The King's Cardinal: The Rise and Fall of Thomas Wolsey (Pimlico)

by Gwyn, Peter

  4 Hall, p.592.

  5LP, ii, 3985 ff.

  6LP, ii, app.38.

  7 Wolsey’s detailed instructions to Pace give the best indication of English policy at this time; for which see LP, ii, 1065, 1095, but also LP, ii, 1943 (BL, Vit. B. xix, fos.98-102v.), which has been placed in May 1516, but must be before Maximilian’s retreat from Milan, and is probably an answer to Pace’s letter of 4 Feb. (LP, ii, 1480).

  8 Knecht, pp.67-8.

  9LP, ii, 1003.

  10 See Brandi, pp.96-9 for an excellent pen portrait: ‘unstable, easily tempted by wild plans, usually without patience, and always without money’ – which follows closely Julius II’s judgement reported by Pace to Wolsey, 12 May 1516 (LP, ii, p.lxxviii). Also Pace’s own assessment that Maximilian ‘doth as oftentimes change his mind as the weathercock doth change his turn’ (LP, ii, 2034).

  11 Mallet and Hale, pp.221-3.

  12 Brandi, pp.21 ff. This remains in my view the best biography, and has been much relied upon in all that follows.

  13 See Brandi, pp.45-61 for a useful introduction to the rivalry between Margaret on the one hand and Chièvres and Sauvage on the other.

  14 Pastor, vii, pp.3, 88.

  15 Pastor, vii, pp.108 ff.

  16 Knecht, pp.47-65; Pastor, pp.134 ff.

  17LP, ii, 1721.

  18 It is very hard to provide adequate footnotes when detailed events are so briefly summarized, but the evidence on which this account is based can easily be consulted in the various calendars of state papers (LP, Sp. Cal., Ven. Cal.).

  19LP, ii, 1721, 1729, 1754, 1877.

  20LP, ii, 1753, 1784, 1863, 1890, 1942.

  21LP, ii, 1746, 1816-7, 1877-8, 1890-2, 1896.

  22 See especially LP, ii, 1582, 2095, 2177, but it is present in all their correspondence; see also LP, ii, pp.lx-lxvii, xcv.

  23LP, ii, 1817, 1965, 1982-3, 2040, 2076-7, 2090, 2151-2, 2157.

  24LP, ii, 2099, 2132, 2165, 2217, 2219, 2317, 2322, 2331.

  25LP, ii, 2387 (BL, Vit. B. xix, fos.267-71) – what Wolsey called ‘certain weighty matters of secrecy’ in a letter to Pace of 27 Sept. 1516. Also LP, ii, 2501.

  26 Rymer, xiii, pp.556-72; LP, ii, 2486, 2497. For the negotiations, chiefly with Schinner, see 2445, 2449, 2462-4, 2472. For the agreement of Charles’s ambassadors see LP, ii, 2499, 2630.

  27LP, ii, 2640, 2663, 2902, 2958, 2991-2 – when the phrase is mentioned for the first time. I am assuming that earlier references to objected ‘invasion clause’ are to it, but I may have jumped to the wrong conclusion.

  28 13 August 1516.

  29 Knecht, p.67.

  30 Maximilian and Charles met up on 29 Jan. 1517 (LP, ii, 2861).

  31LP, ii, 2863, 2891.

  32 Agreement made by representatives of Maximilian and Francis at Brussels on 3 Dec. 1516. For their suspicions and confirmation see LP, ii, 2862, 2891, 2910, 2921, 2930, 2940.

  33LP, ii, 2562, 2565, 2659.

  34 The ‘somewhere’ needs to be stressed, as should the fact that my figure is for what I believe to have been paid out as distinct from what was promised. Wolsey’s estimate in Sept. 1516 – and much continued to paid out after this date – was considerably higher: over £80,000 on Maximilian’s behalf (LP, ii, 2404-5), though for a much lower estimate in April 1517 see LP, ii, 3106.

  35 The amount was 100,000 Flemish florins, with a florin being anything between 2s 2d and 3s 3d. For the loan see inter alia LP, ii, 3143-4, 3402, 3439-42.

  36 This on 5 July (LP, ii, 3437); see also Rawdon Brown, ii, 95-103 (LP, i, 3455, 3462) for detailed descriptions. But the embassy was largely ceremonial, the effective confirmation having been signed in Brussels on 11 May (LP, ii, 3225).

  37LP, ii, 3191, 3221-2.

  38LP, ii, 3693.

