Kat Character Analysis in Wolf Hall

Kat is Thomas Cromwell’s sister and she cares for him after their father beats him up. Since Cromwell’s mother is dead and he has never known her, Kat is a mother figure to him. Later, her children Richard and Walter are orphaned after the deaths of both their parents, and Cromwell looks after his nephews as if they were his own children.

Kat Character Timeline in Wolf Hall

The timeline below shows where the character Kat appears in Wolf Hall. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Children and Human Connection Theme Icon

...noon, Thomas finds himself sitting by the door of the inn run by his sister Kat, who is shocked to see how badly he has been beaten. Kat wishes that “the... (full context)

Power, Ambition, and Deception Theme Icon

Kat begins to clean Thomas up gently with some water and a cloth. He wants to... (full context)

...a plank of wood”—the townspeople have filled him in on how exactly Walter attacked Thomas. Kat asks Thomas to live with them, telling Williams that Thomas can “do the heavy work”... (full context)

After Kat cleans him up, Thomas rests inside for a couple hours, during which time he hears... (full context)

Thomas overhears Kat and Williams talking downstairs. Kat is regretting making the offer to have Thomas live with... (full context)

...since he is good at fighting, just like his father, he should be a soldier. Kat sarcastically wonders if this could really be the solution—Thomas was fighting, and his father beat... (full context)

When Thomas gets up to go, Kat says he looks like he is in no state to leave. But Thomas says he... (full context)

...and defeated the giants. King Arthur descended from Brutus, and his namesake, Prince Arthur, married Katherine, but died at the age of 15. If he were alive, his brother, Henry, would... (full context)

...son, called Henry Fitzroy, whom he has made a duke. The cardinal asks Cromwell if Katherine knows about the king and Mary Boleyn, and Cromwell says she does. Wolsey says she... (full context)

...the validity of the king’s marriage. It’s supposed to be a secret court, without even Katherine knowing about it, but in reality, the whole of Europe knows. The king produces the... (full context)

Henry and Katherine have had six children, but only one of these children lives—Mary Tudor, who is “small... (full context)

Katherine blames Wolsey for the secret hearing, and she accuses him of conniving for years to... (full context)

Cardinal Wolsey tells the king that even if the documents that permitted him to marry Katherine are found to be defective, Pope Clement might just suggest that it be fixed with... (full context)

...city’s treasures and raping its women. They also take the Pope prisoner. Since Charles is Katherine’s nephew, no one expects the Pope to favor any appeals from England while he is... (full context)

...King Henry’s separation while the Pope is Charles’s prisoner. In June 1527, when Henry tells Katherine that they should separate, she is furious and shouts so much that “the windows are... (full context)

...cases of the sweating sickness, and the family gathers to pray for Liz. Cromwell’s sisters Kat and Bet discuss who should move into Cromwell’s household to help Liz’s mother Mercy with... (full context)

...the Pope is sending Cardinal Campeggio to England to determine whether the king’s marriage to Katherine has valid grounds for annulment. (full context)

...arrives from Rome, the king wants him to focus only on dissolving his marriage with Katherine, so he sends Anne Boleyn out of London with Mary Boleyn. A rumor reaches Cromwell... (full context)

...He arranges for witnesses who knew the king’s brother, Arthur, to testify at court that Katherine wasn’t a virgin when she married Henry. Cromwell thinks it should have never come to... (full context)

...seemed more humble—“[m]ost humility, in his view, is pretense; but the pretense can be winning.” Katherine makes her statement, which is so moving that “a few men have been seen to... (full context)

After Katherine finishes her statement, she leaves the court, leaving her counsel to represent her. Cromwell thinks... (full context)

...songs and Christmas plays. “No year has brought such devastation,” and they are in mourning. Kat and her husband, Morgan Williams, died this year too. Their children, Richard and Walter, come... (full context)