against me
in the desire of my heart...

...the very wick of my heart?

Here is my right arm, sire.

Take your dagger there
and saw it from my shoulder.

I will laugh and be thankful if by that
means I can come with Your Grace...

...with a clear conscience.

I know it, Thomas. I know!

I crave pardon if I offend.

Speak, then.

When I took the Great Seal, Your Majesty
promised not to pursue me in this matter.

Ah, so I break my word, Master More!

No, no, I'm joking.

I joke roughly.
I often think I'm a rough fellow.

Yes, a rough young fellow. Be seated.

Ah, that's a rosebay.

We have one just like it at Hampton.
Beautiful.

You must consider, Thomas,
I stand in peril of my soul.

It was no marriage,
she was my brother's wife.

Leviticus. Thou shall not uncover
the nakedness of thy brother's wife.

- Yes, Your Grace, but Deuteronomy...
- Deuteronomy's ambiguous.

I'm not fit to meddle in these matters,
sire.

To me, it seems a question
for the Holy See.

Thomas, does a man need a pope
to tell him when he has sinned?

It was a sin, I admit it, I repent.

And God has punished me.
I have no son.

Son after son she's borne me,
all dead at birth or dead within the month.

I never saw the hand of God
so clear in anything.

Oh, I have a daughter.
She's a good child.

A well-set child.

But I have no son!

It is my bounden duty
to put away the queen!

And all the popes back to Saint Peter
shall not come between me and my duty.

How is it you cannot see?
Everyone else does.

Then why does Your Grace
need my poor support?

Because you are honest.

And what's more to the purpose,
you are known to be honest.

There are those like Norfolk
that follow me because I wear the crown.

Those like Master Cromwell
that follow me...

...because they are jackals with sharp teeth
and I am their lion.

There is a mass that follows me
because it follows anything that moves.

And there is you.

I am sick to think
how much I must displease Your Grace.

No, Thomas.

I respect your sincerity.

Respect?

Oh, man, it's water in the desert.

But come. How did you like our music?
That air they played, it had a certain...

Well, you tell me what you thought.

Could it have been Your Grace's own?

Discovered.

Now I'll never know your true opinion.
And that is irksome, Thomas.

I'll tell Your Grace truly
what I thought of it.

Speak, then.

To me, it seemed delightful.

Thomas,
I chose the right man for chancellor.

I must, in fairness, add my taste
in music is reputedly deplorable.

Your taste in music is excellent.
It exactly coincides with my own.

- Ha, ha.
- Oh, music.

Send them back without me, Thomas.

I will stay here in Chelsea
and make music.

My house is at Your Grace's disposal.

Touching this other business, mark you,
Thomas, I will have no opposition.

- Meaning, Your Grace?
- No opposition, I say.

No opposition.

Your conscience is your own affair
but you are my chancellor.

There, you have my word,
I will leave you out of it...

...but I do not take it kindly
and I will have no opposition.

Oh, I see how it will be.

The bishops will oppose me, the full-fed,
hypocritical princes of the Church.

And as for the pope,
they're all hypocrites.

Mind they don't take you in, Thomas.
Lie low if you will...

...but I will brook no opposition.
No signs, no letters, no pamphlets.

Mark that, Thomas.
No writings against me.

Your Grace is unjust.

I am Your Grace's loyal minister.

If I cannot serve Your Grace
in this great matter of the queen...

I have no queen!

Catherine is not my wife
and no priest can make her so.

And they that say that she is my wife
are not only liars, but traitors.

Mind it, Thomas.

Am I a babbler, Your Grace?

You are stubborn.

Thomas, if you could come with me...

...there is no man I would soonest raise...

...yes, with my own hand.

Your Majesty overwhelms me.

[BELL TOLLING]

What's that?

Eight o'clock.

Oh, lift yourself up, man, lift yourself up.

Have I not promised?

- Shall we eat?
- If Your Grace pleases.

Eight o'clock you said, Thomas?
I was forgetting the tide.

The tide will be changing, Thomas.
I'd better go.

THOMAS: Your Grace, I'm sorry.
- I must catch the tide, Thomas.

Or I won't get back to Richmond till...
Don't come, tell Norfolk.

Ah, Lady Alice, I must go.
I want to catch the tide.

To tell you the truth...

...I quite forgot in your haven here
how time flows past outside.

Affairs call me to court, so I give you
my thanks and say good night!

THOMAS: Good night, Your Grace.
ALICE: Good night.

What's this? You crossed him? Why?

I couldn't find the other way.

- You're too nice altogether, Thomas.
- Woman, mind your house!

I am minding my house.

[MUTTERING]

[DOOR OPENS]

Alice.

What would you have me do?

Be ruled. If you won't rule him, be ruled.

I neither would nor could rule my king.

But there's a little, little space
where I must rule myself.

Very little,
less to him than a tennis court.

Look, it was 8:00.
At 8:00 Lady Anne likes to dance.

Thomas, stay friends with him.

Whatever can be done by smiling,
you may rely on me to do.

- You don't know how to flatter.
- I flatter very well.

My recipe's beginning
to be widely copied.

It's the basic syrup with just a soup?on
of discreet impudence.

- I wish he'd eaten here.
- Heh. So do I.

We shall be living on that simple supper
of yours for a fortnight.

Alice.

Alice.

Set your mind at rest.

This is not the stuff
of which martyrs are made.

- Sir Thomas?
- Oh, Will Roper, what do you want?

It's not convenient.

Well, must everything
be made convenient?

I'm not a convenient man, Meg.
I've got an inconvenient conscience.

How long have you been here?

- Are you in the king's party?
- No, sir. I'm not in the king's party.

It's of that I wish to speak to you.

- My spirit is perturbed.
- Heh, heh.

Is it, Will? Why?

ROPER: I've been offered a seat
in the next parliament.

- Ought I to take it?
- Well, that depends.

Given your views on Church reform...

...I think you could do yourself
a lot of good in the next parliament.

My views on the Church...

I must confess, since last we met,
my views have somewhat modified.

I modify nothing concerning
the body of the Church.

The money changers in the temple
must be scourged...

...but an attack on the Church herself now,
I see behind that an attack on God.

- Oh, Roper...
- The devil's work...

- Roper...
- To be done by the devil's ministers.

Oh, for heaven's sakes,
will you remember my office?

- Oh, if you stand on your office...
- I don't stand on it.

But there are certain things
I may not hear.

ROPER:
Sophistication.

It's what I was told.
The court has corrupted you, Sir Thomas.

You've learned
to study your convenience.

- Ah!
ROPER: You've learned to flatter.

- Alice, you see, I have a reputation for it.
ALICE: God's body.

Your manner. If I were the chancellor,
I'd have you whipped.

Master Rich is here, Sir Thomas.

Ah, Richard.

Good evening, sir.

Lady Alice.

- Lady Margaret.
- Good evening, Master Rich.

You know William Roper, the younger?

Oh, by reputation, of course.

- Good evening, Master...
- Rich.

Huh? Oh.

- You've heard of me?
- Yes.

What connection?
I don't know what you can have heard.

I sense I am not welcome here.

Why, Richard. Have you done something
that should make you not welcome?

Why? Do you suspect me of it?

I shall begin to.

[WHISPERS] Cromwell's asking questions
about you. About you particularly.

He's continually collecting information
about you.

Yes, I know that.

[IN NORMAL VOICE]
And that's one of his sources!

Of course. That's one of my servants.
Thank you, Matthew.

Signor Chapuys,
the Spanish ambassador...

Collects information too.
That's one of his functions.

You look at me
as though I were an enemy.

Why, Richard...

You're shaking.

I'm adrift.

- Help me.
- How?

Employ me.

No.

Employ me!

No.

I would be steadfast.

Richard...

...you couldn't answer for yourself
even so far as tonight.

Uh...

ROPER: Arrest him.
- For what?

- He's dangerous.
- He's a spy.

ALICE:
Yes, arrest him.

- Father, that man's bad.
- Well, there's no law against that.

- There is. God's law.
- God can arrest him.

- Sophistication upon sophistication.
- No, sheer simplicity.

The law, Roper, the law.
I know what's legal, not what's right.

And I'll stick to what's legal.

- Then you set man's law above God's.
THOMAS: No, far below.

But let me draw your attention to a fact:
I am not God.

The currents and eddies
of right and wrong...

...which you find such plain sailing,
I can't navigate. I'm no voyager.

But in the thickets of the law,
oh, there, I'm a forester.

I doubt there's a man alive
who can follow me there, thank God.

While you talk, he's gone.

And go he should, if he were
the devil himself, until he broke the law.

- So now you'd give the devil benefit of law?
THOMAS: Yes.

What would you do? Cut a road
through the law to get after the devil?

I'd cut down every law in England
to do that.

Ah.

And when the last law was down
and the devil turned round on you...

...where would you hide, Roper,
the laws all being flat?

This country's planted thick with laws
from coast to coast...

Man's laws, not God's.

- and if you cut them down...
And you're just the man to do it.

- do you really think you could stand upright
in the winds that would blow then?

Yes, I'd give the devil benefit of law,
for my own safety's sake.