  39 Surtz, Catholic Historical Review, xxxix (1953-4), pp.272-97

  40 But cf. Brewer’s ‘cold cautious character … His habitual caution and timidity foiled his first and better judgment-’ (LP, ii, p. cxiii).

  41 Wegg is still very useful, but on Pace’s early career in Bainbridge’s household at Rome see Chambers, ‘English representation’, pp.390-3.

  42 See pp.550-5 below.

  43LP, ii, 2095; see also LP, ii, 1582.

  44LP, ii, 463.

  45LP, ii, pp.lx-lxi, 982, 1265.

  46LP, ii, 1817 – Pace to William Burbank, 23 April 1517.

  47 cf. Andrea Ammonio from Lucca, the king’s Latin secretary, friend of More and Erasmus and enemy of Vergil; also the Casali family from Bologna, from the mid-1520s active on royal service in Rome and Venice; and the Genoese Jean-Joachim de Passano in the service of Louise of Savoy.

  48 Behrens.

  49LP, ii, 2700. Spinelly was subsequently deputed to accompany Charles to Spain which suggests that the suspicion of him did not last long.

  50LP, ii, 2930.

  51 Chambers, ‘English representation’, pp.439 ff.

  52 Lord deputy of Calais from c.1515 to 1519.

  53Inter alia LP, ii, 2369, 2872, 2967, 3120; LP, ii, app.32.

  54 Cruickshank, Tournai, pp.208 ff.

  55 There is no substitute for reading his reports – and very good reading they are too.

  56 For evidence that Giustinian was in contact with his French colleague and that Henry and Wolsey were aware of this, see especially Rawdon Brown, ii, p.172 (LP, ii, 4009); also ibid, ii, p.311 (LP, iii, 402).

  57 See Giustinian’s comment about Wolsey’s ‘very warm language, similar to that uttered by the king when we had audience of him’ (Rawdon Brown, i, p.111); but for a fuller discussion of the way Henry and Wolsey conducted their business relations see pp.207 ff. below.

  58 Rawdon Brown, i, pp.104, 110-1, 115-7 (LP, ii, 652, 666, 716).

  59 Rawdon Brown, i, pp.110-1 (LP, ii, 666).

  60 Rawdon Brown, Court of Henry VIII, i, pp.182, 209, 256, 267, 274, (LP, ii, 1585, 1730, 2205, 2259, 2264).

  61 Rawdon Brown, i, pp.156-7, 267 (LP, ii, 1380, 2259).

  62 Rawdon Brown, ii, pp.50-1 (LP, ii, 3081).

  63 Rawdon Brown, i, pp.110-111. The whole document is a very good example of the effect that Wolsey’s constant pressure had on Giustinian.

  64LP, ii, p.1019)

  65LP, ii, 3033.

  66 See especially: ‘Neither the right reverend Canterbury nor Winchester, nor the illustrious duke of Suffolk, nor many other lords who are accustomed to discuss state affairs here, were present at this conclusion, a fact which has caused incredible surprise and universal dissatisfaction, the general inference being that the right reverend Cardinal of York is the beginning, middle and end of this result.’ (Rawdon Brown, i, p.326); also ibid, p.264 (LP, ii, 2222).

  67 This will discussed more fully in connection with Wolsey’s downfall; see pp.572-6 below.

  68 Rawdon Brown, ii, pp.29-32 (LP, ii, 2896).

  69 On 28 Nov. Robert Wingfield reported pressure on Maximilian to come to terms with the French; on 5 Dec. Tunstall reported that this had happened, only two days after it had; for which see LP, ii, 2605, 2633.

  70LP, ii, 2700.

  71LP, ii, 2869.

  72LP, ii, 1746, 1877-8, 1923, 2151, 2366, 2473.

  73LP, ii, 2798.

  74LP, ii, 2891, 2910.

  75LP, ii, 2992.

  76LP, ii, 2930.

  77LP, ii, 2930.

  78LP, ii, 2910.

  79LP, ii, 2940 – in fact a joint letter but it was expressly stated that Tunstall was making this point.

  80LP, ii, 2958.

  81LP, ii, 2992 (BL, Galba B. v, fo.129v.).

  82LP, ii, 3047, 3049, 3054.

  83LP, ii, 3094, 3223-5, 3232.

  84 The interpretation is Scarisbrick’s in his Henry VIII, pp.56-96. In resisting it, I wish to stress my admiration for the way in which the interpretation was put forward.

  85LP, ii, 1065, 1095.

  86LP, ii, 1470, 1564, 1565, 1593.

