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.
(1)
R. Holinshed, Chronicles (1587)
Thomas Wolsey was a poor man's son, of Ipswich... he reigned
a long season, ruling all things within the realm.
(2)
James Oliphant, A History of England (1920)
Wolsey
had become very unpopular... with the nobility... and the King was
ready to sacrifice him to save his own prestige, which had suffered
from his heartless treatment of the Queen.
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