Cardinal Thomas Wolsey

“ His foundation consisted of a dean, sixty canons, six professors, forty petty canons, twelve chaplains, twelve clerks, and sixteen choristers; and he proposed to fill it with men of his own choice, who would find there a fitting sphere for their energies.
Wolsey was a man well adapted to hold the balance between the old and the new learning. He had been trained in the theology of the schools, and was a student of St. Thomas Aquinas; but he had learned by the training of life to understand the new ideas ”

“ Ye shall understand what joy and delight the cardinal had to see his prince and sovereign lord in his house so nobly entertained and pleased.”
Who is this favoured mortal? He is Thomas Wolsey, the son of a wealthy wool-merchant of Ipswich. By his great ability and his zeal in the king’s service, he has raised himself from a comparatively humble position to be the envy of the greatest nobles in the land. “He is the person,” writes the Venetian ambassador, “who rules both the king and the kingdom. He is very handsome, learned, extremely eloquent, of vast ability, and indefatigable. ”

“ Below them were graciously left Wolsey's imprint—his arms, with a cardinal's hat on each side, and the inscription, "The Lord Thomas Wolsey, Cardinal legat de Latere, archbishop of Yorke and chancellor of Englande." The tapestry of the hall illustrates sundry passages in the life of Abraham. A Flemish pupil of Raphael is credited with their execution or design. ”

“ There was a stormy debate on this motion; but Sir Thomas More at length made peace, and it was passed. Thus Wolsey, on the whole, had contrived to obtain something resembling his original proposal, but the payments were spread over a period of four years. After this Wolsey, at the prorogation of Parliament, could afford to thank the Commons on the king's behalf, and assure them that "his Grace would in such wise employ their loving contribution as should be for the defence of his realm and of his subjects, and the persecution and pressing of his enemy." ”

“ On the 29th of November, 1530, thus died Thomas, Lord Cardinal Wolsey, one of the most extraordinary characters that was ever raised up and again overthrown by the mere will of a king, and who unconsciously contributed to one of the most extensive revolutions of human mind and government which the world has known. No words can more perfectly present the two sides of his character than those of our great dramatist:—
"Queen Catherine . ”

“ That had, in fact, been treated already by Chettle in August, 1601, and by Chettle, Munday, Drayton, and Smith in November, 1601, in two plays for the Admiral’s men.” There can be little doubt that that is the reason why, in the Cromwell play, the public is asked to “pardon if we omit all Wolsaye’s life.” But it evidently is the reason, too, why “all Wolsaye’s life” is omitted from Sir Thomas More. Nothing surely is more remarkable than the absolute absence of everything that concerns Cardinal Wolsey from our play. ”

“ About this time he and Sir Thomas Wyatt built a banqueting-house for the king at Greenwich, and accounts of banquets and revels audited by him as controller of the household are occasionally met with. In June 1527, just before Wolsey's great mission to France, he delivered to the cardinal's secretary, Stephen Gardiner [q. v.] , out of the exchequer certain boxes containing a number of international treaties and other evidences. He received Wolsey at Rochester on his way, and the cardinal sent him on in advance of him to make arrangements at Calais. ”

“ Among whom, as we shall see below, was the eldest son of the Earl of Northumberland. This was according to a practice much more ancient than the time of Wolsey; agreeably to which, young men of the most exalted rank resided in the families of distinguished ecclesiastics, under the denomination of pages, but more probably for the purposes of education than of service. In this way Sir Thomas More was brought up under Cardinal Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury; of whom he has given a very interesting character in his Utopia. From Fiddes’s Appendix to the Life of Wolsey, p. ”

“ Art. XLIV. Sir Thomas More, when Speaker of the House of Commons, noticing a complaint which had been made by the cardinal, that nothing could be said or done in that house, but it was presently spread abroad, and became the talk of every tavern or alehouse, “Masters, (says he) forasmuche as my lord cardinall latelie laied to our charges the lightnes of our tongues for things uttered out of this house, it shall not in my minde be amisse to receive him with all his pompe, with his maces, his pillers, pollaxes, his crosses, his hatt, and the greate seal too ”