  87LP, ii, 1943 (BL, Vit. B. XIX, 98-102v.) In LP it is dated to late May 1516, and this dating is accepted by Scaris
brick (Henry VIII, pp.61-2) and this materially affects his interpretation. But in fact it has to be a letter written before Wolsey knew of Maximilian’s retreat from Milan on 24 March; I suspect an answer to Pace’s letter of 4 Feb. (LP, ii, 1480).

  88LP, ii, 1816 (PRO, SP1/13/fos.123-5).

  89LP, ii, 1943 (BL, Vit. B. XIX, fo.100).

  90 Scarisbrick, p.62.

  91LP, ii, 1753 (PRO, SP1/13/fo.91v.).

  92LP, ii, 1928 (Martene and Durand, iii, p.1274).

  93LP, ii, 1943.

  94LP, ii, 1928 (Martene and Durand, pp.1269-75).

  95LP, ii, 981-2.

  96 Rawdon Brown, i, pp.102 ff (LP, ii, 652, 666, 847).

  97 Cruickshank, Tournai, passim.

  98LP, ii, 175 – Francis I in conversation with the English ambassadors as reported 18 Feb.

  99LP, ii, 175.

  100 24 March; see Knecht, p.37.

  101LP, ii, 437.

  102 See especially Rawdon Brown, i, pp.110-11 (LP, ii, 666).

  103LP, ii, 175, 184, 189, 192, 231, 296, 304 for continuing negotiations with Francis; LP, ii, 301 for the treaty; LP, ii, 428 for Francis I’s confirmation.

  104LP, ii, 468, 613, 740-1.

  105 Rawdon Brown, i, p.124 (LP, ii, 847).

  106LP, ii, 827 (BL, Calig. D. vi, fo.245).

  107LP, ii, 1113 – an account by the French ambassador of these various interviews.

  108LP, ii, 2648, 2679, 2866.

  109LP, ii, 2082.

  110LP, ii, 2178.

  111LP, ii, 2218 – this a letter of Henry’s to Wolsey and thus no diplomatic reason for it.

  112LP, ii, 2387.

  113 Rawdon Brown, ii, pp.95 ff. (LP, ii, 3455, 3462).

  114LP, ii, 3693.

  115 Its payment was secured by the Anglo-French treaty of 5 April 1515.

  116 In what follows I have relied heavily on Eaves, Scottish Diplomacy and it should be consulted for detailed references.

  117LP, ii, 982 (BL, Vit. B. xviii, fo.187v.), 1095, 1244.

  118 It has not perhaps been sufficiently appreciated that in coming to terms with France in 1514 England was prepared to accept French ambitions in Northern Italy; see LP, i, 2956-7, 3129, 3477.

  119 The notion that Wolsey’s conduct of foreign policy was governed by such concerns was central to A.F. Pollard’s interpretation in Wolsey, pp.111-64, 336, recently reformulated in Wilke, pp.114 ff. and accepted by Elton in Reform and Reformation, pp.69-72, 85-7. However, it has been most effectively challenged by D.S. Chambers in ‘Cardinal Wolsey’, and Scarisbrick in Henry VIII, pp.46 ff. and 107 ff.

  120LP, ii, 2243, 2259, 2387, 2420, 2473, 2486, 2544, 2798, 2889, 2930; also Pastor, pp.160 ff.

  121LP, ii, 3801.

  122 For this episode see Cruickshank, Tournai, pp.143-87.

  123 See p.81 above.

  124 Knecht, pp.68-71, 77-8 is disappointing on this; but in this context it is worth making the important, but not always appreciated, point that because one side thinks they have gained an advantage does not mean that the other side does not think the same – and both may be right.

  125LP, ii, 3714; LP, ii, app.38.

  126 Rawdon Brown, ii, pp.135 ff. (LP, ii, 3788, 3804).

  127 Rawdon Brown, ii, p.140 (LP, ii, 3844); LP, ii, 3858; for the commercial negotiations themselves see LP, ii, 3520-1, 3773, 3803, 3861; LP, ii. app.38. More was one of the commissioners.

  128LP, ii, 3874, 3907, 3918, 3952; LP Add, i, 209.

  129 Brown, ii, p.168 (LP, ii, 4009).

  130LP, ii, 4014.

  131LP, ii, 4063-4.

  132LP, ii, 4034.

  133LP, ii, 4060.

  134LP, ii, 4057 (PRO, SP1/16/fo.210).

  135LP, ii, 4060.

  136LP, ii, 4124.

