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English-Speaking Peoples (4): Henry VIII and Cardinal Wolsey
History of the English-Speaking Peoples, Volume 2, Book 4
For 12 successive Fridays starting September 30th, Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn and radio host Hugh Hewitt are discussing Churchill’s History of the English-Speaking Peoples in the Hillsdale Dialogues segment of the Hugh Hewitt Show.
Following each discussion, the Churchill Project will offer companion pieces highlighting important episodes and themes in the book covered. Readers will note that our writers focus on aspects of the books which our discussants may not. Such is the depth of Churchill’s History. Every reader may take what they prize most from this vast mine of political wisdom and understanding.
Page references (parentheses) are to Winston S. Churchill, A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, vol. 2, The New World (New York: Dodd Mead, 1956).
Thomas Wolsey and the English Reformation
King Henry VIII effected the definitive transition from medieval to modern England. He continued the work of his father, Henry VII, consolidating political power, Renaissance-style, into a central, national state. Known for his self-appointment as Supreme Head of the Church of England and heavy investment in a fledgling royal navy, Henry created institutions considered essentially British. They in turn determined the trajectory of England’s rise to the position of world power.
Winston Churchill dedicates most of his fourth “book” of A History of the English-Speaking Peoples to Henry VIII. Churchill’s interests as a historian are broad and contain many facets of human drama. But his political insights are particularly incisive. He intuitively grasps both political opportunities of historical circumstances and the way certain personalities exploited them.
Henry VIII, living in the twilight of the Middle Ages, could not have declared himself Head of the English Church without a long period of political developments in a direction away from Papal authority. Churchill highlights a central figure in these developments, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey. Without Wolsey, he considers Henry VIII’s self-appointment impossible.
Henry VIII was intelligent and boisterous but also stubborn and impetuous. Churchill writes that he strongly preferred to choose his counselors from commoners, in part for their pliability:
Profoundly secretive in public business, he chose as his advisers men for the most part of the meanest origin: Thomas Wolsey, the son of a poor and rascally butcher of Ipswich, whose name appears on the borough records for selling meat unfit for human consumption; Thomas Cromwell, a small attorney; Thomas Cranmer, an obscure lecturer in divinity. Like his father he distrusted the hereditary nobility, preferring the discreet counsel of men without a wide circle of friends (31).
Wolsey’s rise
Wolsey, studied theology at Magdalen College, Oxford, and was ordained priest in 1498. He served many nobles and eventually was appointed royal chaplain to Henry VII. Later Henry VIII made him a Privy Counsellor. When Henry favored an invasion of France in conjunction with Spain, Wolsey initially voiced opposition. After adamant persistence, he finally adapted his views to the King’s. The priest was given charge of hiring a Swiss army to invade Burgundy. He executed his role successfully, accelerating his rise in prestige:
Wolsey was richly rewarded for the foreign successes. He received the Bishopric of Lincoln during the course of the negotiations; then, after the peace terms were settled, the Archbishopric of York; and a year later, after long negotiation by the King on his behalf, in September 1515, a cardinal’s hat. This shower of ecclesiastical honours did not however give Wolsey sufficient civil authority, and in December 1515 Henry created him Lord Chancellor in place of Warham, whom he forced to resign the Great Seal (39).
Cardinal Wolsey served as the effective leader of England for 14 years. He was a strong advocate of the King’s interests. Yet he also found ways to forge strong connections with the Hapsburgs and with Rome. When Pope Leo X sought a European peace in order to call a Crusade against the encroaching Ottomans, he found Wolsey to be a strong ally. As a Papal legate, he organized a large meeting of European nations which resulted in the 1513 Treaty of London. Wolsey had consolidated both temporal and spiritual power, and his position in the Pope’s favor made him a central figure not only in English but also in international politics.
“The great Cardinal broke down”
Difficulties arose later the Cardinal’s influence with Rome waned. Henry became indifferent to his first queen, Catherine of Aragon. His favors were transferred to Anne Boleyn, who would eventually take her place. Wolsey had initially been complicit in keeping Henry’s affair secret. But Henry intended to marry Anne, and kept this from his Chancellor.
Knowing the difficulties it would present for the King’s cause, Wolsey resisted, attempting every diplomatic expedient. The Hapsburgs, who ruled the Holy Roman Empire, favored Catherine/ Eventually they sacked Rome and held the Pope practically a prisoner. As Churchill relates, Wolsey lost all influence and “[n]ew counselors were called in” (49). When he refused to hand his Great Seal over to the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk, they presented him with letters from the King stripping him of his chancellorship. “The great Cardinal broke down,” Churchill records, “and was found seated, weeping and lamenting his misfortunes” (50).
Wolsey’s fall was not enough for Anne Boleyn. She resented his resistance to her potential marriage, and coveted the Cardinal’s residence. York Place, the Palace of Whitehall. She and her mother took the King to “inspect the Cardinal’s goods at York Place.” Henry was affronted at the opulence of the residence. Indictments accusing Wolsey of not upholding jurisdiction of royal courts against ecclesiastical courts. and of a treasonous exchange of letters with the King of France. led to Wolsey’s arrest. He was never tried, however, as he fell ill during his travels and passed away in Leicester Abbey. In his last hours, those by his bedside heard him mutter: “[i]f I had served God as diligently as I have done the King, He would not have given me over in my gray hairs” (52).
How Churchill saw Wolsey
Wolsey’s downfall created not only a political, but also an ecclesiastical power vacuum. Abroad, he was a much sought-after diplomat, while domestically he freely exercised powers which had been liberally delegated to him from Rome. The English thus became accustomed to a powerful, local ecclesial authority, the “immovable power of Wolsey” (54). After the Cardinal’s fall, Churchill notes, the strong-willed Henry VIII filled the vacuum. The grounds were well-prepared for the King to declare himself the Supreme Head of the Church of England.
Churchill, himself experienced in the petty struggles of factions within the context of state governance, understood how particular interests create obstacles or opportunities for those quick enough to recognize them. He is particularly gifted, then, not only in recounting past events, but also in effectively portraying their causes.
The author
Mr. Duncan is a Classics and International Business double-major at Hillsdale College. He is a Fellow of the Churchill Project, a student worker in the President’s Office, and House Director of Niedfeldt Dormitory. He enjoys making homemade pasta in his free time.