WOLSEY

THOMAS, CARDINAL, was bom in 1471, and educated at Magdalen College, Oxford. He eventually became a private chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury, one of the governors of Calais, chaplain to Henry VII., then Dean of Lincoln, Canon of Windsor, Dean of York, Bishop of Lincoln, and Archbishop of York and his nomination as Cardinal in 1515, and Pope’s; Legate in 1518, completed his ecclesiastical dignities. He was twice a candidate for the Papacy, and actually became Lord Chancellor of the Kingdom. He projected Christ Church College, Oxford, founded lectures, and built Hampton Court Palace. He was wise in his counsel to Henry, enabling him to hold the balance of power between Francis I. and the Emperor Charles V.; and at the same time he succeeded in making his own power very great. His succe terminated in 1520, at the Field of the Cloth of Gold and his failure in obtaining a divorce between Henry; and Catherine of Aragon hastened his downfall. He was arrested, and died in 1530 at Leicester Abbey. Shakespeare’s account of his death is famous.