In 1537 King Henry VIII ordered the disillusion of the Catholic monasteries of England. These religious sites were a hotbed of resistance to his formation of the Anglian faith and also a rich and tempting target to be looted. Enter Thomas Cromwell, Henry’s principal counsellor, and the man who Henry has tasked to takedown these monasteries. In turn, Cromwell delegates this task to two men, his own henchman Jack Barak and a hunchback lawyer, Matthew Shardlake.

These character’s stories, form the basis for the Shardlake historical mystery novels of C. J. Sansom (who died just last week). His first novel, Disillusion, has been adapted into a TV miniseries. I binged this new four-part series last night. It stars Arthur Hughes as Shardlake, Sean Bean as Cromwell and Anthony Boyle as Barak. This tale is reminiscent of Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose. Where two outsiders enter an entrenched medieval Catholic monastery that has become steeped in both suspicion and murder.

The murder-mystery biz is so saturated that any new entry requires a hook to distinguish itself from all of the rest. In Shardlake Samson made his protagonist handicapped. In the TV series this is ably handled by the fact that Hughes is also disabled. The TV series is well crafted and looks authentic, having been recently filmed in Romania. The photo with this post is like the first victim in this story, who was beheaded. This disembodied wooden head of Henry VIII is on display in the Tower. It was part of a mannequin that was made to fit the king’s armor.