ROPER:
I've long suspected this.

This is the golden calf,
the law's your god.

Heh. Oh, Roper, you are a fool.

God's my god,
but I find him rather too subtle.

I don't know where he is
nor what he wants.

ROPER: My god wants service,
to the end and unremitting, nothing else.

You sure that's God?
Sounds like Moloch.

Well, it may be God.

But whoever hunts for me, God or devil,
will find me hiding in the thickets of the law.

And I'll hide my daughter with me too.

Not hoist her up the mainmast
of your seagoing principles.

They put about too nimbly.

Oh, that was harsh.

- What's happened here?
- He can't abide a fool. Be off.

Hide you?

Hide you from what?

He said nothing about hiding me.

- I'm too fat to hide, I suppose.
- You know he meant us both.

But from what?

I don't know if he knows.

He's not said one simple word
since this divorce came up.

It's not God that's gone subtle.
It's him.

THOMAS:
Roper, that was harsh.

Your principles are excellent,
very best quality.

No, truly, your principles are fine.

Oh, look, we must make a start
on all that food.

Father, can't you be plain with us?

I stand on the wrong side of no statute
and no common law.

I have not disobeyed my sovereign.

I truly believe no man in England
is safer than myself.

I want my supper.

[ALICE SIGHS]

We shall need your assistance, Will.

There's burgundy
if your principles permit.

- They don't.
- Put some water in it.

- Just the water, sir.
- My poor boy.

Why does Cromwell collect information
about you?

I'm a prominent figure.

Somewhere, someone's collecting
information about Cromwell.

Now, no more shirking,
we must make a start.

There's a stuffed swan if you please.

COMMON MAN:
The Loyal Subject.

A pub.

A publican.

Oh, he's a deep one,
that Sir Thomas More. Deep.

It takes a lot of education
to get a man as deep as that.

And a deep nature to begin with.

The likes of me can hardly be expected
to follow the processes of a man like that.

Can we?

Right, ready.

Ready, sir.

Is this a good place for a conspiracy,
innkeeper?

You asked for a private room, sir.

I want somewhere
without too many little dark corners.

I don't understand you, sir.
There's only four corners. And them barrels.

CROMWELL: You don't understand me?
- That's right, sir.

Do you know who I am?

- No, sir.
- Now, don't be too tactful, innkeeper.

I don't understand.

When the likes of you are too tactful...

...the likes of me begin to wonder
who's the fool.

I just don't understand, sir.

Mm. The master statesman of us all.
"I don't understand."

All right.

Get out.

[THUNDER RUMBLING]

[THUNDER CRASHING]

Rich.

Yes, it may be I am a little intoxicated.

But not just with alcohol, with success.

Who has a strong head for success, eh?

None of us gets enough of it.

Except kings, and they're born drunk.

Success?

- What success?
- Guess.

Collector of revenues for York.

Oh, you do keep your ears
close to the ground, don't you?

No.

Well, what, then?

Sir Thomas Paget is retiring.

- Secretary to the council.
- Yes.

It's astonishing, isn't it?

Oh, no, no, no.
I mean, one sees, it's logical.

No ceremony, no courtship. Be seated.

As His Majesty would say...

...there, now,
do you see how I trust you?

I'd never repeat or report
anything like that.

Oh, what kind of thing
would you repeat or report?

Well, nothing said in friendship.

- May I say "friendship"?
- Oh, yes, yes, if you like.

Do you really mean that...

...that you would never repeat
or report anything?

- Yes.
- No, but seriously.

- Why, yes.
- Rich, seriously.

Well, it would depend
what I was offered.

But, now, don't just say it to please me.

It's true.

It would depend what I was offered.

Everyone knows it,
but not many people can say it.

There are some things one wouldn't do
for anything.

Well, that idea's like those lifelines you see
on the embankment...

...comforting, but you don't expect
to have to use them.

- Well, congratulations.
- On what?

I think you'd make a good
collector of revenues for York Diocese.

- Is it in your gift?
- Mm. Will be.

- What do I have to do for it?
- No, nothing.

It's not like that, Rich.

There are no rules
with rewards and penalties...

...so much wickedness purchases
so much worldly prospering.

- Are you sure you're not religious?
- Almost sure.

Right. Get sure.

No, not like that.

It's much more a matter of convenience,
administrative convenience.

Now, normally, when a man wants
to change his woman...

...you let him if it's convenient
and you prevent him if it's not.

But the constant factor
is this element of convenience.

- Whose convenience?
- Oh, ours.

- Uh, but everybody's too.
- Ah.

However, in the present circumstances...

...the man who wants to change his woman
is our sovereign lord, King Harry...

...by grace of God,
the eighth of that name.

Which is a quaint way of saying,
if he wants to change his woman, he will.

So that becomes the constant factor.

And it's our job, as administrators,
to make it as convenient as we can.

I say our job...

...on the assumption that you'll take
this post at York I've offered you?

Yes, yes, yes.

It's a bad sign when people are depressed
by their own good fortune.

- I'm not depressed.
- Mm.

You look depressed.

Oh, I'm lamenting.

- I've lost my innocence.
- Well, you lost that some time ago.

If you've only just noticed,
it can't have been very important to you.

- Ha, ha. Why, that's true, it can't.
- Ha, ha.

We experience a sense of release,
do we, Master Rich?

An unfamiliar freshness in the head,
as of open air?

- Collector of revenues isn't bad.
- Yeah, not bad for a start.

Now, our present lord chancellor.
Tsk, oh.

There's an innocent man.

- The odd thing is he is.
- Oh, yes, I say he is.

The trouble is, his innocence
is tangled in this proposition...

...that you can't change your woman
without a divorce...

...and you can't get a divorce
unless the pope says so.

And from this quite
meaningless circumstance...

...I fear some degree of...

- Administrative inconvenience?
- Just so.

[BOTH CHUCKLE]

CROMWELL:
That goblet he gave you...

...how much was it worth?

Come along, Rich,
he gave you a silver goblet.

How much did you get for it?

- Fifty shillings.
- Could you take me to the shop?

- Yes.
- Where did he get it?

It was a present from a woman.
A litigant, wasn't it?

- Yes.
- Which court?

Chancery?

No, no, no. Now, don't get drunk.

In which court was the litigant's case?

The Court of Requests.

Ah.

There, now.

That wasn't too painful, was it?

No.

That's all there is.

And it'll be easier next time.

What use are they,
these bits of information that you collect?

Oh. None at all, usually.

- But sometimes?
- Well, there are these men.

You know, upright, steadfast men...

...who want themselves to be the constant
factor in the situation, which they can't be.

The situation rolls forward in any case.

So, what happens?

Well, if they've got any sense,
they get out of the way.

What if they haven't got any sense?

What, none at all?

Oh, why.

Then they're only fit for heaven.

But Sir Thomas has plenty of sense.

He could be frightened.

Don't forget he's innocent,
Master Cromwell.

Yes, well...

I think we'll finish there for tonight.

After all, he is the lord chancellor.

You wouldn't find him easy to frighten.

You've mistaken your man this time.
He doesn't know how to be frightened.

He doesn't know how to be frightened?

Why, then he never put his hand
in a candle, did he?

Huh?

[SCREAMING]

You enjoyed that.

You enjoyed it.

[THUNDER CRASHING]

The first act ended
early in the year 1530...

...and it's now the middle of May 1532.

Two years. Thank you.

During that time,
water's flowed under the bridge...

...and one of the things that floated
along on it is the Church of England.

"That finest flower of our island genius
for compromise...

...that system, peculiar to these shores...

...which deflects the torrents of religious
passion down the canals of moderation."

That's very well put.

"This great effect was achieved
not by bloodshed...

...but by act of parliament.

Only an unhappy few set themselves
against the current of their times...

...and in so doing to court disaster.

For we are dealing
with an age less fastidious than our own.

Imprisonment without trial...

... and even examination under torture
were common practice."

MATTHEW: Hampton Court, Sir Thomas?
THOMAS: Yes, Matthew.

- Must you wear those clothes, Will?
- Yes, I must.

THOMAS:
Why?

The time has come for decent men
to declare their allegiance.

Hmm. What allegiance
are those to express?

My allegiance to the Church.

- Well, you look like a Spaniard.
ROPER: All credit to Spain, then.

Heh, heh.
You wouldn't last six months in Spain.

You'd have been burned alive in Spain
during your heretic period.

I suppose you have the right
to remind me of it.

That chain of office you wear
is a degradation.

It's no degradation.
Great men have worn this.

I've told you before...

...if the English bishops submit
to the king today, I'll take it off.

- When do you expect to hear from them?
THOMAS: About now.

I was promised an immediate message.

I don't see what difference
the bishops can make.

The Church is already a wing of the palace,
is it not?

The king is already its supreme head.

- Is he not?
- No.

- You are denying the Act of Supremacy.
THOMAS: No, I'm not.

- The act states that the king...
- Is supreme head of the Church in England.

So far as the law of God allows.

How far the law of God does allow it...

...remains a matter of opinion,
since the act doesn't state it.

A legal quibble.

THOMAS:
Call it what you like, it's there, thank God.