“ Indeed he did not waste his time in trying to persuade others to see with his eyes. He could not have ventured to speak out and say that the Church must choose between the tender mercies of the royal power and submission to the discretion of one who, standing between the king and the Pope, was prepared to throw a semblance of ecclesiastical recognition over reforms which were inevitable. It is clear that Wolsey was working for the one possible compromise, and he hoped to effect it by his own dexterity. ”

“ He was a great refiner of sensual pleasures, had a passion for magnificence and display, and a real genius for court entertainments. He could eat and drink with the gayest courtiers, sing merry songs, and join in the dance. He was blunt and frank in his manners; but these only concealed craft and cunning. "It is art to conceal art," and Wolsey was a master of all the tricks of dissimulation. He rose rapidly after he had once gained the heart of the king. He became successively dean of York, papal legate, cardinal, bishop of Lincoln, archbishop of York, and lord chancellor. ”

“ The words of the dying man are often quoted as showing the misery of those who trust in princes' favour. But they are not merely an echo of a far-off state of things which has passed by for ever. "To serve one's country" may have a loftier and more noble sound than "to serve one's king," but the meaning is not necessarily different. The thought in Wolsey's heart was this—"If I had served the spiritual interests of my country as I have striven to serve its material interests my conscience would be more at rest." For Wolsey was a true patriot, and had noble aims. ”

“ On his way to Dover he had a conference with Archbishop Warham, whom he instructed about the conduct to be observed towards the queen. Then at Rochester he sounded Bishop Fisher, the most holy and upright of the English bishops, who had already been asked by Katharine to give her counsel, though she had not ventured to tell him what was the subject on which she wished for his advice. So Wolsey told his own story; that the king's conscience was disquiet, and that he wished to have his scruples set at rest by the opinions of learned men. ”

“ We are told that "he appears from his writings to have been a man of great honour and integrity, a good subject to his prince, a true lover of his country, and one who preserved to the last a very high reverence and [3] esteem for his old master and first patron Cardinal Wolsey, whose life he wrote in the latter part of his own, and there gives him a very high character."——"This work of his remained long in manuscript, and the original some years ago was in the hands of the Duke of Kingston, supposed to be given by the author to his daughter, who married into that family. ”

“ He has dealt much more freely with the Minister of that great King, and certainly nothing was ever more justly written, than the character of Cardinal Wolsey. He has shewn him tyrannical, cruel, and insolent in his prosperity ”

“ I will therefore here desist to speak any more in his [66] commendation, and proceed farther to his original beginning [and] ascending by fortune’s favour to high honours, dignities, promotions, and riches.
Finis quod G. C.
Truth it is, Cardinal Wolsey, sometime Archbishop of York, was an honest poor man’s son [45] , born in Ipswich, within the county of Suffolk; and being but a child, was very apt to learning ”

“ Many priests spent their time in hawking or hunting, in lounging at taverns, in the dissolute enjoyment of the world. If, however, there were no longer saints among the clergy, there could still arise among them a remarkable man. In Cardinal Wolsey the king found an adviser who was essentially a transition minister, holding a middle place between an English statesman and a Catholic of the old order. Under Wolsey's influence, Henry made war with Louis of France in the pope's quarrel, entered the polemic lists with Luther, and persecuted the English Protestants. ”

“ Men say that an English Cardinal ought not to be created lightly, because the English behave themselves insolently in that dignity, as was shown in the case of Cardinal Bainbridge just dead. Moreover, as Wolsey is the intimate friend of the king, he will not be contented with the Cardinalate alone, but, as is the custom of these barbarians, will wish to have the office of legate over all England. If this be granted the influence of the Roman Court will be at an end; if it be not granted the Cardinal will be the Pope's enemy and will favour France. ”

