What a pleasure to have both you and your lovely wife to sup with, Your Grace.
So, tell me- you are suppressing some religious houses?
I am starting to, yes.
Und what else?
I am intending to abolish almost all the Holy Days of the Lord's service- and, during the harvest. (scoffs) These enforced holidays- they damage the country's economy, stop vital works! (the Cranmers nod in agreement) And, in fact, they also impoverish workers!
Und the priests?
As far as the clergy are concerned, we mean to issue a set of injunctions, requiring them to preach the Supremacy. There will also be an injunction requiring parents and employers to teach their children and servants the Lord's Prayer, Creed and the Ten Commandments in English, rather than Latin.
And all clerics will be put on notice to attack the superstitious cults surrounding images and relics. They will be told it will profit more upon their souls to bestow upon the poor and the needy, what they currently waste on relics.
(shrugs, nods) That's... very good, gentlemen. (Cranmer and Cromwell smile, pleased) But, allow me to chide you. I don't think that you are going far enough, or fast enough.
(glances at Cranmer, surprised)... Your wife is a great radical, Thomas.
She is - and, illegal. (he and Cromwell chuckle and toast) Two reasons to hide her.
(glances away, irritated) Being carried around in a box does not make you laugh.
(hastily) My dear, I am sorry about that-
I'm not your dear- I'm nobody's dear. I'm a woman, und I demand equal respect for my ideas! For me, the practices of the Catholic Church are evil! The way people are kept in total ignorance und made to feel guilty about their own bodies und their own thoughts- and even worse, the idea that the rich can buy a plot in Heaven for their souls!
(startled) Well, I agree with you! The Catholic Church is corrupted- it's irredeemable!
Then you should smash und destroy it- utterly, totally und without pity. That is my advice to you, Mr. Cromwell. (Cromwell stares at her, intrigued; she turns back to her husband and stands up, smirking) Now, you can put me back in my box.
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