Thomas Wolsey
Thomas Wolsey (March 1473 – 1529), cardinal, papal legate and archbishop of York. Father to Thomas Winter and Dorothea Wolsey.
“You are, arguably, Europe’s greatest statesman and greatest fraud. You are also a kind man, tolerant and patient in an age when these qualities are not necessarily thought virtues.”
Hilary Mantel, Notes on characters
The story so far…
Week 1: Across the Narrow Sea / Paternity
In 1527, Wolsey is preoccupied with securing a divorce for Henry VIII. At the same time, he is closing “small, ill-run monastic institutions” to fund his colleges at Oxford and Ipswich. He is in permanent communication with the Almighty and is known to control the weather.
Week 2: At Austin Friars / Visitation
In 1529, the cardinal is falling. The dukes come to his London house to take his riches away for the king. Wolsey “has face” and speaks of his loyalty to the king. And his love for him. But his fingers are trembling. He breaks down when out on the river, and upriver, he gives his fool Sexton to Harry Norris. Norris has brought “words of comfort” from the king, a ring as present, but nothing concrete. Nothing in writing.
Week 3: An Occult History of Britain (Part 1)
For some twenty years, Wolsey was the preeminent churchman in England and adviser to the king. When did it all begin to fall apart? Cromwell recalls the day Wolsey brought in Sir Thomas Boleyn in 1523. No, your daughter will not marry the future Earl of Northumberland. Wolsey made enemies of the Boleyns. By 1527, Wolsey’s future depends on securing a divorce for his king. If he fails, the king will get rid of him. If he succeeds, the Boleyns will destroy him. Cromwell studies Wolsey’s succsesses and failures carefully.
Week 4: An Occult History of Britain (Part 2)
Late summer, 1527, and Wolsey returns from Europe with no progress in the king’s great matter. The cardinals refused to meet, and his latest plan is to try the case in a religious court in England. But the case is weak. There is a tender moment between the cardinal and his lawyer, when Cromwell tells Wolsey that his wife Elizabeth is dead.
Wolsey learns that the king has sent his own delegation to Rome, an indication of his waning faith in the cardinal. With no holidays and much to do, Wolsey carries on working, though he is often ill. He has received complaints from high and low places, while he works on his legacy project at the Cardinal Colleges. There is a scandal of sorts at his Oxford College, where six new scholars brought over from Cambridge are locked in a cellar for possession of forbidden books.
On the matter of books, the cardinal warns Cromwell about a move against William Tyndale’s friend and protector in London, Humphrey Monmouth.
Week 5: Make or Mar / Three-Card Trick
All Hallows, 1529. Wolsey’s servants, George Cavendish and Thomas Cromwell examine the wreckage. Wolsey’s household needs paying. And someone needs to speak in parliament against any attempt to charge their master with treason.
Wolsey worries about his colleges, his legacy of learning. We must please Anne, he says. But how? He proposes to send his musician Mark Smeaton to Anne as a gift.
At Christmas, Wolsey takes to bed. “Once he would never have done that, though he looks ill enough to justify it.” He says he’s safe until New Year. And on Twelfth Night, a pantomime version of him is rolling around in the mud with his knitted member out. The Cromwell boys try to console the Cromwell man: “You don’t have to hold me up … I’m not like the cardinal.”
The cardinal is writing to the rulers of Europe. It looks like treason to Cromwell, so it probably is. “I am glad I love my lord Cardinal”, he thinks. If he were his enemy, “I would be putting him on trial next week.”
Wolsey always said that the king has a fine mind. His father would be feared, for he couldn’t be loved. Henry is of a different nature. “I should write you a handbook”, says Wolsey to Cromwell. But the cardinal’s mind is clouded with prophecies of the downfall of the priests of England.
Wolsey is angry these days. He takes it out on Charles Brandon’s shadow. “The king’s horsekeeper! And I’ve known horses with more wit.” Miserable, he wants to go away. But there are rumours he is to return to favour. The king is unhappy with his councillors and wants to do a deal. So the dukes insist he goes far away, to York.
Week 6: Entirely Beloved Cromwell (Part 1)
The cardinal is heading north with a thousand pounds from the king, who misses him every day. “He wants to go slowly so the people can admire him”, says Cromwell. Wolsey leaves Cromwell a package, and when Cromwell kisses the cardinal’s hand, he sees the turquoise ring is missing.
Wolsey takes his time on the road, and great crowds gather to welcome him. Is he behaving wisely? He is certainly behaving like Wolsey. The king notes to Cromwell: “It seems to me he delays and delays.”
Week 7: Entirely Beloved Cromwell (Part 2)
Wolsey has been pardoned, but he is behaving like a prince in the north. Cromwell is afraid of what this might mean. Wolsey approaches York for his enthronement. He plans a convocation of the northern church in York. It looks like revolt. Norfolk and his niece Anne are out for his blood. Gardiner says they have closed the ports.
Cramner tells Cromwell that the king’s men lack love and kindness. Cromwell hopes this means the cardinal will be called back. “I am afraid that cannot happen now”, says Cramner.
Wolsey is arrested in early November, two days out of York. Harry Percy is charged with his arrest, the man he humiliated all those years ago. In private, he turned to Cavendish and said: “look at my face: I am not afraid of any man alive.” He stopped eating. He said, “Death is the end of this”, and when he was laid for burial, Cavendish found a hair shirt. He gave Cromwell his ring, and when he puts it on, he thinks: “The cardinal is alive and speaking. Look at my face: I am not afraid of any man alive.”
Week 15: Supremacy
Wolsey’s ghost pops up in 1534 to remind Cromwell not to be complacent:
Wolsey says, you know he will take the credit for your ideas, and you the blame for the bad ones? When fortune tunes against you, you will feel her lash: you always, he never.