The scene: The Clock Court, Hampton Court Palace (above).
King Henry and Cardinal Wolsey are in conversation.
H: What news from the Olympic Games, Wolsey?
CW (nervous): I am pleased to say we are in third place behind the Holy Roman Empire and France, Majesty....
H (angry): What are you pleased about? This is an insult to the English crown . Why have you not delivered the crushing victory you promised? (Henry throws the book he is carrying in Wolsey's general direction)
CW: Our contestants toiled mightily, but we were unable to secure the expected victory in a number of key disciplines, Majesty.
H: (slightly calmer) How so?
CW: In the Torture team event, we were ahead of the Spanish after the Thumbscrews, but they have trained hard on the Rack, and extracted their confession several minutes ahead of us.
H: We must practice more; see to it. What of the Joust?
CW: Our man was bribed by the French and fell off his horse.
H: And the Rowing?
CW: The cannon that you specified only served to slow down our craft, Majesty.
H: THIS IS COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE!. You must raise fresh benevolences from the nobility in order to build the finest training facilities in Europe. Find Thomas More and tell him to provide fresh heretics for Torture practice . Tell the contestants that I will double French bribes, and provide a barrel of ale for any winners. (He smiles) And losers will be drowned in the same barrel, ha ha!
CW: Yes of course, Majesty. Will you be attending the closing ceremony?
H: Are the maidens fair?
CW: Allegedly, Majesty.
H: Good. I must to prayers. But how is the design for the arms for the 1512 Games progressing, Wolsey?
CW: Most fair Majesty, does this design please you? The ladies in waiting finished sewing it this morning.
H: Not bad. But something a little more dynamic perhaps?
CW: I will see to it Majesty.
They leave...
Picture of Clock Court: Wikipedia Commons
19 August, 2008
What news from the Olympiad, Wolsey?
16 July, 2008
We Are Not Worthy!
The scene: the Great House of Easement, Hampton Court.
Henry VIII is reading correspondence whilst the Groom of the Stool busies himself.
There is a knock at the door.
Henry: "Enter".
Enter Cardinal Wolsey, obviously in a state of high excitement.
Wolsey: "Majesty, I bring you great news!"
Henry: "Catherine has agreed a divorce?"
W: "Not yet, Majesty. The news concerns my Blog"
H: "Oh that waste of the Lord's day. What of it?"
W: "It has been recognised by Professor Luker and is in His List"
H (suspicious): "Did you say Luther?"
W:"No Sire, Professor Luker of the house of Cliopatria in the New World"
H: "What of this List?"
W: "It contains a choice selection of eighty Historical Blogs, and can only bring further esteem for your reign and reputation".
H:"Are the French represented?"
W: "I do not think so".
H (looking pleased):"Hmm. And Spain?"
W:"Again they seem absent. I am sure you will not object to the presence of the Classics, and the East?
Henry:"I suppose not. But make sure all your posts, from now on, mention myself and are written in courtly style. Now go and sort out my Great Matter. "
Wolsey (withdrawing):"Of course, Sire."
Henry: "And ensure that this List is proclaimed throughout the Land"
Wolsey: "I'm right on it".
Here it is, subjects:
07 April, 2008
Holiday Notes Easter 2008
Cardinal Wolsey was on holiday in France last week, and was pleased to pass a sign on the autoroute pointing out the Champ du Drap d'Or (Field of the Cloth of Gold), near to Calais.
This was the extravagant meeting in 1520 between Henry VIII and Francis I, suggested by myself. Each monarch tried to outdo the other in pomp and display of riches.
It was rather expensive for taxpayers on both sides, and failed to result in an Anglo-French alliance, which was the original idea.
In the relevant episode in TV's The Tudors, Henry wrestles Francis in a manly way, loses, and throws some chairs around. Grr!
25 March, 2008
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....
24 January, 2008
Cardinal Wolsey and the Tudor Navy
You may have spotted via my Shelfari widget that I have been reading David Childs' excellent ship biography The Warship Mary Rose. The Mary Rose was Henry VIII's flagship until she sank in home waters in 1545, having taken part in three wars against France and one against Scotland.