  137LP, iii, 1 (BL, Add. 1938, fo.44). There it is placed at the beginning of 1519. Scarisbrick places it in 1520 or early 1521 and associates it with the downfall of Buckingham (Henry VIII, p.120).

  138 See pp.440-2 below.

  139LP, ii, 4276.

  140LP, ii, 4279.

  141LP, ii, 4293.

  142LP, ii, 1042.

  143LP, ii, 1931.

  144LP, ii, 2958.

  145LP, ii, 3973. See also LP, ii, 4161.

  146 See pp.6 ff. above.

  147 See pp.70-1 above.

  148LP, ii, 4061; for this episode and, more generally, Suffolk’s francophilia see Gunn, Charles Brandon, pp.56-62.

  149 See pp.159-60 below.

  150LP, ii, 4035.

  151LP, ii, 4043.

  152LP, ii, 4057.

  153LP, ii, 4063.

  154LP, ii, 4166.

  155LP, ii, 4293.

  156 Giustinian reported More ‘declaring that the Cardinal of York “most solely”, to use his own expression, transacted this matter with the French … so that the king himself scarcely knows in what state matters are’ (LP, ii, 4438). In fact, as has been shown, Henry was intimately involved in what was going on, but Giustinian did find it particularly hard to obtain information at this time, which may suggest that he normally found out only what Wolsey wanted him to.

  157 Rymer, xiii, pp.632-42 (LP, ii, 4475).

  158LP, ii, 4479, LP, ii, app.52.

  159 Rawdon Brown, ii, pp.210, 222 (LP, ii, 4413, 4457) – but the Tournai aspects of the negotiations are the least well documented.

  160LP, ii, 192, 231.

  161LP, ii, app.38.

  162 Rymer, xiii, pp.646-7 (LP, ii, 4476); Cruickshank, Tournai, pp.240 ff. I confess that I would not go to the stake for this figure – but it the best that I can do!

  163 Cruickshank, Tournai, pp.275-9.

  164LP, ii, 4479; LP, ii, app.52.

  165 Rawdon Brown, ii, pp.215, 231 (LP, ii, 4424, 4491); LP, ii, 4357, 4479; LP, ii, app.52.

  166LP, ii, 4577; Ven. Cal., ii, 1120, 1140; see also LP, ii, 4471.

  167 For the whole of this paragraph see Eaves, pp.66-101. It is worth pointing out that in November 1517 the French were maintaining that if Albany wanted to be in Scotland there was nothing they could do to stop him (LP, ii, 3804).

  168 Rymer, xiii, pp.649-53 (LP, ii, 4477).

  169LP, ii, 4613, 4652, 4663-4.

  170Inter alia LP, ii, 468, 826, 828.

  171LP, ii, 4357, 4388, 4448. For this and Mary’s dower income; see Gunn, Charles Brandon, pp.59-60.

  172 Rymer, xiii, p.610, LP, ii, 4352-4 – the figure given is 12,000 livres tournois.

  173LP, ii, 3345, 3347, 3872, 3935, 4245-6, 4384-5. For very useful notes on both the French and Spanish pensions see A.F. Pollard, pp.116-7, 321, 324.

  174Inter alia LP, iv, 3619.

  175LP, ii, 4023, 4074.

  176LP, ii, 3647.

  177 See especially Pace’s comment to Wolsey ‘that no letter be sent unto his highness under your grace’s pacquet, but his highness doth read them every word’. (LP, ii, 4089).

  178LP, ii, 4014, 4057-8, 4071, 4082, 4085, 4228, 4277, 4360.

  179 See pp.153, 381-2 below.

  180LP, ii, 4479.

  181LP, ii, 4664.

  182 Rymer, xiii, pp.624-ff (LP, ii, 4469).

  183 See especially Mattingly, Journal of Modern History, X; Scarisbrick, Henry VIII, pp.70-4.

  184LP, ii, 4357; also LP, ii, 4137 for important minutes in Ruthal’s hand. Contemporary comment includes that by Erasmus, Fox, and Giustinian.

  185CWE, 4, p.261.

  186 Guicciardini, p.303.

  187 Pastor, vii, pp.213 ff.

  188Inter alia LP, ii, 4003, 4028, 4034, 4040, 4047, 4135, 4243.

  189 Cf. his comment to Giustinian: ‘Guard yourselves more against the Christian Turk than the real Turk.’ (LP, ii, 4047). It should be said that Erasmus took a not dissimilar view in letters to More and Warham, March 1518.

  190LP, ii, 2340, 2377, 2387.