Very well. In your opinion,
how far does the law of God allow this?

I'll keep my opinion to myself, Will.

- Yes, I'll tell you mine.
- Don't.

If it's what I think it is, it's high treason,
Roper.

Will you remember you've a wife now?
And may have children.

MARGARET: Why must he remember that?
- To keep myself discreet.

Oh. Then I'd rather you forgot it.

- You are both idiots or children.
CHAPUYS: Or saints.

Oh, Father, Signor Chapuys
has come to see you.

Your Excellency.

Or saints, my lord.

Now, that's it, of course, saints.

Turn your head a bit, Roper.

Yes, I think I do detect a faint radiance.
Will, you should have told us.

[CHAPUYS LAUGHS]

Oh, come, come, my lord.

You, too, at this time, are not free
from some suspicion of saintliness.

I don't like the sound of that,
Your Excellency.

What do you require of me?

Well, may not I come simply to pay
my respects to the English Socrates?

I've no taste for hemlock,
if that's what you mean.

God forbid.

Must I require anything?

After all, we are brothers in Christ,
you and I.

Along with the rest of humanity.

You live in Cheapside, signor?

To meet your brother in Christ, you've only to
open a window and empty your chamber pot.

There was no need
to come all the way to Chelsea.

[CHAPUYS CHUCKLES]

William, the Spanish ambassador
is here on business.

Would you mind?

Oh, no. I protest.

[SPEAKING IN LATIN]

[ROPER SPEAKING IN LATIN]

[THOMAS SIGHS]

My lord, I cannot believe...

...that you allow yourself to be associated
with the recent actions of King Henry...

...in respect of Queen Catherine.

Subjects are associated with the actions
of kings willy-nilly.

My lord chancellor
is not an ordinary subject...

...he bears responsibility
for what is done.

Has it occurred to you
that what's been done...

...might've been worse
with a different chancellor?

Ah, believe me, Sir Thomas...

...your influence in policies
has been much searched for...

...and praised where it has been found...

...but there comes a point,
does there not?

"Comes a point"?

When the sufferings
of one unfortunate lady...

...swell to an open attack on the religion
of an entire country, that point is...

What do you want?

Rumor has it
that if the bishops assemble today...

...submit to the king, you will resign.

You would approve of that.

Oh, approve, applaud, admire.

- Why?
- Why? Because it would show that one man...

Yes, that man known to be temperate.

- is unable to go any further
with this wickedness.

Heh. And that man
known to be chancellor of England.

- Oh, believe me, my lord, such a signal...
- Signal?

Yes, my lord, a signal
that will be seen and understood.

- Yeah, by whom?
- By half your fellow countrymen.

[THOMAS SCOFFS]

Sir Thomas, I have just returned
from Yorkshire and Northumberland...

...where I have made a tour.

Have you indeed?

Things are very different up there,
my lord.

- There, they are ready.
- For what?

- Resistance.
ROPER: Sir Thomas.

Sir. His Grace, the duke of Norfolk.

- It's all over, sir.
- All right, Roper. I'll do this.

Thomas...

I was on the point of leaving,
Your Grace.

Just a personal call.

I've been trying to borrow a book,
but without success.

If you're sure that you have no copy,
my lord, I'll take my leave.

Gentlemen.

Ah, ladies.

ROPER: Sir Thomas.
NORFOLK: I'll do it, Roper.

Well, the bishops have knuckled under,
Thomas.

They're to pay a fine...

...of a hundred thousand pounds
to the crown.

And we've severed the connection
with Rome.

The connection with Rome.
That... That's nice.

[THOMAS SIGHS]

Did no one resist?

NORFOLK:
Bishop Fisher.

Lovely man.

- Your Grace, this is quite certain, is it?
NORFOLK: Yes.

- Funny company, Thomas.
- Hmm?

The dago.

It's quite unintentional.
He doesn't mean to be funny.

[SIGHS]

Oh, fo...

[THOMAS GRUNTS]

Help me with this, would you?

Not I.

Shall I, sir?

No, thank you, Will. I can manage it.

Alice.

ALICE:
Hell's fire, no.

Master More, you're taken
for a wise man.

See, is this your wisdom,
to betray your ability...

...forget your station
and your duty to your kin...

...and behave like a printed book?

Margaret, will you?

If you want.

Ah.

There's my clever girl.

[NORFOLK SIGHS]

Well, Thomas, why?

Make me understand,
because I tell you now...

...from where I stand,
this looks like cowardice.

No.

This isn't reformation,
this is war against the Church.

Our king, Norfolk,
has declared war on the pope.

The pope will not declare
that our queen is not his wife.

- And is she?
- I'll answer that question for one man only.

The king. Aye, and that in private too.

- And you're cautious.
- Yes, cautious. I'm not one of your hawks.

Right, we're at war with the pope.

- Pope's a prince, isn't he?
- He is.

- And a bad one.
- Bad enough.

But the theory is,
he's also the vicar of God...

...the descendent of St. Peter,
our only link with Christ.

[NORFOLK SIGHS]

Does this make sense?

You'll forfeit all you've got...

...which includes the respect
of your country, for a theory.

It's a theory, yes.
You can't see it, you can't touch it.

But what matters to me
is I believe it to be true.

Or rather not that I believe it,
but that I believe it.

- I trust I make myself obscure.
NORFOLK: Ah, perfectly.

Good. Obscurity is what I have need of.

Thomas, this isn't Spain, you know.

[CHUCKLES]

Have I your word that what we say here...

...is between us and has no existence
beyond these walls?

Very well.

And if the king should command you
to repeat what I say?

Oh. I keep my word to you.

Then what becomes of your oath
of obedience to the king?

- You lay traps for me.
- No, I show you the times.

Why do you insult me
with your lawyer's tricks?

- Because I am afraid.
ALICE: Oh.

Then here's your answer.

The king accepts your resignation
very sadly.

He is mindful of your goodness
and past loyalty...

...and in any matter concerning your honor
or welfare...

...he will be your good lord.

So much for your fear.

You will convey my humble gratitude.

I will.

Good day, Lady Alice.

I'd rather deal with you
than your husband.

Oh, Howard.

Signor Chapuys told me
he's made a tour of the north country.

- He thinks we shall have trouble there.
- What sort of trouble?

The Church... The old Church
is very strong up there.

- Oh.
- I'm serious, Howard.

Keep a close eye on the Scotch border
this next year.

Remember the French alliance.

We will. We do.

And as for the dago, Thomas,
it may perhaps relieve your mind to know...

...that one of Secretary Cromwell's agents
made the tour with him.

Oh, well, of course,
if Master Cromwell has matters in hand...

He has, but thanks for the information.

It's good to know
you still have some vestige of patriotism.

THOMAS:
Norfolk.

[DOOR OPENS THEN CLOSES]

So there's the end of you.

What will you do now?

Sit by the fire and poke in the ashes?

THOMAS: Well, not at all, Alice.
I expect I'll write a bit.

Yes, I'll write, I'll read, I'll think.

I think I'll learn to fish.

I'll play with my grandchildren
when son Roper's done his duty.

Alice, shall I teach you to read?

No, by God!

- Sir, you've made a noble gesture.
- Gesture?

My God, I hope it's understood
I make no gesture.

Alice, you don't think I'd do this to you
for a gesture...

...but that's a gesture.

That's a gesture.

I'm no street acrobat to make gestures.
I'm practical.

ROPER:
Sir, you belittle yourself.

- This wasn't practical, this was moral.
- Oh, now I understand you, Will.

Morality is not practical.

Morality is a gesture...

...a complicated gesture
learned from books.

That's what you say, isn't it, Alice?
And you too, Meg.

It is, for most of us, Father.

Oh, if you're going to plead humility...

...you're cruel.

I have a cruel family.

Yes, you can fit the cap on anyone
you want, I know that well enough.

If there's cruelty in this house,
I know where to look.

- No, Mother.
- Oh.

You'd walk on the bottom of the sea
and think yourself a crab if he suggested it.

And you, you'd dance him to the tower.

You'd dance him to the block.

Like David with his harp.

[ALICE SOBBING]

Scattering hymn books in his path.

Oh, you poor, silly man.

Think they're going to leave you here
to learn to fish?

If we govern our tongues, they will.
Now, listen.

I have something to say about that.

I have resigned, that's all.

I've made no statement on the king's
supremacy of his new English church...

...the divorce he'll grant himself,
the marriage he'll make.

- Have you heard me make a statement?
- No.

And if I'm going to lose my rank
and fall to housekeeping...

...I want to know the reason,
so make a statement now.

No.

Alice, it's a point of law.

Accept it from me, Alice, that in silence
lies my safety under the law...

...but my silence must be absolute,
it must extend to you.

In short, you don't trust us.

A man would need to be half-witted
not to trust you.

Look, I'm the lord chief justice...

No. No, I'm Cromwell.
I'm the king's head jailer.

I take your hand
and I clamp it on the Bible...

...on the blessed cross, and I say to you:

"Woman, has your husband
made a statement on these matters?"

Now, on peril of your soul, remember...

...what's your answer?

- No.
- And so it must remain.

Aw.

