The Role of Wolsey in Tudor Government

Created by: emilieh
Created on: 02-01-16 15:32

View mindmap

The Role of Thomas Wolsey in Tudor Government (c1472-1530)
- Relationship with Henry VIII
  - As long as Wolsey was able to fulfil the King's wishes, he remained in power.
    - Wolsey did not usurp power from the King, he was only allowed to wield it for as long as he remained useful.
    - Wolsey's contemporary critics used his social background to accuse him of undermining power of member of the traditional nobility & gentry.
      - e.g. Duke of Buckingham, merely because he resented him.
        Buckingham was executed because he seemed to be plotting treason and raising a private army.
    - It was only from 1527 when Wolsey failed to give Henry his divorce from Catherine of Aragon that his position came under threat.
  - Wolsey had rivals for his power, particularly from gentlemen in the Privy Chamber.
    - 1519- Wolsey expelled the 'minions' from the household who had too much influence with the King
    - The Eltham Ordinances in 1526 can also be seen as an attempt to control the Chamber as a rival source of power.
- Failures
  - Wolsey's personality and ambition led to criticism.
    - His grand schemes were too ambitious
      - He encouraged cases to brought to the Star Chamber, this led to a backlog that Wolsey, distracted by war and diplomacy, failed to clear.
    - Used his power & position to prosecute personal feuds.
      - Sir Robert Sheffield, Speaker in House of Commons in 1512, had been critical of Wolsey.
        Wolsey sent him to the Tower of London and fined him £5,333 for 'opprobrious words'
    - Wolsey managed to upset the group in Parliament that he needed support from, the landed nobility and gentry
      - 1523- Wolsey had to reverse his policy on enclosure as part of a deal with parliament.
        Tended to represent the interests of the landed elites.
      - Also mismanaged the financial crisis of 1522-23, haranguing Parliament in an attempt to get a higher rate of taxation from them, before turning to the non-parliamentary Amicable Grant.
  - Wolsey held many Church offices
    - Was not only the Archbishop of York, also Bishop of Lincoln and Tournai
    - Used the profits of his offices to live in grand style.
      - His household numbered 500 men, almost as big as the King's, and his building at Hampton Court was so magnificent that contemporaries called him an 'alter rex'- another King.
- Successes
  - Wolsey's main contribution was his organisational abilities.
    - Allowed Henry first to afford foreign war, and then play international peacemaker.
    - Introduced a new form of taxation, the subsidy.
      - Allowed the King to collect more taxation from his subjects.
  - As Chancellor, Wolsey attempted legal, social and economic reform.
    - Attempted to improve the administration of justice by prosecuting in Star Chamber local officials who were accused of corruption.
      - 1519- Prosecuted a prominent member of the Cheshire Gentry, Sir John Savage, on suspicion that he had been using his local influence to protect his son from murder charges.
        Wolsey's aim was to teach Savage 'The New Law of Star Chamber', Savage was pardoned, but he lost many of his local offices and had to pay a fine of 4,000 marks to the Crown.
      - More generally, Wolsey used the Star Chamber and Court of Chancery to encourage ordinary men to seek justice for their grievances.
        Led to huge increase in the workload of these Courts.
        
        Wolsey launched a national enquiry in 1517-18 to investigate the practice of illegal enclosure by landlords.
        On the basis of this enquiry, 264 landlords were prosecuted and 188 verdicts were reached.
- Summary
  - Wolsey was the son of an Ipswich Butcher and was clearly very intelligent from a young age as he went to Magdalen College, Oxford.
    - He then embarked on a career in the Church.
      - In this period, advancement through a career in the Church was a common method used by those from the lower ranks in society to rise.
  - By 1509 he had become Almoner (a distributor of money to the poor) of Henry VIII
    - Due to being under the patronage of Richard Fox, Wolsey became a member of the King's Council that same year.
  - Wolsey was a clever administrator and rapidly rose further because he pleased the King by coordinating the war effort against France (1512-14)
  - Wolsey became very successful in Tudor Court very quickly.
    - 1514- Wolsey was made Archbishop of York
    - 1518- Wolsey received the title of 'Legate a latere' from the Pope
    - And then in 1515 the Pope made Wolsey a cardinal, followed by being appointed as Lord Chancellor of England
      - This put Wolsey in charge of England's judicial system .
  - Wolsey's career rise was entirely dependent on the King's will.
    - From 1525, Wolsey's relationship with Henry had begun to unravel, especially once Wolsey was unable to secure the annulment of Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon.
    - By 1529, Wolsey had fallen completely out of favour with the King as he had outlived his usefulness.
      - Wolsey was accused of praemunire, stripped of his possessions and banished from Court
        He died a year later, on his way to trial.

Get Revising

The Role of Wolsey in Tudor Government

Comments

Similar History resources: