The Rise of Wolsey

The butcher of Ipswich and his son

Thomas Wolsey was born in Ipswich in about 1473, the son of a butcher and cattle dealer. He took his Oxford degree at about fifteen, entered the Church because it was the only road to power open to a man without land, and in November 1509 became royal almoner, the priest who handed out the alms of the new king. Six years later he was a cardinal and Lord Chancellor of England. He built Hampton Court, kept a household of several hundred, drew an income greater than that of any nobleman in the kingdom, and for fourteen years ran the government while Henry hunted. The poet John Skelton asked in 1522 why nobody went to the royal court any more, and answered his own question: because the real court was at Hampton. The exam asks three things about him: why he rose, what his reforms achieved, and why the Amicable Grant of 1525 failed. This module gives you the dated evidence for each and the question shapes that use it.

Five words the examiners use

Each definition ends with the moment it mattered, because a bare definition earns nothing in a 12-mark answer.

The rise, in order

Put these six steps of the career of Wolsey in the order they happened.

• Appointed royal almoner by the new king
• Organises the supply and transport of the army that Henry leads to France
• Made a cardinal by the Pope, then Lord Chancellor by the king within four months
• Made papal legate, with authority over the English Church
• Demands the Amicable Grant to pay for a new invasion of France
• Issues the Eltham Ordinances to reform the royal household

Why him?

In 1513 Henry took an army of about 30,000 men to France. It was Wolsey, then a royal chaplain, who found the ships, the food, the tents and the beer. Within two years he was Lord Chancellor. What best explains the speed of his rise?

• He made himself indispensable to a king who wanted glory but not paperwork, by doing the enormous administrative work of the war faster and better than anyone else, and the Church gave a butcher's son the offices and income to match the job.
• His family connections at court secured him the offices.
• The Pope insisted that Henry promote him.
• He commanded the army that won the Battle of the Spurs.

Two kinds of reform

Wolsey reformed justice for the poor and finance for the crown. Examiners reward students who can say what each achieved and whom each offended.

Why the Amicable Grant failed

Five statements about the Amicable Grant of 1525. Tap the TWO that are reasons it failed rather than descriptions of what it was.

• It was demanded in March 1525, after the Emperor had captured the French king at Pavia and Henry saw his chance to invade France.
• It asked for a sixth of the goods of every layman and a third from the clergy, on top of the subsidy of 1523 that was still being collected.
• It was called a grant because it was never put to Parliament, which meant it had no legal standing and could be refused.
• The Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk were sent to collect it in East Anglia and met thousands of cloth-workers around Lavenham who said they could not pay.
• Henry cancelled it in May 1525, pardoned the protesters and let it be known that the Cardinal had acted without his knowledge.

The Amicable Grant: which are true?

Select the THREE statements that are true of the Amicable Grant.

• It came only two years after the subsidy of 1523, so many taxpayers were being asked to pay twice.
• It was demanded on royal authority alone, without a vote in Parliament.
• When it failed, Henry blamed Wolsey and the invasion of France was abandoned.
• It raised enough money for the invasion to go ahead.
• It was a tax on the clergy only.
• Parliament passed it after a long debate.

Success or failure? Judge it with numbers

The 16-mark question on this bullet is usually a judgement: how far was Wolsey a successful minister, or how far were his reforms a failure. The top level weighs evidence on both sides and reaches a view. Have both sides ready: For success: Star Chamber business multiplied tenfold and reached the powerful; the Court of Requests opened the law to the poor; the subsidy funded the wars of 1512 to 1514; the enclosure commissioners of 1517 actually went out and actually prosecuted. For failure: the enclosure prosecutions were dropped in 1523 to win the Commons over to the subsidy, so the reform was traded away; the 1523 subsidy fell short of what was asked by more than three quarters; the Eltham Ordinances were enforced for months, not years; and the Amicable Grant produced the nearest thing to a rising the reign had yet seen. The strongest judgements notice that the two lists overlap: the same reform that helped the poor made the enemies who brought him down. Say that, with the dates, and you are at the top level.