It's only a lifeline.

We shan't have to use it,
but it's comforting to have.

No, no, when they find I'm silent...

...they'll ask nothing better than
to leave me silent.

Sir, the household's in the kitchen.
They want to know what's happened.

Oh, yes. We must speak to them.

They'll mostly have to go, my dear,
I'm afraid...

...but not before
we've found them places.

We can't find places for them all.

Yes, we can.

Yes, we can.

You go and tell them so. Now.

God's death, it comes on us quickly.

Well, Matthew. What about you?

It'll be a smaller household now
and for you, I'm afraid, a smaller wage.

Will you stay?

Well, I don't see how I could, sir.

Well, you're a single man.

Yes, I know, sir, but I've got my...

Oh, you're quite right, why should you?

[THOMAS CHUCKLES]

Oh, I shall miss you, Matthew.

No.

You never had much time for me, sir.

You see through me, sir, I know that.

I shall miss you, Matthew.

I shall miss you.

Damn me, isn't that them all over?

Miss? He? Miss? Miss me?

What's in me for him to miss?

Oh.

[CHUCKLING]

I nearly fell for it. "Matthew, will you kindly
take a cut in your wages?"

"No, Sir Thomas, I will not."
That's it, that's all of it.

All right, so he's down on his luck.
I'm sorry.

I don't mind saying,
"I'm sorry. Bad luck."

If I had any luck to spare,
he could have some.

I wish we all had good luck,
all the time.

I wish we had wings.

I wish rainwater was beer, but it isn't.

And with not having wings
but walking on two flat feet...

...and good luck and bad luck
being exactly even stevens...

...and rain being water...

...don't you complicate the job
by putting things in me for me to miss.

I did, you know. I nearly fell for it.

But he makes no noise, master secretary.

He's silent, why not leave him silent?

Not being a man of letters, Your Grace...

...you perhaps don't realize
the extent of his reputation.

This silence of his
is bellowing up and down Europe.

Now, may I recapitulate?

He reported the ambassador's conversation
to you.

He informed on the ambassador's tour
of the north country...

...and warned of a possible rebellion there.
- He did.

We may say, then, that he showed himself
hostile to the hopes of Spain.

That's what I say.

Bear with me, Your Grace.

If he opposes Spain, he supports us.

Well, surely that follows?
Or do you see some third alternative?

That's the lineup, all right.
And I may say, Thomas More...

Thomas More will line up
on the right side.

Yes. Crank he may be, traitor he is not.

And with a little pressure,
he can be got to say so.

That's all we need. A brief declaration
of loyalty to the present administration.

Well, I still say let sleeping dogs lie.

The king does not agree with you.

And what sort of pressure
do you think you can bring to bear?

I have evidence that Sir Thomas,
during his period of judicature...

...accepted bribes.

What?

Goddamn it, he's the only judge
since Cato didn't accept bribes.

When was there last a chancellor...

...whose possessions
after three years in office...

...totaled 100 pounds and a gold chain?

[BELL RINGING]

Richard!

It is, as you imply, a common practice...

...but a practice may be common
and remain an offense.

And this offense
could send a man to the tower.

- I don't believe it.
- I believe you know His Grace.

Indeed, yes, we're old friends.

Ah, used to look after my books
or something, didn't you?

Come here.

This woman's name is Catherine Anger.

She comes from Lincoln.

And she put a case
in the Court of Requests...

A property case, it was.

Be quiet. A property case
in the Court of Requests in April 1526.

And got a wicked false judgment.

Got an impeccably correct judgment
from our friend Sir Thomas.

No, sir, it was not.

We are not concerned with the judgment
but with the gift you gave to the judge.

Tell the gentleman about that.

The judgment, for what it was worth,
was the correct one.

I sent him a cup.

An Italian silver cup that I bought in Lincoln
for a hundred shillings.

Did Sir Thomas accept this cup?

Well, I sent it.

He did accept it, we can corroborate that.
You may go.

CATHERINE: I wanted...
- Go!

Is that your witness?

No, by an odd coincidence...

...the cup later came into the hands
of Master Rich here.

NORFOLK: How?
- He gave it to me.

Can you corroborate that?

I have a fellow outside who can.

He was More's steward at that time.
Shall I call him?

Don't bother, I know him.

When did Thomas give you this thing?

I don't exactly remember.

Well, make an effort.

Wait. I can tell you. I can tell you.

It was that spring. It was that evening
that we were there together.

You had a cup with you when we left.
Was this it?

- It may have been.
- Did he often give you cups?

I don't suppose so, Your Grace.

This was it, then.

Yes.

And it was April. It was the April of '26...

...the very month that cow
first put her case before him.

In other words, the moment he knew
it was a bribe, he got rid of it.

The facts will bear that interpretation,
I suppose.

This is a horse that won't run,
master secretary.

Just a trial canter, Your Grace.
We'll find something better.

NORFOLK:
Now, look here, Cromwell.

I want no part of this.

You have no choice.

What's that you say?

The king particularly wishes you
to be active in this matter.

Well, he hasn't told me that.

Oh, indeed? He told me.

But why?

Well, we feel that since you are known
to be a friend of More's...

...your participation will show that there is
nothing in the nature of a persecution...

...but only the strict processes
of the law.

As indeed you've just demonstrated.

Now, I'll tell the king
of your loyalty to your friend.

If you like, I'll tell him
you want no part in it too.

Are you threatening me, Cromwell?

My dear Norfolk, this isn't Spain.

[NORFOLK SCOFFS]

Secretary, I'm sorry.

I'd forgotten he was there that night.

You must try to remember these things.

Yes, secretary, I'm sincerely sorry.

Not such a fool as he looks, the duke.

That would hardly be possible, secretary.

Sir Thomas is going to be a slippery fish,
Richard.

- We need a net with a finer mesh.
- Yes, secretary?

We'll weave one for him, shall we,
you and I?

- I'm only anxious to do what is correct.
- Oh, yes, Richard, I know.

You're absolutely right,
it must be done by law.

It's just a matter of finding the right law.

Or making one.

Bring my papers, will you?

Could we have a word now, sir?

We don't require you after all, Matthew.

No, sir, but about the...

Oh, yes. Well, I begin to need a steward,
certainly.

My household is expanding.

But as I remember, Matthew...

...your attitude to me
was sometimes disrespectful.

Oh, I must contradict you there, sir.
That's your imagination, sir.

See, in those days, sir,
you still had your way to make.

And a gentleman in that position
often imagines things.

And then when he's reached
his proper level, he stops thinking about it.

I don't think you find people disrespectful
nowadays, do you, sir?

There may be something in that.

Bring my papers.

- I'll permit no breath of insolence.
- I should hope not, sir.

Oh, I can manage this one.
He's just my size.

ALICE:
My husband is coming down, Excellency.

Oh, thank you, madam.

I beg you to be gone before he does.

Madam, I have a royal commission
to perform.

Aye. So you said.

Sheer barbarity, commend me
to a good-hearted Englishwoman.

[SHIVERS]

- It's very cold, Excellency.
CHAPUYS: Yes.

I remember when these rooms
were warm enough.

- Thus it is to incur the enmity of a king.
- A heretic king.

- Ah, Your Excellency.
- Ah, Sir Thomas.

Is this another personal visit
or is it official?

It falls between the two, Sir Thomas.

- Mm. Official, then.
- No, I bring a personal letter for you.

THOMAS: Oh, from whom?
- My master, King Charles.

Well, you will take it?

I will not lay a finger on it.

But it is in no way an affair of state.

It expresses my master's admiration...

...for the stand you have taken over
the so-called divorce of Queen Catherine.

I have taken no stand.

Uh, well, no, Sir Thomas,
but your views are well known.

My views are much guessed at. Heh.

Come, sir, could you undertake
to convince King Harry...

...this letter is in no way
an affair of state?

Oh, believe me, Sir Thomas,
I have taken every precaution.

I've come here very much incognito.
Very nearly in disguise.

You misunderstand me, sir.

It's not your precaution but my duty...

...which would be to take that letter
immediately to the king.

But, Sir Thomas, your views...

Are well known, you say.

- It seems my loyalty to my king is less so.
MARGARET: Look, Father.

Will's getting more.

THOMAS:
Oh, well done. Well done.

Oh, it's dry too.

It's bracken, Your Excellency. We burn it.

- Alice, look at this.
- Aye.

Your Excellency, may I?

This is a letter from the king of Spain.

I want you to see it's not been opened.
I've declined it.

You see the seal has not been broken?

I wish I could ask you to stay, Excellency.
The bracken fire's a luxury.

One I must forego. Come.

May I say, I am sure my master's admiration
will not be diminished.

- Luxury.
- Well, it is a luxury while it lasts.

I'm afraid there's not much sport
in it for you, is there?

Alice, that money from the bishops.
I can't take it.

I wish...
Heavens, how I wish I could, but I can't.

I didn't think you would.

Well, there are reasons, Alice.

We couldn't come so deep
into your confidence...

...as to know these reasons...

...why a man in poverty
can't take 4000 pounds?

This isn't poverty.

Know what we're going to eat tonight?

