Cardinal Thomas Wolsey

Thomas Wolsey, son of Robert Wolsey and Joan Daundy Wolsey, was born in about 1471. His father was a Yeoman farmer but his mother was a member of the wealthy and influential Daundy family." (1) His father ran a tavern in Ipswich before he started trading as a butcher and cattle dealer in 1473. It is believed his mother's brother, Edmund Daundy, a successful merchant, paid for his education. He graduated with a BA from Oxford University in 1486. (2)

Wolsey worked as a bursar before becoming a priest in March 1498. Roger Lockyer has pointed out:" For an ambitious and talented boy, not born into the upper ranks of late medieval society, the Church was the only possible opening, and Wolsey soon entered it." (3)

Thomas Wolsey was appointed dean of divinity in Magdalen College before he was assigned to Lydd, Kent, in 1501. Seeking a higher position than parish priest, Wolsey entered the household of Henry Deane, archbishop of Canterbury, as one of his chaplains. Deane died on 15th February 1503 and for the next four years he worked for Sir Richard Nanfan, treasurer of Calais. In 1507 Wolsey became associated with Richard Foxe, bishop of Winchester. On his recommendation he was sent as an envoy to the Emperor Maximilian in Flanders. (4)

Thomas Wolsey - Diplomat In March 1508 he was sent to Edinburgh. He saw James IV on 2nd April but his mission was unsuccessful, as was his embassy to the Low Countries in October to negotiate the marriage of Henry VII to Margaret of Austria. In February 1509 Henry rewarded him with the deanship of Lincoln Cathedral. About this time Wolsey began a relationship with a woman called Joan Lark. "Their relationship, along with the two children born of it, did much to fuel the accusations of lechery and fornication so widely levelled at him." (5) Wolsey's main sponsor, Richard Foxe, recommended him to Henry VIII. As a result he became the king's almoner in November 1509. It is suggested that Wolsey "fascinated the young king, who shirked business, but admired brilliance, energy and wit." (6) Peter Ackroyd points out that Wolsey was a generation younger than the old bishops of the council. "Here was a man whom the young king could take into his confidence, and upon whom he could rely. Wolsey rose at four in the morning, and could work for twelve hours at a stretch without intermission... When he had finished his labours he heard Mass and then ate a light supper before retiring." (7) George Cavendish claims that Wolsey soon gained the appreciation of the young monarch as he was the "most earnest and readiest in all the council to advance the king's only will and pleasure". According to Cavendish "Wolsey gained the favour of Henry VIII because the other counsellors tried to persuade Henry to preside at Council meetings, as his father had done, and Wolsey encouraged him to go hunting and enjoy himself while Wolsey governed the country for him. Cavendish. added that whereas the other ministers advised Henry to do what they thought he ought to do, Wolsey found out what Henry wanted to do, and then advised him to do it." (8) Wolsey's rise to power upset Thomas Ruthall and Henry's other leading counsellors who found themselves ignored after the rise of Wolsey. He also came into conflict with leading nobles such as Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk and Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk. John Guy has claimed that Wolsey was helped by the fact that he had no guiding political principles. "He was flexible and opportunist; he thought in European terms and on the grand scale; and he was the consummate politician.... Wolsey interfered constantly in the affairs of the nobility, leading gentry, and citizens of London, and demanded the attendance of many of them at Court. (9)