The Mary Rose was famously salvaged in 1982 and her remains are now displayed at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. A major project is under way by the Mary Rose Trust to build a fab new permanent exhibition to display the hull and exhibits, inevitably dependent on a large injection of dosh from Lottery funding. The decision on this is due TOMORROW Jan 25th, so fingers crossed!
Amongst the primary sources quoted by Childs are letters between Cardinal Wolsey and captains of the Mary Rose concerning the ships provisions (or lack of) and other matters. As the King's Master Almoner, Wolsey "...was able to demonstrate that the idea of a standing navy was a sustainable one." (Childs, ibid, p.89).
Childs also quotes Wolsey's biographer Francis Hacket:
"[Wolsey] personally signed contracts for everything from twenty-five thousand fat oxen for salting to the hire of fourteen mares to haul a culverin (cannon)" (ibid, p.90).
One of the problems that Wolsey seems to have encountered is that empty barrels were not returned by the navy to shore for re-filling with provisions - many were simply thrown overboard. Hence this extract from a letter to (Admiral) Thomas Howard in 1513:
"My lord, I assure you it is not possible to furnish your revictualling if Foists (barrels) be not
more plenteously brought from the navy to Hampton than they be....for ye cannot be provided elsewhere of any foists for money" (ibid, p.96).
Wolsey's rather statistical reaction to the loss of the warship Regent, blown up off Brittany in 1513 along with the French ship Cordeliere, is revealed in this extract from a letter to the Bishop of Worcester:
"And after innumerable shootings of guns and long chasing one another, at the last the Regent most valiantly boarded the [Cordeliere], wherein were 4 lords, 300 gentlemen, 800 soldiers and mariners, 400 crossbowmen, 100 gunners, 200 tunnes of wine, 100 pipes of beef, 60 barrles of gunpowder and 15 great brass cortains with so marvelous number of shot and guns of every sort" (ibid, p108).
After this bloody action in which up to 2000 men on both sides were killed, Henry decided to construct the Woolwich Dockyard to build more ships.
17 January, 2008
"The Tudors" is Annoying - Official
A quick post to wrap up the "Rate The Tudors" poll which ran on this blog before Christmas; this was during the first season run of the "bonking and plotting" series on the BBC.
The number of readers finding "The Tudors" to be Annoying just beat the votes for Gripping. Worryingly, 18% of the votes reckoned The Tudors is Accurate...maybe they voted before the episode when Wolsey commits suicide (the blog had a big spike of hits when this happened).
Anyway, all publicity is good publicity as they say, and the Tudors Season 2 preview has had a massive (for this blog!) 152 hits on Cardinal Wolsey's Vodpod.
Whilst on the subject of hits, I have now managed to get above the Cardinal Wolsey Biker Bar (in Hampton Court) website in the Google Search results for Cardinal Wolsey . This is success! Might even make 1000 unique visitors this month....
07 December, 2007
Wow. Cardinal Wolsey is hot on the Net!
Tonight the last episode of "The Tudors" series 1 aired on BBC1 here in Blighty. According to the mighty Statcounter real-time tracker tool, this blog started to getting an abundance of hits at around 21:50.
This was the moment when Sam Neill (playing myself) must have misread the script, as he picked up his lunch knife (with which he had just neatly sliced an apple), and proceeded to cut his own throat....nice.
So a lot of people are googling " Cardinul Wolsee how did he snuff it" and similar.
Let me reassure readers that this is what is known as a "ratings device", designed to generate controversy and get people to tune in to series 2 whenever it graces our shores. According to my sources Wolsey died of NATURAL CAUSES in Leicester, during his journey down to London to face possible execution for treason.
Here are all posts on Cardinal Wolsey's Death including "that quote" for those interested.
Anyway, the producers of the show made sure we were soon cheered up by a nice scene involving Henry, Anne Boleyn and a tree.
03 November, 2007
Cardinal Wolsey Arrested! 4th November, 1530.
What were the events leading up to the arrest and death of Wolsey?