THOMAS: Yes, parsnips.
- Yes, parsnips and stinking mutton.

For a knight's lady.

But at the worst, we could be beggars...

...and still keep company
and be merry together.

- Heh, heh. Merry.
- Aye, merry.

I think you should take that money.

Don't you see? If I'm paid by the Church
for my writings...

ALICE:
This had nothing to do with your writings.

This was charity, pure and simple.

Collected from the clergy high and low.

It would appear as payment.

You're not a man
who deals with appearances.

Oh, am I not, though?

If the king takes this any further
with me or with the Church...

...it will be bad if I even appear
to have been in the pay of the Church.

- Bad?
- If you will have it, dangerous.

MARGARET: Don't write against the king.
- I write. That's enough in times like these.

ALICE:
But you said there was no danger.

I don't think there is.
And I don't want there to be.

ROPER:
Sir Thomas.

There's a gentleman
from Hampton Court.

You are to go before Secretary Cromwell
to answer certain charges.

That's all right. We expected that.

When?

- Now.
ALICE: Oh.

Alice, that means nothing,
that's just technique.

Well...

...I suppose now means now.

Can I come with you?

No, I'll be back for supper.

I'll bring Cromwell back for supper,
shall I?

Ha-ha-ha. That would serve him right.

Oh, Father, don't be witty.

Why not? Wit's what's in question.

While we're witty,
the devil may enter us unawares.

Oh, he's not the devil, son Roper,
he's a lawyer.

And my case is watertight.

- They say he's a very penetrating lawyer.
- What, Cromwell? Heh.

He's a pragmatist, a mere mechanic.

- Sir Thomas.
- Richard.

I'm sorry to invite you here
at such short notice, Sir Thomas.

It's good of you to come.
Would you take a seat?

- I believe you know Master Rich?
THOMAS: Indeed, yes, we're old friends.

That's a nice gown you have, Richard.

Master Rich will make a record
of our conversation.

- Good of you to tell me, master secretary.
- Believe me, Sir Thomas.

Uh, no, that's asking too much,
but let me tell you all the same...

...you have no more sincere admirer
than myself.

Not yet, Rich. Not yet.

If I might hear the charges?

Charges?

THOMAS:
I understand there are certain charges.

Some ambiguities of behavior
I should like to clarify, hardly charges.

Make a note of that,
will you, Master Rich?

There are no charges.

Sir Thomas.
Sir Thomas, you know, it amazes me...

...that you, who were once so effective
in the world...

...and are now so much retired from it...

...should be opposing yourself
against the whole movement of the times.

It amazes me too.

The king is not pleased with you.

- I am grieved.
CROMWELL: Do you know that even now...

...if you were able to bring yourself to agree
with the bishops and the universities...

...and the parliament of this realm...

...there is no honor that the king
would be likely to deny you?

I am well acquainted
with His Grace's generosity.

Very well.

You have heard
of the so-called Holy Maid of Kent...

...who was executed
for prophesying against the king?

Yes, I knew the poor woman.

You sympathize with her?

She was ignorant and misguided.
She was a bit mad, I think.

And she has paid for her folly.
Naturally, I sympathize with her.

You admit meeting her.

You met her...

...and yet you did not warn His Majesty
of her treason.

- How was that?
- She spoke no treason.

Our conversation was not political.

Oh, heh.
My dear More, the woman was notorious.

- Do you expect me to believe that?
- Happily, there are witnesses.

You have been cautious.

I like to keep my affairs regular.

Sir Thomas,
there is a more serious charge...

- Charge?
- For want of a better word.

In the May of 1526,
the king published a book.

A theological work.

It was entitled
A Defense of the Seven Sacraments.

Yes. For which he was named
the Defender of the Faith...

...by His Holiness, the pope.

By the bishop of Rome.
Or do you insist on pope?

No, bishop of Rome if you like.
It doesn't alter his authority.

Thank you.
You come to the point very readily.

What is that authority? With regard
to the Church in other parts of Europe...

...for example, the Church in England.

What exactly
is the Bishop of Rome's authority?

You will find it very ably set forth
and defended...

...master secretary, in the king's book.

The book published under the king's name
would be more accurate.

- You wrote this book.
- I wrote no part of it.

Heh, heh. I do not mean
that you actually held the pen.

I merely answered
to the best of my ability...

...certain questions on canon law
which His Majesty put to me.

As I was bound to do.

Do you deny that you instigated it?

It was, from first to last,
the king's own project.

- This is trivial, Master Cromwell.
- Oh, I should not think so...

...if I were in your place.

THOMAS: Only two people know the truth
of the matter: myself and the king.

Whatever he may have said,
he will not give evidence...

...to support this accusation.
- Why not?

Because evidence is given on oath,
and he will not perjure himself.

If you don't know that,
you don't yet know him.

Sir Thomas More, is there anything
that you wish to say to me...

...concerning the king's marriage
with Queen Anne?

I understood
I was not to be asked that again.

Evidently, you understood wrongly.
These charges...

Are terrors for children, Master Cromwell,
not me.

"I charge you with great ingratitude.

I remind you of the many benefits
graciously given and ill-received.

I tell you that no king of England ever had
nor could have so villainous a servant...

...nor so traitorous a subject
as yourself."

These are not my words, Sir Thomas,
they are the king's.

Yes.

I recognize the style.

So I am brought here at last.

Brought? You brought yourself
to where you are now.

Yes.

Still, in another sense, I was brought.

Oh, yes.

You may go home now.

For the present.

[CROMWELL SIGHS]

I don't like him as well as I did.

There's a man who raises a gale
and won't come out of harbor.

Do you still think
that you can frighten him?

Oh, yes.

- What will you do now, then?
- Be quiet, Rich.

We'll do whatever's necessary.

The king is a man of conscience.
He wants either Sir Thomas More...

...to bless his marriage
or Sir Thomas More destroyed.

Either will do.

- They seem odd alternatives, secretary.
- Yeah, do they?

That's because you are not a man
of conscience.

If the king destroys a man,
that is proof to the king...

...that it must have been a bad man.

The kind of man
a man of conscience ought to destroy.

And of course,
a bad man's blessing is not worth having.

So either will do.

I see.

Oh, there's no going back, Rich.

I find we've made ourselves
the keepers of this conscience.

And it's ravenous.

THOMAS:
Boat! Boat!

Boat!

Boatman! Boat...

Boatman!

It can't...

It can't be as bad as that.

Boatman.

Howard, I can't get home.
They won't bring me a boat.

NORFOLK:
Do you blame them?

- It is as bad as that, then?
NORFOLK: It's every bit as bad as that.

It's good of you to be seen with me.

- I followed you.
- Were you followed?

NORFOLK:
Probably. So listen to what I have to say.

You're behaving like a fool.
You're behaving like a crank.

- You're not behaving like a gentleman.
- Pfft.

I know that means nothing to you,
but what about your friends?

- What about them?
- Goddamn it, you're dangerous to know.

Then don't know me.

[NORFOLK SIGHS]

Look, there's one thing further.

You must have realized by now
that there's a policy in regards to you.

- Mm-hm.
- The king is using me in it.

Oh, that's clever. Heh.

That's Cromwell.

You're between the upper
and the nether millstones.

I am.

- Howard, you must cease to know me.
- I do know you.

- No, I mean...
- I wish to God I didn't, but I do.

- I mean, as a friend.
- You are my friend.

I can't relieve you of your obedience
to the king, Howard.

You must relieve yourself
of our friendship.

No one's safe now. You have a son.

You might just as well advise a man
to change the color of his hair.

I'm fond of you, and there it is.
You're fond of me, and there it is.

- What's to be done, then?
- Give in.

I can't give in.

You might as well advise a man
to change the color of his eyes.

I can't, Howard.
Our friendship's more mutable than that.

Oh, so the one fixed point
in a world of changing friendships...

...is that Thomas More will not give in.

For me, it has to be, for that's myself.

Affection runs as deep in me as you,
I think...

...but only God is love right through,
Howard. That's myself.

And who are you? Heh.

Goddamn it, man, it's disproportionate.

We're supposed to be the arrogant ones,
the proud, splenetic ones...

...and we've all given in.
Why must you stand out?

You'll break my heart.

Let's do it now, Howard.

We'll part as friends
and meet as strangers.

NORFOLK:
Daft, Thomas.

Why do you want to take your friendship
from me? For friendship's sake?

You say we'll meet as strangers...

...and every word you say
confirms our friendship.

That can be remedied.

Ah, Norfolk, you are a fool.

You can't place a quarrel,
you haven't the style.

No, no, hear me out.

You and your class have given in,
as you rightly call it.

The religion of this country means nothing
to you one way or the other.

Well, that's a foolish saying for a start.

- The nobility of England...
- The nobility of England, my lord...

...would have snored
through the Sermon on the Mount.

Yet you labor like saints
over some rat-dog's pedigree.

What's the name
of those distorted creatures...

...you're all breeding at the moment?
- An artificial quarrel's not a quarrel.

Don't deceive yourself, my lord.
We've had a quarrel since the day we met.

You can be cruel when you have a mind
to be, but I've always known that.

