Thomas Wolsey

Cardinal, Archbishop of York, b. at Ipswitch, the usually accepted date, 1471, being probably three or four years too early; d. at Leicester Abbey, 29 November, 1530. His father, Robert Wulcy (or Wolsey), was a man of substance, owning property in Ipswich, but it is not known that he was a butcher as commonly reported. The cardinal himself always wrote his name as "Wulcy". He was educated at Oxford, where he took his degree at the age of fifteen, winning the title "the boy bachelor". About 1497 he was elected fellow of Magdalen, and after becoming M. A. was appointed master of the adjoining school. The father of three of his pupils, the Marquis of Dorset, presented him the rectory of Limington in Somerset in October, 1500. He had been ordained priest at Marlborough (10 March, 1498) by the suffragan of the Bishop of Salisbury. He also received other benefices, and became one of the domestic chaplains to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Henry Dean. On the Archbishop's death (1503) he became chaplain to Sir Richard Nanfan, who, perceiving his remarkable talent for administration, entrusted him with his financial affairs and introduced him to the notice of King Henry VII. When Sir Richard died in 1507, Wolsey became one of the court chaplains, and was befriended by the influential Bishop of Winchester, Richard Fox. He shortly acquired the livings of Redgrave in Suffolk (1506) and Lydd in Sussex (1508), and about this time the king began to employ him in the diplomatic service; it was probably then that he made the well- known journey into Flanders and back as special envoy to the Emperor Maximilian with such rapidity that when he returned on the third day the king, believing he had not yet started, rebuked him for remissness. As Master of the Rolls his grasp of practical affairs enabled him to initiate reforms which greatly accelerated the business of the Court. On 2 February, 1509, he was made dean of Lincoln, and on the Accession of Henry VIII, which happened shortly after, he received an assurance of the continuance of royal favour in his appointment as almoner. During the next year he supplicated for the degrees of B. D. and D. D., and obtained the additional livings of St. Bride's, Fleet Street, London, and Torrington in Devonshire, as well as a prebend in Hereford cathedral. On 17 Feb., 151, he became a canon of Windsor and soon after registrar to the Order of the Garter. +