During the autumn of 1529, Henry VIII, angry that Cardinal Wolsey had failed to secure an annulment to his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, had stripped Wolsey of his office of Chancellor, along with most of his property.
In February 1530 Wolsey was pardoned by Henry and allowed to retire as Archbishop of York. He set off for Yorkshire and set about winning support from the folk living around Cawood Castle (see picture), the residence of the Archbishop.
Wolsey's long-term survival seemed at this point reasonably secure if he played his cards cautiously.
However, Wolsey made two mistakes. He plotted to have Anne Boleyn (one of his key opponents at court) forced into exile and wrote letters to Queen Catherine and the Pope to that end, which the King found out about (Bad). Wolsey also apparently failed to invite Henry to his lavish planned enthronement as Archbishop of York (Bad also).
Having lost patience, Henry ordered Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland to arrest Wolsey at Cawood.
The scene of the arrest is described by George Cavendish, Wolsey's gentleman-usher and biographer:
"The Cardinal was at dinner when Northumberland arrived; the bustle occasioned by his admittance reached Wolsey's ears, who came out of the dining room on to the grand staircase to inquire the cause. He was there met by the Earl, who drew him aside to a window, and showed his commission, exclaiming, 'My Lord Cardinal, I arrest you in the name of King Henry.' The Cardinal assumed a lofty air and tone, appealing to the Court of Rome, whose servant he declared himself to be, and consequently not amenable to temporal arrest. In reply, said the Earl, 'My Lord, when you presented me with this staff (showing his staff of office), you then said that with it I might arrest any person beneath the dignity of a sovereign.' Wolsey's countenance immediately fell, while he soberly subjoined, 'My Lord, I submit, and surrender myself your prisoner.' "
source: York Online website.
Another account is given by Tudor chronicler Edward Hall.
After the arrest Wolsey was taken to Sheffield Castle, and died on the 24th November 1530 at Leicester, whilst being conveyed to London to face likely execution.
Incidentally, Wolsey was not buried in the monumental black sarcophagus he had designed for himself; that box was eventually occupied by...Lord Nelson. Wolsey was simply laid to rest within the walls of Leicester Abbey.
29 July, 2007
Cardinal Wolsey - Key Dates or Timeline
Key Dates in Cardinal Wolsey's life: this post will be updated as more events are added, so this is a "starter for 10". (Readers outside the UK may not be familiar with this phrase..it comes from the TV quiz show University Challenge, where each round starts with a question worth ten points!)
Wolsey's age at the time is given in brackets, assuming he was born in Jan 1472 (we are not sure).
1471, 1472 or 1473.Wolsey born in Ipswich, Suffolk. Son of probable butcher and/or grazier and/or merchant Robert Wulcy.
1487 or 88 (15 or 16). Took first degree at Magdelen College, Oxford at young age.
1491 (19) Took Masters degree at Oxford.
1496 (24) Father, Robert Wulcy, dies.
1497 (25) Elected Fellow of Magdalen; appointed Master of adjoining school.
1498 March 10th. (age 26). Ordained a priest in Marlborough
1500 (28) Presented with Rectory of Limington, Somerset, but may never have taken up residence (still schoolmaster in Oxford).
1506 (34) Acquires living of Redgrave in Suffolk.
1507 (35) Appointed chaplain to Henry VII.
1509, Feb.(37) Appointed Dean of Lincoln
1509. Death of Henry VII. Henry VIII becomes king.
1509. Henry VIII appoints Wolsey as Almoner, with a seat on the council.
1511 (39) Pope Julius II asks Wolsey for help against perceived French threat. Wolsey persuades Henry VIII to join Holy League against France
1511 (39) Wolsey becomes Canon of Windsor and member of Privy Council
1512 (40) Appointed Dean of Hereford.
1512-14 (40-42) War with France (expensive).
1513 (41) Henry dispatches army to Scotland to suppress rebellion. Scots defeated at Battle of Flodden with 10,000 dead, including James IV of Scotland.
1514 (42) Temporary peace with France brokered by Wolsey. Henry's sister Mary marries Louis XII as part of the deal.