Hey, what do you call those dogs, though?
Marsh mastiffs?

- Bog beagles?
- Water spaniels.

THOMAS: What would you do with
a water spaniel that was afraid of water?

You'd drown it.

Well, as a spaniel is to water,
so is a man to his own self.

I will not give in, because I oppose it,
I do.

Not my pride, not my spleen,
nor any other of my appetites, but I do, I!

MARGARET [IN DISTANCE]:
Father?

Is there no single sinew
in the midst of this...

...that serves no appetite of Norfolk's
but is just Norfolk?

There is.
Give that some exercise, my lord.

MARGARET:
Father?

Because as you stand, you'll go
before your maker in a very ill condition.

- Steady, Thomas.
THOMAS: You'll have to think...

...somewhere back along your pedigree,
a bitch got over the wall.

[THOMAS GRUNTS]

Father, what was that?

That was Norfolk.

Do you know, sir? Have you heard?

- What?
- Have you told him?

- We've been looking for you.
- There's to be a new act through parliament.

- Act?
- Yes, sir. About the marriage.

Father, by this act,
they're going to administer an oath.

An oath.

- On what compulsion?
ROPER: It's expected to be treason.

- What is the oath?
- About the marriage.

What is the wording?

We don't need to know.
We know what it'll mean.

It'll mean what the words say.
An oath is made of words.

It may be possible to take it or to avoid it.
If I can, I will.

- Do we have a copy?
MARGARET: There's one coming.

Well, then let's get... Oh, I've no boat.

MARGARET:
Oh, Father, he hit you.

Yes, I spoke slightingly of water spaniels.

- Come on now.
ROPER: But, sir.

Will, you listen.

God made the angels
to show him splendor.

But man, he made to serve him wittily,
in the tangle of his mind.

Our natural business lies in escaping,
so let's get home and study this bill.

Now look.

Jailer.

It's a job. The pay scale being what it is,
they get a rather common type of man...

...into the prison service,
but it's a job like any other job.

Bit nearer the knuckle than most,
perhaps...

...but it's a job.

I don't suppose anyone enjoyed it
any more than he did.

Well, not much more.

They'd have let him out if they could,
but for various reasons, they can't.

I'd have let him out if I could, but I can't.

Not without taking up residence
in there myself.

And as he's in there already,
what's the point?

As the old adage says,
"Better a live rat than a dead lion."

Sir Thomas, wake up.

[THOMAS GRUNTING]

Oh, who? What?

Oh, not again.

JAILER: Sorry, sir.
- Oh.

- What time is it?
JAILER: One o'clock, sir.

[GRUNTS]

This is iniquitous.

JAILER:
Sir.

- Who's there?
JAILER: The secretary, the duke...

...and the archbishop.
- Oh, I'm flattered.

A seat for the prisoner.

CROMWELL: Do the witnesses attend?
- Secretary.

CROMWELL:
All right, stand together.

This is the seventh commission to inquire
into the case of Sir Thomas More...

...appointed by His Majesty's council.
You have you anything to say?

- No.
- Okay, secretary.

Sir Thomas...

...you have seen this document before?

- Many times.
- It is the Act of Succession.

These are the names
of those who have sworn to it.

I have, as you say, seen it before.

- Will you swear to it?
- No.

NORFOLK:
Thomas, we must know plainly.

- Your Grace, please. I'm trying...
NORFOLK: Master Cromwell!

I beg Your Grace's pardon.

NORFOLK:
Thomas, we must know plainly...

...whether you recognize the offspring
of Queen Anne as heirs to His Majesty.

The king in parliament tells me
that they are. I recognize them.

- Will you swear that you do?
- Yes.

Then why can't you swear to the act?

Because there is more than that
in the act.

Is that it?

Yes.

Let's find out what it is in the act
that he objects to.

- Brilliant.
- Oh, God's wounds!

- Your Grace, may I try?
- Certainly.

I have no pretensions
to be an expert in police work.

Sir Thomas, it states in the preamble
that the king's former marriage...

...to the Lady Catherine was unlawful,
she being previously his brother's wife.

And the, uh, ahem, pope
having no authority to sanction it.

Is that what you deny?

Is that what you dispute?

Is that what you are not sure of?

Thomas, you insult the king and his council
in the person of the lord archbishop.

I insult no one. I will not take the oath.
I will not tell you why I will not.

Then your reasons must be treasonable.

Not must be, may be.

It's a fair assumption.

The law requires more than an assumption,
the law requires a fact.

I cannot judge your legal standing
in the case.

Until I know the ground of your objections,
I can only guess your spiritual standing too.

If you're willing to guess at that...

...it should be a small matter to guess
at my objections.

You do have objections to the act.

Oh, my, we know that, Cromwell.

You don't, my lord.

You may suppose I have objections.
All you know is that I will not swear.

From sheer delight
to give you trouble, it might be.

Is it material why you won't?

Oh, it's most material.

For refusing to swear, my goods are forfeit
and I am condemned to life imprisonment.

You cannot lawfully harm me further.

But if you were right in supposing
I had reasons for refusing...

...and right again in supposing
those reasons to be treasonable...

...the law would let you cut my head off.

Ah.

- Yes.
- Oh, well done, Sir Thomas.

I've been trying to make that clear
to His Grace for some time.

Oh, confound all this.

I'm no scholar, as Master Cromwell
never ceases to remind me.

And frankly, I don't know
whether the marriage is legal or not.

But damn it, Thomas,
look at those names.

Why can't you do what I did
and come with us? For fellowship.

And when we stand before God...

...and you are sent to paradise
for doing according to your conscience...

...and I am damned
for not doing according to mine...

...will you come with me for fellowship?

So those of us whose names are there
are damned, Sir Thomas?

I don't know, Your Grace.

I have no window to look
into another man's soul. I condemn no one.

No, I will not sign.

Then you have more regard to your doubt
than you have to the king's command.

- For myself, I have no doubt at all.
CROMWELL: No doubt? Of what?

No doubt of my reasons
for refusing this oath.

Reasons I will reveal to the king alone...

...and which you, Master Cromwell,
will not trick out of me.

- Thomas.
- Now, gentlemen, can't I go to bed?

You don't seem to appreciate
the seriousness of your position.

I defy any man to live in that hole and not
appreciate the seriousness of his position.

- Yet the state has harsher punishments.
- You threaten like a dockside bully.

CROMWELL: How should I threaten?
- Like a minister of state with justice.

Oh, justice
is what you're threatened with.

Then I'm not threatened.

NORFOLK:
Master Cromwell...

...I think the prisoner may retire
as he requests.

[THOMAS COUGHING]

- Unless you, my lord...
- No, no.

I see no purpose
in prolonging the interview.

NORFOLK:
Ahem. Thomas.

Thomas.

Good night.

Oh. Might I have one or two more books?

- You have books?
- Yes.

I didn't know.

You shouldn't have.

May I see my family?

No.

Jailer.

Sir.

Have you ever heard the prisoner
speak of the king's divorce...

...or the king's supremacy of the Church,
or the king's marriage?

- No, sir, not a word.
- If you do, you'll report it to the lieutenant.

- Of course.
- You'll swear an oath to that effect.

- Certainly, sir.
- Archbishop.

Place your left hand here.

Raise your right hand...
Take your hat off!

Now say after me.

- I swear by my immortal soul...
- I swear by my immortal soul...

...that I will report anything said...
...that I will report anything said...

...against the king.
...against the king.

JAILER & CRANMER [IN UNISON]:
So help me God. Amen.

And there's 50 guineas in it if you do.

That's not to tempt you into perjury,
my man.

Oh, no, sir.

Fifty guineas isn't tempting.
Fifty guineas is alarming.

If they'd left it at swearing...
But 50, that's serious money.

If it's worth that now,
it's worth my neck presently.

I want no part of it.
Let them sort it out between them.

I feel my deafness coming on.

- Rich.
- Secretary?

Tomorrow morning,
remove the prisoner's books.

Is that necessary?

Norfolk, with regards to this case,
the king is becoming impatient.

Aye, with you.

With all of us.

And you know the king's impatience,
how commodious it is.

- Secretary.
- Yes.

Sir Redvers Llewellyn has retired.

What?

The attorney general for Wales.
His post is vacant.

- You said that I might approach you.
- Oh, not now, Rich.

He must submit.
The alternatives are bad.

While More's alive, the king's conscience
breaks into fresh stinking flowers...

...every time he gets from his bed.

And if I bring about More's death,
I plant my own, I think.

There's no other good solution.

He must submit.

- Wake up, Sir Thomas.
- Huh? Unh.

- Your family's here.
THOMAS: Huh?

Oh, Margaret. Oh.

MARGARET:
Father.

THOMAS:
Let me out of this. Let me out.

Yes, I'm allowed to let you out.

MARGARET: Good morning, Father.
THOMAS: Oh, good morning.

MARGARET: Oh.
- Good morning, Margaret. Good morning.

Good morning.

My God, Meg,
they've not put you in here too?

JAILER:
No, sir, just a visit. A short visit.

Alice.

Husband, how do you do?

As well as need be. Very happy now.