War in France Under Henry VII, England had avoided continental war. His son, by contrast, longed for war against France. This policy was very unpopular with members of the Royal Council, including Thomas More, who "thought it wisdom to sit still and let them alone" and advised peace against the hazard and cost of war. Wolsey supported Henry and suggested that he joined the Holy League with Pope Julius II and his father-in-law, Ferdinand of Spain, so that they might with papal approval attack France. The alliance was agreed on 13th November 1511 and war was declared the following month. (10) The plan was for English soldiers to arrive in south-west France. A fleet of eighteen warships were prepared to take 15,000 men to Europe. These men would link up with the Spanish army trying to take Navarre from the French and capture the valuable province of Guyenne. The troops arrived on 7th June 1512, but Ferdinand had to intention of keeping his side of the bargain and the two armies did not join up together. As Roger Lockyer pointed out: "He (Ferdinand) planned to use the English troops merely as a screen behind which his own men could complete the conquest of Navarre, and he had no interest in helping Henry fulfil his grandiose ambitions." (11) The men were forced to camp in open fields in extremely hot weather while waiting to be called into battle. No tents, or provisions, had been prepared for them. Dysentery caused many casualties and there was talk of mutiny. Henry reluctantly ordered his troops to return to England in October 1512 without accomplishing anything against the enemy. The daughter of Emperor Maximilian said "Englishmen have so long abstained from war they lack experience from disuse." (12) The following year England sent another large army to France with Henry VIII himself in command. Wolsey was in charge of the preparations and was effectively quartermaster-general of the army. He organized the fleet, and made provisions for 25,000 men to sail to France under the banner of the king. On 30th June, 1513, Henry crossed the channel with a bodyguard of 300 men and a retinue of 115 priests and singers of the chapel. Henry first victory came on 16th August when he defeated a French force near Thérouanne. (13) Henry remained in the rear with his bodyguards. "His great and ornate bed was transported along the route eastward, and was set up each night within a pavilion made from cloth of gold. The king had eleven tents, connected one with another; one for his cook, and one for his kitchen. He was escorted, wherever he walked or rode, by fourteen young boys in coats of gold. The bells on his horse were made of gold. The most elaborate of the royal tents was decorated with golden ducats and golden florins. He was intent on displaying his magnificence as well as his valour." (14) Charles Brandon, High Marshal of the army, led a successful assault on Tournai. When handed the keys of the city, Henry passed them to Brandon, who led his troops in to occupy it. Soon afterwards Henry granted him the outlying castle of Mortain. He was also granted the title of the Duke of Suffolk. (15) Despite the fiasco of the first expedition Henry had demonstrated that his kingdom was once again a power to be reckoned with. However, the cost of the war was enormous. It is estimated that most of the wealth he inherited from his father had been used to finance the two expeditions to France. Wolsey persuaded Parliament to grant a tax upon every adult male, but this proved of course unpopular and difficult to collect. It now became clear that England could not afford to wage war on equal terms with the larger powers of Europe. The French king had three times as many subjects, and also triple the resources. The Spanish king possessed six times as many subjects, and five times the revenue. "Henry's ambition and appetite for glory outstripped his strength." (16) In August 1514, King Louis XII of France agreed to peace terms. This included his willingness to marry Henry's sister Mary Tudor. Henry hoped that Mary would have a son and therefore create the possibility of uniting the two kingdoms. Mary was eighteen and Louis was fifty-two. Antonia Fraser has pointed out: "Queens were not expected to be great beauties... it was more often a subject of surprised comment if they were... Mary was lovely, fair-haired, oval faced." (17) A French observer described her as "a nymph from heaven" and "one of the most beautiful young women in the world". (18) One diplomat reported that it was shocking that "so fair a lady" should marry "so feeble, old and pocky a man". (19) It is not recorded what Mary thought of the proposed marriage but her biographer claims she was "apparently a dutiful and obedient sister, prepared to serve the political purposes of a brother for whom she had a genuine affection and respect". (20) If you find this article useful, please feel free to share on websites like Reddit. You can follow John Simkin on Twitter, Google+ & Facebook or subscribe to our monthly newsletter. Princess Mary left England for France on 2nd October, 1514. She was accompanied by a retinue of nearly 100 English ladies-in-waiting. After a stormy crossing, during which one ship was wrecked, an extremely seasick princess was literally carried ashore near Boulogne the following day. The couple were married on 9th October. Mary Boleyn and Anne Boleyn were among the six young girls permitted to remain at the French court by the king after he dismissed all Mary's other English attendants the day after the wedding. According to Alison Plowden, the "excitement and physical strain of the wedding and its attendant festivities proved altogether too much for the frail elderly Louis XIII" who died on 1st January, 1515. (21) It was reported in France that he was "danced to death" by his "energetic young" wife. (22)

Cardinal Thomas Wolsey and the Legal System Henry richly rewarded Thomas Wolsey for his part in the victory over France. On 15th September 1514, he was appointed as Archbishop of Canterbury. Henry also made him his Lord Chancellor. Wolsey now had all the powers of a modern prime minister, with the controls of a regular Parliament. The following year Pope Leo X made him a cardinal at the King's request. This promotion resulted in the creation of many enemies. Polydore Vergil represented him as "singing, laughing, dancing and playing with the young courtiers". George Cavendish claims that Wolsey's success was based on his recognition that Henry disliked routine work, and describes him as "putting the King in comfort that he shall not need to spare any time of his pleasure for any business that should necessary happen in the Council as long as he being there". (23) Thomas Wolsey by unknown artist (c. 1515) John Guy, the author of Tudor England (1986) points out that on 2nd May 1516 Wolsey unveiled his new law-enforcement plan. He points out that during this period Wolsey was active in reforming the legal system: "He aimed to provide impartial justice in the ordinary courts of common law, irrespective of a litigant's social status... Wolsey proclaimed the notion that the people should have justice as a right." Wolsey's critics claim that he "offered justice to the poor partly to strike back at those among the rich who were his political opponents." (24)

The Star Chamber Wolsey decided, with the king, to reinforce the procedures of the law by means of a body known as the Star Chamber (the roof of the chamber was studded with stars). In the Star Chamber the Lord Chancellor could question and punish, in particular, the nobility. He punished lords for maintaining too many retainers, and knights for the bad treatment of tenants. He investigated cases of perjury and forgery. Wolsey also regulated prices and food supplies, on the assumption that scarcity might provoke riots. He made it clear that one of the main objectives of the Star Chamber was to punish public disorder. Wolsey made many enemies by the firmness with which he enforced the law, particularly against the magnates. He also punished unpopular sheriffs. Justices of the Peace were forced to attend where they would be criticised for their performances. "Wolsey liked to pose as the champion of the poor and helpless against their social superiors, which in many ways he was. But in the Star Chamber... he was also concerned to settle private scores, and his victims were quick to complain." (45) Wolsey announced that he wanted to receive complaints about wrongdoing from private individuals and gave open access to star chamber. Wolsey attracted far too much business to star chamber and the court's machinery became clogged with civil actions. He was therefore forced to establish a temporary series of overflow tribunals to relieve the pressure on star chamber. (46)