“ Still the fact remains that Wolsey thought no shame of receiving pensions from Francis and Charles alike; but there was nothing secret nor extraordinary in this. Wolsey regarded it as only obvious that his statesmanship should be rewarded by those for whom it was exercised; but the Emperor and the King of France never hoped that by these pensions they would attach Wolsey to their side. The promise by which they tried to win him was the promise of the Papacy; and to this Wolsey turned a deaf ear. "He is seven times more powerful than the Pope," wrote the Venetian ambassador ”

“ Wolsey had carried this doctrine into practice, too, by handing over to the king his palace of Whitehall, or York House, and Hampton Court—all the wealth in fact that he had gathered. Aye, surely the last words of the Cardinal were true; for if he had only served God by service to the people of England, instead of devoting all his great powers to the aggrandisement of the king, and the curtailment of English liberty, how much better it would have been for himself, and for the nation. ”

“ Popular feeling waxed high, and the lords who gave their decision so roundly against Convocation knew that they were sure of popular support.
Henry was not sorry of an opportunity of teaching the clergy their dependence upon himself, and he summoned the bishops before him that he might read them a lesson. Wolsey's action on this occasion is noticeable. He seems to have been the only one who saw the gravity of the situation, and he strove to effect a dignified compromise. ”

“ Doubtless he had a decided taste for splendour and magnificence, but it is scarcely fair to put this down to the arrogance of an upstart, as was done by his English contemporaries. Wolsey believed in the influence of outward display on the popular mind, and did his utmost to throw over the king a veil of unapproachable grandeur and unimpeachable rectitude. He took upon himself the burden of the king's responsibilities, and stood forward to shield him against the danger of losing the confidence of his people. As the king's representative he assumed a royal state ”

“ Who first depriude yong boies of their best part, With selfe same wounds he gaue he ought to smart.
So would he that first gelt religion or Churchliuings had bin first gelt himselfe or neuer liued, Cardinall Wolsey is the man I aime at, Qui in suas ponas ingeniosus erat, first gaue others a light to his owne ouerthrow. How it prospered with him and his instruments that after wrought for themselues, Chronicles largely report, though not apply, and some parcel of their punishment yet vnpaid, I doe not doubt but will bee required of their posteritie. ”

“ It is true that the former indignantly refused the suggestion, and dynastic reasons prevented Francis from favouring that of a marriage of Renée of France and Brittany with the King of England; but women, and indeed men, were for Wolsey but puppets to be moved, not creatures to be consulted, and the Cardinal went back to England exultant, and hopeful that, at last, he would compass his aspiration, and make himself ruler of the princes of Christendom. Never was hope more fallacious or fortune’s irony more bitter. With a strong master Wolsey would have won ”

“ And it would have been well had Wolsey continued in the same way the work he thus begun, and by watchful care endeavoured to recall the religious orders to greater fervour. Unfortunately his ambitious schemes soon involved him in a conflict with them. Those who might tolerate criticism, and even welcome wholesome correction, could hardly be expected to look with approval, or even indifference, on total extinction.
At the close of 1523 the cardinal had determined to rival other great churchmen as a founder of an Oxford college. ”

“ Their intent and purpose was only but to get him out of the king’s daily presence, and to convey him out of the realm, that they might have convenient leisure and opportunity to adventure their long desired enterprise, and by the aid of their chief mistress, my Lady Anne, to deprave him so unto the king in his absence, that he should be rather in his high displeasure than in his accustomed favour, or at the least to be in less estimation with his majesty. Well! what will you have more? This matter was so handled that the cardinal was commanded to prepare himself to this journey ”

“ What there is certainly does not convey a very high opinion of the man. Not many weeks after Wolsey's death he gave a supper to the French ambassador, at which he had the extremely bad taste to exhibit a farce of the cardinal’s going to hell (ib. v. No. 62) . When the authority of the bishops was attacked in the parliament of 1532, he was, naturally enough, one of the first to declare that neither pope nor prelate had a right to make laws ”