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• Thomas Wolsey

Thomas Wolsey was born in Ipswich in 1471. His father was a successful merchant who was rich enough to give his son a good education. Soon after Wolsey left Oxford University he was asked to work for Henry VIII. The two men soon became firm friends.

In 1514 Henry made Wolsey his Lord Chancellor. At this time Henry was only twenty-three and preferred hunting, gambling and dancing to governing the country. Henry therefore only spent about an hour a day on government business. It was Wolsey, rather than Henry, who made most of the decisions needed to run the country. People began to complain that Wolsey, not Henry, was the real ruler of England.

Wolsey was rewarded for this work by being granted some of the main posts in the church. As well as being Lord Chancellor he was also Archbishop of York, Bishop of Lincoln and Bishop of Durham. This made Wolsey very wealthy and enabled him to build grand palaces such as Hampton Court.

Wolsey's main ambition was to become Pope. In 1515, Pope Leo X made him a cardinal but Wolsey also had many enemies and he never became the head of the Catholic Church.

In 1524 Henry VIII became convinced he wanted a divorce from Catherine of Aragon. Henry sent Wolsey to discuss the matter with Pope Clement VII. Wolsey failed to persuade the Pope to agree to the divorce. Henry became angry with Wolsey, accused him of being a servant of the Pope and sacked him from his post as Lord Chancellor.

Wolsey attempted to gain Henry's favour by giving him all his wealth, houses and lands. This strategy failed to work. In 1530 Henry ordered the arrest of Wolsey for high treason. By this time Wolsey was a broken man and he died before the trial could be held.