Wolsey and Church Reform It has been claimed that for several years Cardinal Wolsey was he most powerful man in the land apart from Henry VIII. According to Geoffrey Moorhouse Wolsey was the effective ruler of England, directing all domestic policies and conducting the nation's foreign affairs. "Arrogant by nature, he was also greedy for emoluments of one sort and another, a lucrative Church appointment here, the acquisition of property there. He built palaces, including Hampton Court, and in these he entertained extravagantly with an entourage which far outnumbered that of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who would attend royal pageants with seventy servants, whereas Wolsey always turned up with 300 or more." (47) Thomas Wolsey status as papal legate gave him additional power to reform the English Church. He began in the spring of 1519 by sending "visitors" to various monasteries in order to record the conditions and habits of the monks. The reports suggested that various levels of disorder and abuse were taking place. Wolsey punished the principal offenders and sent out strict regulations and statutes to guide future conduct. Wolsey was of course breaking his own guidelines. When he was a young priest he became the father of two illegitimate children. This "did much to fuel the accusations of lechery and fornication so widely levelled at him". He acknowledged and provided for the children, the son, Thomas Wynter, was appointed archdeacon of Suffolk and his daughter, Dorothy, became a nun at Shaftesbury. (48) Thomas Wolsey by unknown artist (c. 1520) Thomas Wolsey also became extremely rich by collecting ecclesiastical posts. "He was in succession bishop of Bath and Wells, bishop of Durham and bishop of Winchester; these were held in tandem with the archbishopic of York, and in 1521 he obtained the richest abbey of the land in St Albans... Wolsey was without doubt the richest man in England - richer even then the king, whose income was curtailed by large responsibilities - but he always argued that his own magnificence helped to sustain the power of the Church". (49) As well as building up a large art collection the style and size of his household, seemed to be an attempt to rival Henry VIII and foreign envoys described Wolsey as a "second king". (50) Wolsey suggested to Henry VIII that he might want to distinguish himself from other European princess by showing himself to be erudite as well as a supporter of the Roman Catholic Church. With the help of Wolsey and Thomas More, Henry composed a reply to Martin Luther entitled In Defence of the Seven Sacraments. (51) Pope Leo X was delighted with the document and in 1521 he granted him the title, Defender of the Faith. Luther responded by denouncing Henry as the "king of lies" and a "damnable and rotten worm". As Peter Ackroyd has pointed out: "Henry was never warmly disposed towards Lutherism and, in most respects, remained an orthodox Catholic." (52) Thomas Wolsey decided in 1525 to establish Cardinal College (now Christ Church) in Oxford. In order to pay for this he dissolved twenty-nine monasteries on the grounds that they were greedy and uncaring landlords. It was also claimed that the monks had been corrupted by the wealth obtained from renting their land. The college was built on the land owned by the Priory of St Frideswide. (53) Wolsey selected a young lawyer, Thomas Cromwell, to arrange the selling the lands and goods owned by the monasteries. (54) Roger Lockyer, the author of Tudor and Stuart Britain (1985) has pointed out: "Wolsey was a great prince of the Church in a tradition so alien to modern assumptions that it is difficult to comprehend him. Yet he was not without his virtues. He promoted education, and made his household a place where men of intelligence and ability learned how to serve the state. He was also tolerant, preferring to burn heretical books rather than the heretics themselves; and although he rose to power by royal favour he was not unworthy of it, for he had an enormous capacity for work, and knew how to win men." (55)

Henry Percy & Anne Boleyn Henry Percy worked for Thomas Wolsey and another member of staff, George Cavendish observed his relationship with Anne Boleyn. (56) According to Cavendish, Percy took advantage when Wolsey was away: "Lord Percy would then resort for his pastime into the Queen's maidens, being at the last more conversant with Mistress Anne Boleyn than with any other; so that there grew such a secret love between them that at length they were insured together, intending to marry." (57) Cavendish claims that it was on the orders of Henry VIII in 1522 that Wolsey who brought their relationship to an end. Percy was sent back home and Boleyn was expelled from court. She was so angry that "she smoked" red-hot with rage. (58) However, Alison Plowden, the author of Tudor Women (2002), thinks there is another explanation: "A less romantic but more plausible explanation is that the Cardinal had simply acted to prevent two thoughtless young people from upsetting the plans of their elders and betters. Wolsey and the Earl of Northumberland between them had no difficulty in reducing Lord Percy to an apologetic pulp, but Anne showed her furious disappointment so plainly that she was sent home in disgrace. (59) Thomas Wolsey by unknown artist (c. 1520) George Cavendish has argued that Henry VIII was "casting amorous eyes" in Anne Boleyn's direction as early as 1523. The historian, Alison Weir, suggests that this is likely to have been true: "Cavendish's information was probably correct; he was an eyewitness of the events of the period who was often taken into Wolsey's confidence, and Wolsey, of course, knew nearly all his master's secrets and made it his business to learn about the private intrigues of the court." (60) Cavendish was highly critical of Anne Boleyn and claimed that she promoted Protestantism. He quotes her as saying "I was the author why the laws were made". However, he does admit that she was "a very good wit". (61) Cavendish also suggests that she had never forgotten the role played by Wolsey in bringing her relationship with Henry Percy to an end. Cavendish believes that she used her influence to turn Henry VIII against his master. (62) Wolsey told Cavendish she was "the night Crow" and "called continually upon the King in his ear, with such a vehemency" she was irresistible. (63)