It is the aftermath of the beheading of Anne Boleyn, King Henry VIII’s second wife. He broke away from the authority of the Catholic Church in order to marry her, but after only three years he has tired of her. She had not produced a male heir—which was also the case with his first wife, Katherine of Aragon—and there were many, likely manufactured, rumors about her numerous infidelities. In the wake of her execution, the matter of succession is muddled: Henry has three “illegitimate” children, none of whom is a clear heir.

Thomas Cromwell, the king’s trusted secretary, is at the height of his power and influence. He loyally assisted the king in dissolving his first marriage and arranging his second, and then was instrumental in getting rid of Anne to make way for a third wife, Jane Seymour. Along the way, however, he has acquired many enemies: From the Catholic loyalists to the Duke of Norfolk and the “old families,” who will rally behind Mary, Katherine’s daughter, Cromwell is caught in the crosshairs of history. It is an uncertain time, and everyone’s loyalties are in question—even Cromwell’s. He insists, however, that “[a]ny notion that I hold a grudge against my sovereign—it is some fantasy out of the bishop’s [Stephen Gardiner’s] sick brain.