The 48 Laws Of Power

TRANSGRESSIONOFTHELAW

Sometimeinthe

early

1520s,

KingHenry

VIIIof

England

decidedtodi-

vorce
his
wife,

Catherineof

Aragon,

because

shehadfailedtobeathima

son,
andbecausehehadfalleninlovewith
the
young

and

comely

Anne

Boleyn.

The

pope,

Clement

VII,

opposed

the

divorce,

andthreatenedthe

king

withexcommunication.The

king’s

most

powerful

minister,

Cardinal

Wolsey,

alsosawnoneedfordivorce—-—-andhishalfhearted

support

ofthe

king

cost

himhis

position

andsoonhislife.

Oneman

in

Hem-y’s

cabinet,

Thomas

Cromwell,

not

onlysupported

himinhisdesireforadivorcebuthadanideafor

realizing

it:a

complete

breakwiththe

past.

Heconvincedthe

king

that

bysevering

tieswithRome

and

making

himselftheheadofa

newly

formed

English

church,

hecould

divorce

Catherineand

marry

Anne.

By

I531

Henry

sawthisasthe

only

so-

lution.

TorewardCromwellfor

his

simple

but

brilliant

idea,

heelevated

thissonofablacksmithtothe

post

of

royal

councillor.

By

1534 Cromwellhadbeennamedthe

king’ssecretary,

andasthe

power

behindthethronehehadbecomethemost

powerful

manin

Eng-

land.Butfor

himthebreakwithRomewent

beyondthe

satisfactionofthe

l<ing‘s

carnal

desires:

Heenvisioned

a

newProtestantorder

in

England,

withthe

power

oftheCatholicChurchsmashedanditsvastwea.lthinthe

handsofthe

king

andthe

government.

Inthatsame

year

heinitiateda

completesurvey

ofthechurchesandmonasteriesof

England.

Andasit

turned

out,

the

treasures

and

moneys

that

thechurches

had

accumulated

overthecenturieswerefarmorethanhehad

imagined;

his

spies

and

agents

camebackwith

astonishingfigures.

To

justify

his

schemes,

Cromwellcirculatedstoriesaboutthe

corrup-

tioninthe

English

monasteries,

theirabuseof

power,

their

exploitation

of

the

peopletheysupposedly

served.

Having

wonParliamenfs

support

for

breakingup

the

monasteries,

he

began

toseizetheir

holdings

andto

put

themoutofexistenceone

by

one.Atthesame

time,

he

began

to

impose

Protestantism,

introducing

reformsin

religious

ritualand

punishing

those

whostuck

to

Catholicism,

andwho

nowwere

calledheretics.

Virtually

overnight,England

wasconvertedtoanewofficial

religion.

Aterrorfellonthe

country.

Some

people

had sufferedunderthe

Catholic

Church,

whichbeforethereformshadbeen

immenselypowerful,

butmost

Britonshad

strong

tiestoCatholicismandtoits

comforting

ritu-

als.

They

watchedin

horroraschurcheswere

demolished,

images

ofthe

Madonnaandsaintswerebrokenin

pieces,stainedglass

windows

were

smashed,

andthechurches’treasureswereconfiscated.Withmonasteries

thathad succoredthe

poorsuddenlygone,

the

poor

nowfloodedthe

streets.

The

growing

ranksofthe

beggar

classwerefurtherswelled

by

for

mermonks.On

top

of

all

this,

Cromwell

levied

high

taxesto

pay

forhisec«

clesiasticalreforms.

In 1535

powerful

revoltsintheNorthof

England

threatenedto

topple

Henry

fromhisthrone.

By

the

followingyear

hehad

suppressed

therebel-

lions,

but

hehadalso

begun

toseethecostsof

Cromwell’sreforms.The

king

himselfhadneverwantedto

go

thisfar-—-hehad

only

wanted

a

di-

\‘€’t|HRF.(IHRH-l'l‘M«\S

(EAR/Iiil’ll0,’vl

Celebrating

[hemm

of

the

year

IL!‘

anancient

custom.TheRoman:

celebmledtheSumma-

Iia.the

festivalof

Saturn,

godofzhe

Ixarvesr,

between

DecemberI

7

and23. 11

wasthemax!

clzeerful

festivalof

lhe

year.

All

workandcomrm'rt;e

str,-ppcd,

andthestreets

were

filled

withcrowds

andummivalarmor-

phcre.

Slaves

were

Iemfzonzrilyfreed,

and

thehousesweredeco-

ratedwithlaurel

branches.

People

visitedone

another,

1)ringirzggiftsof

wax

rtnmllas‘andlittleclav

figurines.

Long

Iwfore

thebirth

ofClirirt,

theJews

r,e=,ls--

bruletlan

rig/It-Ila}:

Festillul

ofLiglm[at

thesame

.s‘ea.mn/,

am?

it

is

believedthat

the

(icrmzmic

p1€0;')(4r.s‘

held

a

gramfexzivezl

not

only

at/nizlsumnzer

butalso

atthewinter

roisrivse,

when

they

cc!ebmred

therebirth

of

themm

am!hrmoretl

the

great

frrrzilitygods

Wotan

and

Frey/a.

Dnmzr

(Thor)

am!

Freyr.

Even

a‘/icr

the

Ernperor

Cmzstalltine1.4.0.

50(>—«337)

declared

Ch

rimarzity

to

be

Rome's

nffirial

impe-

rial

religion.

(heevoca-

tion

zlflig/‘II

imrl

fertility

as’an

impomzm

<‘0mpon¢'mofpre-

Chris/far:midwimter

Ct"l€brl1iir)n.£‘couldnot

be

emirelysuppressed.

In 1110

year

274 the

Roman

Emperor

/lure‘

liar:

{A.D.2I4~275)

hml

establixlictlan

r)/finial

LAW 45 393