Shardlake true story: What happened with Cromwell and the monasteries?

But just how much of the series is based on real history, and what did really happen with Cromwell and the dissolution of the monasteries?

Read on for everything you need to know about the true story behind Shardlake.

How much of Shardlake is based on a true story?

This first season of Shardlake is based on Sansom's book Dissolution, which is set in 1537.

It is almost entirely fictional - the characters of Matthew Shardlake, Jack Barak, Joan, Alice, the monks and more are all entirely fictional, as is the murder and subsequent investigation that takes place.

However, there are some connections to the real history of the period.

For instance, characters such as Thomas Cromwell, played by Sean Bean, and Thomas Howard, the 3rd Duke of Norfolk, were real, and Cromwell did play a leading role in the real-life dissolution of the monasteries.

Sansom previously told The Guardian why he set his murder mystery novel during this period, explaining: "I'm drawn to it, because it's the moment at which the medieval certainties that had endured for centuries were turned upside down. It was a time of extraordinary ferment: in the space of a few years, the state took on a completely different meaning.

"And the more I read about it, the more I realised how like the 20th century it was in its anxiety and uncertainty, even though people thought so differently then. If I were to talk today with someone from the 16th century, they'd think I was mad, and probably heretical.

"That's what's so interesting about writing about the period: to comprehend it, you have to work your way into a totally different worldview."

In the same interview, Sansom also spoke about creating the character of Shardlake, and making him fit in with the sensibilities of the time, while also appealing to a modern readership.

"It's difficult, perhaps impossible, to write a character well in the past who is not a projection back of modern sensibilities," he explained. "My defence would be that the 16th century was the time when rational, sceptical enquiry was beginning. This is the age of the humanists; we're leaving medieval thought patterns behind.

"I'm not saying a man like Shardlake did exist then, but he could have, where even 20 years earlier he couldn't. That's enough for me."

What really happened with Cromwell and the monasteries?

Thomas Cromwell was a real-life lawyer and statesman, who entered into the service of King Henry VIII in 1530. As his favour with the king grew, he went on to become one of his confidential advisers, followed by his principal advisor and chief minister.

He also became the king’s vicar general, granting him powers to visit and reform all monastic institutions during the English Reformation, when the Church of England was forced to break away from the authority of the pope and the Catholic Church.

This occurred initially because the king's marriage to Catherine of Aragon had been annulled in 1533, and he married Anne Boleyn, all without permission from the pope.

This period, during which Henry proclaimed himself supreme head of the church, included the dissolution of the monasteries, in which he and Cromwell shut down more than 800 of England’s religious houses, confiscating their possessions in the process.

This has predominantly been seen as a move by the king to attain religious supremacy for the new independent Church of England, and to plunder the wealth of the institutions for his own gain.

This process was highly regulated, explaining why, in the series, Cromwell is unable to close St Donatus without finding a guilty party amongst their ranks.

Cromwell's downfall came after, in 1539, he compelled the king to marry Anne of Cleves, in an effort to broker an alliance with William, Duke of Cleves, leader of the Protestants of western Germany.

When the king determined in 1540 that this alliance was unnecessary, he had the marriage annulled, having been "disappointed" with her from the start of their union.

In April of that year, Cromwell's enemies within the king's inner circle convinced him that Cromwell was a heretic and a traitor, and he was arrested, condemned and executed within a matter of months.

Shardlake premieres on Disney Plus on Wednesday 1st May. You can sign up to Disney Plus for £7.99 a month or £79.90 a year now.

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