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The Life of King Henry VIII's Cardinal
Cardinal Wolsey is a controversial figure: a butcher’s son, a man of letters and the Church, a divisive political expert, a man of principle – yet, to some, an arrogant upstart. As Lord Chancellor to the incorrigible Henry VIII he achieved much both at home and abroad, but his failure to achieve the mighty monarch’s divorce from Catherine of Aragon saw him brought to his knees. John Matusiak explores the pragmatic cardinal’s life and career to uncover a man of contradictions and extremes whose meteoric rise was marked by an equally inexorable descent into desperation, as he attempted in vain to satisfy the tempestuous master whose ambition ultimately broke him. Far from being another familiar portrait of an overweight and overweening spider or cautionary tale of pride preceding a fall, this is the gripping story of how consummate talent, noble intentions and an eagle eye for the main chance can contrive with the vagaries of power politics to raise an individual to unheard of heights before finally consuming him.
17th January, 2018 in Biography & Memoir, History
In January 1648 a measure was passed declaring that the two Houses would ‘make no further Addresses or Applications to the King’ and ‘receive no more any Message from the King’. To complete Charles’ isolation from power, it was also made treasonable for anyone else to apply…
16th January, 2017 in History
In the twenty-four years that followed his crushing victory at the Battle of Bosworth Field, Henry VII both confirmed and consolidated the Tudor dynasty’s grasp on power by a canny combination of sound finance, tough justice and peace abroad. Above all, however, he marr…
25th October, 2016 in History
Death figured prominently in the Tudor psyche, as it did throughout contemporary European, and this outstanding example of a memento mori, or ‘reminder of death’, could not embody more aptly both the transience and potentially agonising end of any sixteenth-century…
19th October, 2016 in History, Women in History
What do you really know about Henry VIII’s first wife, Catherine of Aragon? Here are 12 facts which profile this tenacious, single-minded and principled Tudor queen. 1. Betrothal to Arthur Catherine was betrothed to Henry VII’s infant son Arthur, at the age of three. Th…
18th December, 2015 in Biography & Memoir, History
As the power brokers of the next reign span their webs and hovered solicitously in the background, Henry VIII’s ailing body had deteriorated steadily throughout January 1547. Some thirty-eight years earlier, he had ascended the throne of England, the epitome of health and vitalit…