1514 (42) Wolsey made Bishop of Lincoln, then Archbishop of York.
1514 (42) Wolsey angers Henry VIII by siding with the clergy in the case of Richard Hume.
1515(43) Pope Leo X appoints Wolsey as a Cardinal.
1515. Lord Chancellor Warham resigns after pressure from Wolsey. Henry VIII appoints Wolsey in his place.
1517-18 (45-46) Wolsey conducts enquiries into the Enclosures, which were driving the poor off the land and into the towns.
1518. Wolsey introduces "Just Price" policy to regulate meat prices.
1518. Wolsey made Papal Legate in England.
1518. Wolsey organises peace summit in London attended by 20 nations. Treaty of London signed as non-aggression pact and alliance against Turkish expansion.
1520 (48) Wolsey organises Field of the Cloth of Gold, an ego boost for Henry.
1520 (48) Wolsey makes alliance with Charles V of Holy Roman Empire against France, against treaty signed with France same year.
1522 (50) Wolsey raises £200,000 from the nobility via compulsory "benevolences".
1522-3 (50-51) War with France again (less successful).
1523. Wolsey drops opposition to Enclosures to gain Parliamentary support for war taxes. However, Parliament, led by Speaker Thomas More, offers only £100,000 per year against Wolsey's request for £800,000.
1523. Wolsey rewarded with Prince-Bishopric or Durham after succesful outcome of peace negotiations with France.
1524 (52) Wolsey dissolves a number of monasteries.
1524. Wolsey employed Benedetto of Florence to build a sumptuous sarcophagus of black marble at Windsor. Wolsey fell from disgrace before it was completed. It was eventually to mark the grave of Lord Nelson at St Paul's Cathedral in 1805
1525 (53) Charles defeats France at Battle of Pavia. Henry VIII has opportunity to seize power in France, but Parliament refuses to raise taxes. Wolsey devises Amicable Grant but is rebuffed and there is no invasion. Wolsey's popularity at new low.
1526 (54) Wolsey switches alliance to France again; devises League of Cognac (with France and some Italian states, against Charles)
1527 (55) Wolsey dissolves more monasteries.
1527, May. Wolsey convenes secret eclesiastical court to consider grounds for annulment of Henry's marriage to Katherine of Aragon, which Wolsey initially opposed.
1527. After bad harvest, Wolsey avoids disorder by distributing surplus grain to the needy.
1528 (56). Wolsey begins to limit benefit of the clergy.
1528. Henry is said to have exclaimed that he would have given "a thousand Wolsey's for one Anne Boleyn".
c1528. Son, Thomas Wynter Wolsey, born to Wolsey and his mistress Joan Larke of Yarmouth.
1529 (57). France makes peace with Charles, and stirs up Scots against England.
1529, Oct. Wolsey stripped of office of Lord Chancellor. Wolsey gives the King most of his property, and retires to Esher. Wolsey falls ill.
1530, Feb. Henry pardons Wolsey and confirms his Archbishopric of York, much to Anne's displeasure.
c1530 (58) Wolsey's daughter, Dorothy, born.
1530. Wolsey visits Sheffield
1530, Nov. Anne Boleyn's campaign against Wolsey is successful and he is charged with treason whilst in the north.
1530. Nov 28/29 Wolsey dies at Leicester on his way to probable execution in London. Wolsey was laid to rest within the walls of Leicester Abbey.
sources: Wikipedia, Catholic Encyclopedia, Luminarium
02 July, 2007
Is YouTube any good for History?
Is YouTube any use for those of us interested in History?
For future generations it is accumulating a vast pile of first-person accounts (eg the frontline coverage from Iraq and Afghanistan), and is very much focussed on the Now...maybe with a nostalgic retro feel in places (eg all the Star Wars spoofs).
However, a quick browse through turned up some interesting uploads (some of which are no doubt infringing copyright!):
A search for "Early Modern history" turned up an interesting video from Warwick University's ICAST series on Angels in the Early Modern Period.
This led to another Warwick video on Prof. John Bates' five year effort to edit a new edition of the Complete Works of Shakespeare - check out the bags under his eyes.
