The King's Cardinal

The King's Cardinal is the title of Peter Gwyn's massive biography of Wolsey that I am currently embarking on. This is not History-lite: 639 pages, 14 pages of bibliography, no pictures. Chance of finishing it before it is due back at library: nil.

The book, subtitled The Rise and Fall of Thomas Wolsey was generally well received when published in 1990 in hardback ("Magisterial", according to Lady Antonia Fraser), and the paperback edition was re-issued in 2002.

Gwyn is essentially pro-Wolsey, and sets his stall out in the introduction to challenge the "conventional wisdom" of Wolsey as a bloated anachronism standing in the way of Reformation, i.e. it is a "revisionist" account.

In his Introduction, Gwyn quotes an early "Wolsey-Basher", John Skelton. Skelton was Henry VII's poet laureate, and his son Henry VIII's tutor, and later King's Orator. Here is his poem

"Why Come ye nat to Courte?"

To whyche court?
To the kynges courte?
Or to Hampton Court?
Nay, to the kynges court!

The kynges courte
Shulde have the excellence;
But Hampton Court
Hath the preemynence!

To be continued....

Turn the pages of "The Golf Book" with the British Library

Have just discovered The British Library "Turning the Pages" site, where they use a clever Shockwave plug-in to simulate turning the pages of landmark historical books with your mouse.

The list of books on display includes the Luttrell Psalter; the Sherborne Missal; the Sforza Hours; and the Flemish "Golf Book" (so called due to the inclusion of golf in the illustrations of medieval games and pastimes).

There is even a draggable "magnifying glass" for superb close-ups.

You can download the Shockwave plug-in from Adobe from the site.