- Will.
ROPER: This is an awful place.

No, it's not so bad,
except for keeping me from you, my dears.

It's remarkably like any other place.

[WATER DRIPPING]

- It drips.
- Yeah, it's too near the river.

MARGARET:
We've brought you some things.

THOMAS:
Oh.

- Some cheese.
- Oh, cheese.

- And a custard.
THOMAS: A custard.

And a bottle of wine.

Oh.

Is it good, son Roper?

- Ha, ha. I don't know, sir.
- Ha, ha.

Well.

What do you...?

Sir, come out.

Swear to the act.

Take the oath and come out.

Oh, dear.

Is that why they let you come visit me?

Yes. Meg's under oath to persuade you.

That was very silly, Meg.

How did you come to do that?

I wanted to.

You want me to swear
to the Act of Succession?

God more regards the thoughts of the heart
than the words of the mouth.

- Or so you've always told me.
- Mm.

Then say the words of the oath
and in your heart think otherwise.

What is an oath, then,
but words we say to God?

- Oh, that's very neat.
- Do you mean it isn't true?

No, it's true.

THOMAS: Well, then it's a poor argument
to call it "neat."

Meg, when a man takes an oath,
he holds his own self in his two hands...

...like water.

If he opens his fingers,
he needn't look to find himself again.

Some men aren't capable of this...

...but I think you would be sorry
to find your father one of them.

Any state that was half good,
you would be raised up high...

...not here, for what you've done already.
- Pfft.

It's not your fault
the state's three-quarters bad.

- No.
- Then if you elect to suffer for it...

...you elect yourself a hero.

Oh, now that is very neat.

Oh, but look, dear. If we lived in a state
where virtue was profitable...

...common sense would make us good,
and greed would make us saintly, huh?

We'd all live like animals or angels
in the happy land that needs no heroes.

But since, in fact,
we find that we have to choose...

...to be human at all...

...then perhaps we must stand fast a little
even at the risk of being heroes.

MARGARET:
But in reason.

Haven't you done as much
as God can reasonably want?

Finally, it isn't a question of reason.
Finally, it's a question of love.

Then you're content to stay here,
shut up with mice and rats...

...when you might be home with us.

THOMAS:
Content?

If they'd open a crack that wide,
I'd be through it like a bird and home.

Well, has Eve run out of apples, then?

I've not yet told you what the house is like
without you.

Don't, Meg.

MARGARET: What we do in the evenings
now that you're not there.

Meg, have done.

We sit in the dark
because we've no candles.

And we've no talk because we're wondering
what they're doing to you here.

No, the king's more merciful than you.

He doesn't use the rack.

Two minutes to go.
I thought you'd like to know.

- Two minutes.
- Till 7:00, sir. Sorry. Two minutes.

Jailer. Jailer. Jailer.

Will, go to him. Talk to him.
Keep him occupied.

- How, sir?
- Anyhow.

- Do you have any money?
- Yes.

Don't try to bribe him.
Let him play for it. He's got a pair of dice.

And talk to him, you understand?

Wait.

Here, take the wine.

And mind you share it, Will.
Do it properly, now.

You must leave the country.

All of you must leave the country
at once.

And leave you here?

It makes no difference, Meg.
They won't let you see me.

You must leave on the same day,
but not the same boat.

Different boats from different ports.

MARGARET:
After the trial, then.

There'll be no trial. They have no case.

Do this for me, I beseech you.

- Yes.
- Alice?

Alice, I command you.

Right.

Right.

Oh, this is splendid.

I know who packed this.

- I packed it.
- Yes. Ah.

[CHUCKLES]

You do make superlative custard, Alice.

- Do I?
- Mm.

That's a nice dress you've got on.

It's my cooking dress.

Well, it's very nice anyways.

Nice color.

By God, you think very little of me!

I know I'm a fool.

But I'm no such fool as at a time like this
to be lamenting for my dresses...

...or to relish being complimented
on my custard.

I'm well rebuked.

Alice...

...I am faint when I think of the worst
that they may do to me.

But worse than that...

...would be to go with you
not understanding why I go.

I don't.

Alice,
if you tell me that you understand...

...I think I can make a good death,
if I have to.

Your death's no good to me.

Alice, you must tell me
that you understand.

I don't. I don't believe it had to happen.

If you say that, Alice,
I don't see how I'm to face it.

It's the truth.

You're an honest woman.

Much good may it do me.

I'll tell you what I'm afraid of.
That when you're gone, I'll hate you for it.

Well, you mustn't, Alice, that's all. You...

You simply mustn't.

[THOMAS CRYING]

Oh, shh.

- You mustn't.
- Shh, shh, shh.

Tsk.

[ALICE SIGHS]

As for understanding, I understand this...

...that you're the best man I ever met
and am ever likely to.

And if you do go,
well, God knows why, I suppose...

...though as God's my witness
God's kept deathly quiet about it.

And if anyone wants my opinion
about the king and his council...

...all they've got to do is ask me for it.

Why, it's a lion I married.

A lion.

You know, you must get them to take
some of that custard to Bishop Fisher.

He's in the upper gallery.

I made it for you.
I didn't make it for Bishop Fisher.

Can't you do as I ask?

You say what you like,
that's good custard.

It's very, very good.

No good. I know what you're up to!
Can't be done.

ROPER: Another minute, man.
- Sorry, sir, time's up.

- For pity's sake.
- Now, don't do that, sir.

Sir Thomas,
the ladies will have to go now.

- You said 7:00.
JAILER: It's 7:00 now, sir.

You must understand my position.

- One minute more.
- Give us a little while.

Now, miss,
you don't wanna get me into trouble.

- Do as you're told! Be off at once!
- Now, come along, miss.

You'll get your father into trouble
as well as me. Are you obstructing me, sir?

Now, now, my lady, no trouble.

Don't, you... Oh!
You take your muddy hands off me!

Am I to call the guard, then?
Then come on.

For God's sake, man,
we're saying goodbye.

JAILER: You don't know
what you're asking. You're watched.

You filthy, stinking, gutter-bred turnkey!

Call me what you like, ma'am. Go.

- I'll make you suffer!
- You're doing your husband no good.

Alice...

...goodbye.

My love.

You understand my position, sir.
Nothing I can do.

I'm a plain, simple man.
Just want to keep out of trouble.

Sweet Jesus!

These plain, simple men.

Where are you going?

Well, I'm finished here, sir.

You're foreman of the jury.

Oh, no.

Foreman of the jury.

- Does the cap fit?
- Uh...

All men, be upstanding.

His Grace, the duke of Norfolk...

...earl marshal of England.

Call the prisoner.

BAILIFF:
Bring in the prisoner.

Sir Thomas More,
you have been called before us here...

...in the great Hall of Westminster...

...to answer charge of high treason.

Nevertheless, and though you have
grievously offended the king's majesty...

...we hope if you will even now forthink
and repent your obstinate opinions...

...you may still taste his gracious pardon.

My lords, I thank you.

Howbeit, I pray God will keep me
in this, my honest mind...

...to the last hour I shall live.

As for the matters you may charge me with,
I fear, owing to my present weakness...

...that neither my wit nor my memory
will serve to make sufficient answer.

- I should be glad to sit down.
- Be seated.

Master Secretary Cromwell,
have you the charge?

I have, my lord.

Then read the charge.

"That you did conspire
traitorously and maliciously...

...to deny and deprive our liege lord Henry
of his undoubted certain title...

...Supreme Head of the Church
of England."

I have never denied this title.

You refused the oath when tendered you
at the tower and elsewhere.

Silence is not denial.

For my silence I am punished
with imprisonment.

Why have I been called again?

To answer charge of high treason,
Sir Thomas.

For which the punishment
is not imprisonment.

Death comes for us all, my lords.

Yes, even for kings he comes.

Amidst their royalty and strength...

...he will not kneel
nor make them any reverence...

...but roughly grasp them by the throat
and rattle them until they be stark dead.

[CROWD MURMURING]

Treason enough here.

The death of kings is not in question,
Sir Thomas.

Nor mine, I trust, until I'm proven guilty.

Your life lies in your own hands, Thomas,
as it always has.

And so, Sir Thomas,
you stand upon your silence.

I do.

But, gentlemen of the jury,
there are many kinds of silence.

Consider first the silence of a man
when he is dead.

Let us say we go into a room
where he is lying...

...and let us say it is the dead of night.

There's nothing like darkness
for sharpening the ear.

And we listen. What do we hear?

Silence.

What does it betoken, this silence?

Nothing.

This is silence, pure and simple.

But consider another case.

Suppose I were to draw a dagger
from my sleeve...

...and make to kill the prisoner with it.

And suppose their lordships here,
instead of crying out for me to stop...

...or crying out for help to stop me,
maintained their silence.

That would betoken.

That would betoken a willingness
that I should do it...

...and under the law they would be guilty
with me.

[CROWD MURMURING]

So silence can,
according to circumstances, speak.

Consider now the circumstances
of the prisoner's silence.

The oath was put to good and faithful
subjects up and down the country...

...and they declared His Grace's title
to be just and good.

Yet when it came to the prisoner,
he refused.

He calls this silence.