Americans are into re-enactment in a big way - this clip is comedian Dan Polydoris' take on the Renaissance Fair phenomenon - [warning - contains strong language and drug references!]
A search for Tudor History brings back 39 responses. Here is Adam-Hart Davies expounding on Tudor toilet technology as only he can.
CBS have put up an official trailer for the US hit series The Tudors, although there are lots or pirated clips also. CBS are taking a similar apprach to the BBC/HBO series "Rome" , hence I laughed when I heard this punchline from the CBS trailer: "The next best thing to being the King, is hanging with the King". Even better is this viewer comment: " this show is sooo frekin awesome!" Right.
Finally, here is US artist/historian George Stuart on Cardinal Wolsey, part of a monologue covering the key figures in 400 years of British History ... Wolsey gets just under five minutes.
That's it for now.
24 May, 2007
Cardinal Wolsey in Shakespeare; The Globe burns down during "Henry VIII", June 1613.
Shakespeare's last English history play, performed in 1613, was initially titled "All is True". By the time of the publication of the 1623 folio, however ,it had aquired a longer-winded title The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eighth. Shakespeare probably collaborated with John Fletcher on this play, as he did on others.
According to the Oxford Shakespeare, the play was just into its first run at the Globe, Southwark, in June 1613 when the firing of a cannon ignited the theatre's thatched roof and burned it to the ground. Oops. The were luckily no serious casualties.
See below for a selection of lines or quotations spoken by Cardinal Wolsey in Shakespeare's "Henry VIII".
Act 2 Sc 2:
Wolsey (aside to Gardiner, the King's new secretary, later Bishop of Winchester)
"Give me your hand. Much joy and favour to you. you are the King's now."
Gardiner (aside to Wolsey)
"But to be commanded for ever by your grace, whose hand has raised me."
Act 3 Sc 1
Wolsey (to Queen Katherine)
"Madam, you wrong the King's love with these fears. Your hopes and friends are infinite."
Act3 Sc 2
Wolsey (aside)
"Anne Boleyn? No, I'll no Anne Boleyns for him"
Act3 Sc 2
Wolsey (aside)
"...Again there is sprung up an heretic,
An arch one, Cranmer, one hath crawled
Into the favour of the King
And is his Oracle."
Wolsey (to Henry)
"....My endeavours have ever come too short of my desires..."
Wolsey (facing his downfall):
...This is the state of man. Today he puts forth
The tender leaves of hopes; tomorrow blossoms,
And bears his blushing honours thick upon him;
The third day comes a frost, a killing frost,
And when he thinks, good easy man, full surely
His greatness is a-ripening, nips his root,
And then he falls, as I do...."
Wolsey (to Cromwell):
...Had I but served my God with half the zeal I served my King, He would not in mine age Have left me naked to mine enemies."
Click this link for more Cardinal Wolsey quotes
04 October, 2006
Cardinal Wolsey Quotes including his Death
If you are searching for quotes by or about Cardinal Wolsey, including his Death, these are perhaps the two best-known quotes from the man himself....
"Father Abbot, I am come to lay my bones amongst you"
George Cavendish, Negotiations of Thomas Wolsey (1641), referring to Wolsey's arrival, already ill, at Leicester Abbey, Nov 26th, 1530, on his way to probable execution at the Tower. He died at Leicester on November 28th or 29th, aged around 55.
"Had I but served God as diligently as I have served the king, he would not have given me over in my gray hairs."
ibid.
Click this link for Cardinal Wolsey quotes in Shakespeare's Henry VIII
04 September, 2006
Great House of Easement webcam
Cardinal Wolsey has returned from holiday in Cornwall (where the population is still paying for their ill-advised rebellion in 1497), to learn that King Henry wishes a web-cam to be installed in the Great House of Easement at Hampton Court.
Given that up to 28 may be sat upon the boards at a time, there is scope for seditious conversations and discussion of plots, which vexes the King. The matter will be discussed with the Master of Works and hopefully some interesting views will be available on this blog shortly.
