Category: Cardinal Wolsey

On this Day, March 21st, in Tudor Time…

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On This Day 21st March 1525

On 21st March 1525 Commissioners were appointed to raise the ‘Amicable Grant’, an idea that Cardinal Wolsey had come up with to raise money for another war with France. Wolsey tended to a pacific foreign policy, but Henry VIII was more bellicose. Unfortunately, by the mid-1520s, he was also very short of money. An enormous amount of tax had been levied in 1523, supplemented by a huge subsidy from the clergy, but now more money was needed, ostensibly to be provided by a loan. Violent unrest was the result, and some of the commissioners sent to collect it were manhandled. Eventually, the grant was cancelled, but the fiasco undermined Henry VIII’s confidence in Cardinal Wolsey.

On this day, 24th December, in Tudor time…

  

On This Day 24th December 1514



On 24th of December 1514, Thomas Wolsey was appointed Lord Chancellor of England. Wolsey, of undistinguished birth, had shown early academic and political skills and had entered the household of Henry VII in around 1505. On the accession of Henry VIII, Wolsey rapidly became one of his most important councillors. His organisational skills were particularly appreciated during the French campaign of 1512. For the next 17 years Wolsey was to be second only to the King in power and influence in England. 

Thomas Wolsey is our person of the month of January. I’ll be posting all aspects of his life especially during the time of his influence. 

Subscribe/Follow this blog so you don’t miss out on all the new content to come! In 2016, I’ll be implementing guest articles, biographies, book reviews and much, much more! For a bit of a taste, below is some aspects of Cardinal Wolsey I will include on his being Person of the Month:

Guest Article
‘Hampton Court Palace: Wolsey’s Masterpiece’ by Daniel Jackson
We are delighted to have a Guest Article from Daniel Jackson, a Curator of Historic Buildings for Historic Royal Palaces. Daniel tells us about the history and construction of Wolsey’s great masterpiece on the Thames that became a Royal Palace and an icon of the Tudor age.


Life Story
Thomas Wolsey rose from being the son of an Ipswich butcher to being called the Arbiter of Europe and a credible candidate for the Papacy. Whilst he was not the first man to climb to power through the Church, he was one of the most talented, ambitious and controversial figures to wield power in England. Henry VIII’s right hand man for fifteen years, his eventual fall was as precipitous as his rise.

Following in the Footsteps

Wherever Wolsey went, whether on a diplomatic mission to France or the Empire or merely to carry out his daily functions as Privy Councillor and Lord Chancellor, his journeyings were occasions of pomp and pageantry.

Wolsey: The Life of King Henry VIII’s Cardinal

Wolsey was a byword in his own time for magnificence and extravagance. He understood the importance of spectacle and outward appearance as a tool of power and brought this to bear in his building programmes and his diplomatic triumphs.

* Thomas Wolsey: Patron of Education

* The Field of Cloth of Gold  

* Thomas Wolsey: In History & Literature

Book Reviews

Wolsey is the subject of one of the earliest biographies ever written, and then a couple of works in the 1970s, including the best academic reference, The King’s Cardinal by Peter Gwyn.

The most recent biography of Wolsey is Wolsey: The King’s Cardinal by John Matusiak.

  
 

On this day, 19th December, in Tudor time…

  

On This Day 19th December 1521
On 19th December 1521, Henry VIII wrote in his own hand to his nephew-by-marriage, the Emperor Charles V. Henry, notorious for disliking writing, excused the shortness of his note by saying he was suffering from catarrh and headache. The letter was full of the usual compliments – thanks to Charles for receiving Cardinal Wolsey, and writing to Henry, and confirmation that any injury done to Charles would be considered an injury to Henry himself.