In the shoes of the Cardinal

Four decisions Wolsey faced between 1513 and 1525. Choose as he chose, and notice what each choice bought him and what it cost.

• Spring 1513. The king will invade France in June with tens of thousands of men and expects everything to be ready. You are a chaplain with no army experience. What do you do?
• 1517. Your commissioners report that landowners across the Midlands have enclosed land illegally, and several of them are friends of the king. What do you do?
• 1523. You have asked the Commons for 800,000 pounds for war and they are refusing. Their Speaker, Thomas More, will not give way. What do you do?
• March 1525. The French king is a prisoner after Pavia and Henry wants to invade at once. Parliament refused you two years ago. How do you raise the money?

From cause to consequence

Because a butcher's son could rise only through the Church, Wolsey collected bishoprics and by 1515 was a _____. Because Henry preferred the hunt to the council table, the man who managed the war of _____ ended up managing the kingdom. Because the enclosure prosecutions of 1517 reached the friends of the king, they were dropped in _____ to win a subsidy, and the reform died with them. Because Parliament had refused him, the Grant of 1525 was demanded without one, and when the weavers of _____ would not pay, the king cancelled it and blamed the _____.

Price the Amicable Grant

The Amicable Grant of 1525 demanded a sixth of the value of the goods of every layman, and a third from the clergy. How many pounds would a layman with goods worth 60 pounds have been asked to pay?

The 4-mark question

Question (a) might read: Describe two features of the reforms of justice under Wolsey. It is marked feature plus supporting detail, twice. Which answer scores all four marks?

• One feature was the growth of Star Chamber, where the number of cases rose from about a dozen a year under Henry VII to about a hundred and twenty, and where nobles could be made to answer. Another was the Court of Requests, which heard the cases of poor people who could not afford the ordinary courts.
• Star Chamber. The Court of Requests.
• Wolsey made justice much fairer for everyone and was a great reformer who cared about the poor.
• Wolsey reformed justice because he wanted to reduce the power of the nobility, which meant that they hated him, which contributed to his fall in 1529.

A 12-mark paragraph, marked

Question (b): Explain why Wolsey rose to power so quickly in the years 1509 to 1515. One reason for the speed of his rise was the war with France in 1513. Henry wanted to invade in person with an army of some thirty thousand men, and an invasion needs ships, victuals, tents, wages and horses at the right port on the right day. Wolsey, then a royal chaplain, took the whole of that burden on himself and delivered it, while the nobles who had expected to run the war were left to fight it. This meant that when the army came home the king had learned that one man could carry the business of government for him, and he never afterwards wanted to carry it himself: within two years Wolsey was Archbishop of York, a cardinal and Lord Chancellor. The war did not make Wolsey able, but it was the war that showed the king how able he was. What earned the marks: a cause named in the first sentence; specific support (the year, the size of the army, what supply involved, the offices that followed); the link phrase this meant that, which turns the story into an explanation; and a closing sentence that returns to the question. Two more paragraphs, on the character of the king and on the Church as a career, and the answer reaches the top level.

Write the 12-mark answer

Explain why the Amicable Grant of 1525 failed. You may use the following in your answer: the Battle of Pavia; opposition in Suffolk. You must also use information of your own.

• Support that counts: a date, a name, a figure or a place
• Causes of your own: the subsidy of 1523 still being collected, the absence of Parliament, or the reaction of the king

The 16-mark judgement

Question (c) might read: "The domestic policies of Wolsey were a failure." How far do you agree? A student has written the case FOR. Which is the strongest point to set AGAINST it?

• The reforms of justice worked and lasted: Star Chamber business multiplied tenfold and reached nobles, and the Court of Requests gave the poor a hearing they had never had, so on the evidence of what the courts actually did the charge of failure cannot stand.
• Wolsey became extremely rich, which proves he was successful.
• The king kept him in office until 1529, so the policies must have worked.
• The Amicable Grant raised a great deal of money.