But is there a man in this court...

...is there a man in this country...

...who does not know
Sir Thomas More's opinion of this title?

Of course not.

How can this be?

Because this silence betokened...

...nay, this silence was not silence at all
but a most eloquent denial.

Not so, master secretary,
the maxim is Qui tacet consentire.

The maxim of the law
is silence gives consent.

If, therefore, you wish to know
what my silence betokened...

...you must construe that I consented,
not that I denied.

Is that, in fact,
what the world construes from it?

Do you pretend that that is what you
wish the world to construe from it?

The world must construe
according to its wits.

This court must construe
according to the law.

I put it to the court
the prisoner is perverting the law...

...making smoky
what should be a clear light...

...to discover to the court
his own wrongdoing.

The law is not a light
for you or any man to see by.

The law is not an instrument of any kind.

The law is a causeway...

...upon which, so long as he keep to it,
the citizen may walk safely.

- In matters of the conscience...
- The conscience? The conscience?

The word is not familiar to you?

By God, too familiar.

I'm very used to hearing it
in the mouths of criminals.

I'm used to hear bad men
misuse the name of God, yet God exists.

In matters of the conscience,
the loyal subject...

...is bound more to be loyal
to his conscience than to any other thing.

And so provide a noble motive
for his frivolous self-conceit.

Not so, Master Cromwell.

But for my own soul.

- Your own self, you mean.
- Yes, a man's soul is his self.

A miserable thing, whatever you call it,
that lives like a bat in a Sunday school.

A shrill, incessant pedagogue
about its own salvation...

...but nothing to say
about your place in the state...

...under the king
in a great native country.

Is it my place to say yes
to the state's sickness?

Can I help my king by giving him lies
when he asks for truth?

Will you help England
by populating her with liars?

[CROWD MURMURING]

MAN 1:
Go on, then.

[STAFF BANGS]

- My lords.
- Silence!

CROMWELL:
My lords...

...I should like to call...

...Sir Richard Rich.

Call Sir Richard Rich.

Call Sir Richard Rich.

[SCOFFS]

I do solemnly swear that the evidence...

RICH:
I do solemnly swear that the evidence...

...that I shall give before the court
shall be the truth...

...the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth.

So help me God, Sir Richard.

So help me God.

Take your stand there, Sir Richard.

CROMWELL:
Now, Rich...

...on the 12th of March,
you were at the tower.

- I was.
- With what purpose?

I was sent
to carry away the prisoner's books.

And did you speak with the prisoner?

- Yes.
CROMWELL: And did you speak...

...of the king's supremacy of the Church?
- Yes.

What did you say?

RICH:
I said to him:

[CLEARS THROAT]

"Supposing
there was an act of parliament...

...to say that I, Richard Rich,
were to become king...

...would not you, Master More,
take me for king?"

"Well, that I would," he said.

"For then you would be king."

Yes?

- Then he said...
NORFOLK: The prisoner?

Yes, my lord.

Hmm.

"But I will put you a higher case.

How if there were an act of parliament
to say that God should not be God?"

- This is true. Then you said...
NORFOLK: Silence.

- Continue.
- I said:

"But I will put you a middle case.

Parliament has made our king
the head of the Church.

Why will you not accept him?"

Well?

Then he said...

...that parliament had no power to do it.

Repeat the prisoner's words.

He said
that parliament has not the competence.

[THOMAS GASPS]

RICH:
Or words to that effect.

He denied the title.

He did.

[JURORS CHATTERING]

In good faith, Rich...

...I am sorrier for your perjury
than my peril.

- Do you deny this?
- Yes.

My lords, if I were a man
who heeded not the taking of an oath...

...you know well
I had no need to be here.

Now I will take an oath.

If what Master Rich has said is true,
I pray I may never see God in the face.

Which I wouldn't say otherwise
for anything on Earth.

That is not evidence.

Is it probable
that after so long a silence on this...

...the very point so urgently sought
of me...

...I should open my mind
to such a man as that?

CROMWELL: Do you wish
to modify your statement, Rich?

No, secretary.

There were two other men.
Uh, Southwell and Palmer.

Unhappily, Sir Richard Southwell
and Master Palmer...

...are in Ireland on the king's affair.

- But you...
- It has no bearing.

I have their deposition here,
in which the court will see they state...

...that being busy
with the prisoner's books...

...that they did not hear what was said.
THOMAS: But if I had said that...

...he would instantly have called these men
to witness.

Do you have anything further to add,
Rich?

Nothing, master secretary.

Sir Thomas?

To what purpose?

I'm a dead man.

You have your desire of me.

But it is not my actions
you've hunted me for...

...but the thoughts of my heart.

That's a long road you've opened.

For first men will deny their hearts,
then, presently, they will have no hearts.

God help the people
whose statesmen walk your road.

Then the witness may withdraw.

I have one question to ask the witness.

That's a chain of office you're wearing.
May I see it?

The red dragon. What's this?

Sir Richard is appointed attorney general
for Wales.

For Wales.

Why, Richard...

...it profits a man nothing to give his soul
for the whole world.

But for Wales?

And now, I'd like to beg
the court's indulgence for one moment.

I have a message for the prisoner
from the king.

Sir Thomas, I am empowered to tell you
that even now...

No, no, it cannot be.

CROMWELL:
The case rests.

My lord?

The jury may retire
and consider the evidence.

Considering the evidence,
it shouldn't be necessary for them to retire.

Is it necessary?

- No, sir.
- You find the prisoner guilty or not guilty?

Guilty, my lord.

Prisoner at the bar,
you have been found guilty of high treason.

- The sentence of the court...
THOMAS: My lord.

My lord, when I was practicing the law...

...the manner was to ask the prisoner
before pronouncing sentence...

...if he had anything to say.

You have anything to say?

Yes.

Hmm.

To avoid this,
I have taken every path my wits could find.

Now that this court has determined
to condemn me, God knoweth how...

...I will discharge my mind
concerning my indictment...

...and the king's title.

[CROWD MURMURING]

The indictment is founded
on an act of parliament...

...which is directly repugnant
to the law of God.

Parliament cannot bestow
the supremacy of the Church.

The king cannot claim it.

Because it is a spiritual supremacy
determined by God.

More to this,
the immunity of the Church is promised...

...both in Magna Carta
and the king's own coronation oath!

[CROWD CHATTERING]

BAILIFF: Silence!
- Now we see you are indeed malicious.

THOMAS:
Not so, Master Cromwell.

I'm the king's true subject,
and I pray for him and all the realm.

I do none harm.

I say none harm, I think none harm.

And if this be not enough
to keep a man alive...

...in good faith, I long not to live.

Since I came into prison,
I've been several times in such a state...

...I thought to die within the hour.

And I thank God
I was never sorry for this.

So my poor body
is at the king's pleasure.

Would God my death might do him
some good.

Nevertheless...

...it is not for the supremacy
that you have sought my blood...

...but because I would not bend
to the marriage!

[CROWD CHATTERING]

MAN 2: Disgrace!
BAILIFF: Silence! Silence!

Silence!

By God, silence!

Prisoner at the bar,
you've been found guilty of high treason.

The sentence is that you be taken
from this place...

...to the tower,
and thence to the place of execution.

And there, your head shall be stricken
from your body.

And may God have mercy
upon your soul!

[BELL TOLLING]

I can go no further, Thomas.

Here, drink this.

My master had easel and gall,
not wine to drink.

Let me be going.

MARGARET:
Father!

- Father. Father, Father, Father.
- Margaret.

Margaret, have patience.
Trouble not yourself.

Death comes for us all.

Even at our birth.

Even at our birth,
he only stands aside a little.

And every day,
he looks towards us and muses...

...whether that day or the next
he will draw near.

You have long known
the secrets of my heart.

I beseech Your Grace, keep back.

[MARGARET SOBBING]

[THOMAS GRUNTS]

You help me up, captain.
I'll shift for myself coming down.

Be not afraid of your office.

You send me but to God.

You're very sure of that, Sir Thomas.

He will not refuse one
who is so blithe to go to him.

[KETTLEDRUMS POUNDING]

[MARGARET SOBS]

Behold the head of a traitor!

[SIGHS]

I'm breathing.

Are you breathing too?

It's nice, isn't it?

It isn't too difficult to stay alive, friends.

Just keep out of trouble.

Or if you must make trouble,
make the sort of trouble that's expected.

As the old adage says,
"Better a live rat than a dead lion."

Oh, uh, with reference to the old adage...

...Thomas Cromwell was found guilty
of high treason...

...and executed
on the 28th of July, 1540.

Norfolk was found guilty
of high treason...

...and should have been executed
on the 27th of January, 1547.

But on the night of the 26th of January...

...King Henry died of syphilis
and wasn't able to sign the warrant.

Thomas Cranmer,
the archbishop of Canterbury...

...was burned alive
on the 21st of March, 1556.

Oh, Richard Rich became a knight...

...solicitor general, a baron,
and lord chancellor of England...

...and died in his bed.

And so did I.
And so, I hope, will all of you.

Well... Oh.

If we should bump into one another...

...recognize me.

[English - US - SDH]