Matthew Shardlake practices law in London in the shadow of King Henry VIII’s court, and from time to time Thomas Cromwell, the Crown’s chief minister, had drafted him with an unwelcome assignment. But it’s now 1541, and Cromwell is dead. Instead, Archbishop Cranmer, the king’s most trusted adviser, orders Matthew to York to accompany a high-value prisoner on his transfer to the Tower. There, jailers skilled in torture will drag the truth of a recent rebellion from the obstinate renegade. Thus, in C. J. Sansom’s fourth Matthew Shardlake mystery, we find the hunchback barrister and his trusted Jewish clerk Jack Barak rushing to the fractious north in advance of the king’s progress there.
The north seethes with rebellion
Henry VIII, now fifty years of age, is obese and suffering mightily from a wound to his leg caused by a jousting accident five years earlier. He and his pretty seventeen-year-old fifth wife, Catherine Howard, are leading a massive procession to the north in a show of royal force. Thousands of courtiers, attorneys, soldiers, clerks, caterers, and whores accompany them on the road. And when they arrive they encounter what Matthew and Jack have already discovered. Everyone in the north despises them. To the put-upon people of Yorkshire, overtaxed and oppressed, they’re all “sovereigns.” To them, the word is an insult. And the king must count himself lucky, or prescient, to have brought such a large and powerful force on his progress. Otherwise, who knows what malcontent might step from a crowd with intent to murder the king?
Sovereign (Matthew Shardlake #3 of 7) by C. J. Sansom (2000) 583 pages ★★★★★
Documents that question the Tudors’ legitimacy
Soon after arriving in York, Matthew stumbles onto the murder of a workman. The victim soon proves to have been involved in the recent rebellion—and he had hidden a jeweled box in his home containing documents that question the legitimacy of the Tudor line. The threat to Henry’s rule is grave. But when Matthew uncovers the box and sets off to deliver it into safe hands, someone clubs him on the head and makes away with the papers. And that’s just the first of many attacks from which he barely escapes with his life. For Matthew, the trip to York has proven to be life-threatening, not once but four times. But for Jack, it’s a delight. He has taken up with a saucy laid-in-waiting in the queen’s court. And, who knows? They may even marry.
A story grounded on historical fact
Sansom is a consummate researcher. The king and queen’s relationship, the progress to York, the continuing religious conflict between papists and reformers, the high-stakes political intrigue, the corruption close to the Crown—Sansom gets it all right. And Sovereign, like all the preceding books in this brilliant series, is crammed with homely period details. The sights, sounds, and smells, the manner of dress, the patterns of speech, the food and drink of the time—it’s all there. The Matthew Shardlake mysteries are among the very best historical fiction and quite possibly the best series in the field.
About the author
C. J. Sansom (1952-2024) died earlier this year in a hospice near his home in Brighton, England. He was born in Edinburgh but educated in England at the University of Birmingham, where he earned both a BA and a PhD in history. Later he trained as a solicitor and practiced as a lawyer for the disadvantaged in Sussex, where he lived for the rest of his life. Sansom turned to writing full-time in his forties, shortly before the turn of the century.
Critics celebrated the Matthew Shardlake series, which gained Sansom renown as one of England’s leading historical novelists. All told, he wrote nine historical novels, including seven in the Matthew Shardlake series.
For Sansom’s obituary in the Guardian, see “CJ Sansom, author of the Shardlake novels, dies aged 71” (April 29, 2024).
For related reading
Previously, I reviewed the first two books in C. J. Sansom’s Matthew Shardlake series as well as his superb alternate history:
- Dissolution (In 1536, a lawyer investigates a murder at a monastery)
- Dark Fire (King Henry VIII’s search for an ancient superweapon)
- Dominion (A what-if history of the English Resistance)
Under the headline “Highly intelligent entertainment,” Kirkus Reviews does a terrific job of describing this novel.
I’ve also reviewed The Other Boleyn Girl (Plantagenet and Tudor Novels #9) by Philippa Gregory (She might have married Henry VIII. Her sister did.), a novel about Henry’s second wife.
You’ll find similar works at:
- 25 most enlightening historical novels
- Top 10 historical mysteries and thrillers
- Top 20 suspenseful detective novels
And here you’ll see novels of suspense set in a slightly later period: Mysteries set in Elizabethan England.
And you can always find my most popular reviews, and the most recent ones, on the Home Page.
