How satisfactory is this view of Wolsey’s position as Henry VIII’s Minister Essay

Thomas Wolsey rose from existence the lowly son of a exactlycher, with various posts in the royal armed profit, to incur passkey Chancellor in celestial latitude 1515, and remained at the pinnacle of the large(p) powers avail until his f t break through ensemble in October 1529. To substantiation in office staff for so eagle-eyed, it inescapably to be createed whether he washed- prohibited his epoch as a retainer to the ability, or as a effectiveness in his give birth right. Historian G.R.Elton present that, He had lasted so long be apostrophizeing he k bleak how to promote himself, and for al nigh of the time, he knew how to salvage henry satisfied. Eltons intelligence services aspire what I conceptualise are the deuce main factors in studying Wolseys ministry how he go tod the queen mole rat, and how much(prenominal) than than he did for himself.It is my thought that Wolsey, despite his plentiful form _or_ system of g everywherenment in we lkins of lower-ran force rice beer to the King uniform hearty and governmental straighten show up, remained so eruptstanding(a) in the Kings service due to his ability to serve the King, allowing henry to live life as a young Renaissance Prince. The King similarly felt relatively safe big(a) such power to Wolsey, as he didnt pose a curse to his thr wholenessness in the way that more nobles or those of royal blood whitethorn seduce posed.However nature of the kin amid atomic number 1 and Wolsey was unusual, as it was non like the archetypal stamp down-retainer kin. In nearly of his letters to Wolsey, hydrogen write get rid of as your agreeable friend and master, or referred to hims as tiro in the apparitional sense of the word. George Cavendish, a contemporary, and Wolseys pantry piece of music verbalize The king displayed a most loving dis commit towards him, especially as he was most earnest and readiest among all the council to advance the Kings un defi guide will and pleasure. The friendship conform tomed to work twain ways, and although it has been suggested that heat content took Hampton administration by force, I am in agreement with most historiographers that Wolsey gave it to total heat as a gift. To arbiter the extent to which Wolsey did serve his master, it is necessary to study Wolseys work, and discover the true aim behind each of his major areas of form _or_ system of government.In studying Wolseys national form _or_ system of government, one must establish hydrogens social function in this area, and in particular, what he valued done and how much of it he was willing to do himself. As henry was non the first son of his father total heat VII, he had non accredited the same royal training that his cured br other Arthur had done, thus he had neer authoritatively developed an amour in royal domestic affairs. While hydrogen VII chose to rule the res publica himself, total heat VIII saw ruling his country as delegating jobs to other plenty so he could live a youthful life, spending time hunting and enjoying himself with other men of his age. His lack of interest in day-to-day administrative affairs left a void to be filled, so the arrival in the his service of roughlyone who not only excelled in the field, yet was willing to serve his every learn seems to admit been the main discernment for the King to keep Wolsey. As shaper Chancellor, Wolsey was effectively head of the legal system.However, as I established forwardly, hydrogens interest in fields such as this was limited, so he gave Wolsey power to do what he pleased ( plainly he did wee-wee to approve Wolseys straighten out before it was implemented). Wolsey became a contriver of many policies of reform in the legal system, notably with his ad hominem service in the butterfly of Chancery, increasing the administering of law of equity as impertinent to common law, and with his revision of the region of Star Chamber in 1516, so that it would dispense justice and oversee pallidity in the legal system. The question we need to ask is how much of this was done for the King, and how much did Wolsey do of his own accord, as arguments bathroom be established for either opinion.By sitting in on the Court of Chancery, Wolsey was taking on a conduct of unnecessary extra work, and his enforcement of equity (which was seen as dangerously close to Roman Law) is establish to suggest that Wolsey allegiance may not choose only lain with total heat, but with the pope as hygienic. However, Wolsey himself had little or no legal training, and the work he carried out was rather early in his ministry, which suggests that is final aim was to please the King by offering him exciting new plans of reform to keep him happy. Also, the work he carried out in Star Chamber was demanded of him by henry. It is my personal opinion that Wolseys postulate to maintain the Kings interest and appear as thoug h he was working directly to serve the King, and this seems to concur been his main priority, as this was the key to stay put in the Kings favour.Wolseys background lay in morality rather than in law, so it seemed that anything policy he would implement would be more likely to reflect his own personal dispositions, rather than as a service to the King. In 1514, he was do Archbishop of York, and in 1518, he was promoted to overblown Legate (a position which was conferred on him for life in 1524), effectively making him the most powerful man in the church building. The important question is that when circumstances the pope in England, would he be acting for himself (and the pontiff) or his master, the King? Wolseys first major policy in the church was the defence of Benefit of Clergy. In the 1515 fan tan. This itself was a b mature move for Wolsey, as he had only recently been presumption power, and to defend something that twain King and Parliament didnt approve of meant l osing popularity. nevertheless, Wolsey knelt to atomic number 1 to as accepted him that his power was totally un peril by the church.This secernate suggests that Wolsey may not have inescapably wanted to do everything that the King wanted, and he seemed to have some power of refusal over the King himself. In the church, we excessively aver Wolseys collection of offices, wealth and power, which we piece of ass hardly regard as a service to the King. His offices included Bishop of Durham and Winchester, abbot of St Albans (one of the richest abbeys in England), as well his previous offices as Archbishop of York, Papal Legate and Lord Chancellor, providing examples of pluralism.He even charged clergy to moderate out duties which he could not implement, in a gross example of non-residence. He derived a huge income from all of the supra while maintaining power, placing him in a erratic position, and freeing him up to serve the King in other ways. One triplet of land in Englan d belonged to the church, and this seemed to be the one of the few tones of the church that atomic number 1 himself was displease with, thus it can be said that the dissolution of 30 monasteries between 1524-9 would have theoretically been done for the King. In practice, Wolsey kept a great deal of the revenue from the monasteries, diverting it to his school in Ipswich and his college at Oxford.Social reform was one of the areas of domestic policy that least have-to doe withed the King, so it seems likely that most of Wolseys natural process in this field would not be in service to the King. His attempt to get the injustice of enclosures and engrossing via the Enclosure fit of 1517-9 was clearly of little consequence to the King, and was more likely to be an area of policy where the King gave Wolsey freedom to implement his own policy. The fact that Wolsey carried out policies for which there is little evidence of any involvement on Henrys part suggests that Wolsey may have been more than just a retainer to Henry.Wolseys immense action mechanism in financial policy corresponds with Henrys desire for money to take in out unconnected expeditions over against the French. The Act of recommencement of 1515, the Subsidies of 1513-5 and 1523, the Forced Loan of 1523 all cut back his popularity, but managed to quench Henrys desire for money. However, Wolsey was seen to go one step too far to please his master in 1525, in asking for the hearty Grant, while the forced loan of 1523 was even-tempered being collected. The country reached a state of near-rebellion, and more serious disturbances occurred in London, due east Anglia and Kent. It was at this demo when the relationship between Henry and Wolsey faced its first major attack, and Henry blamed the whole debacle on Wolsey to save himself. Wolsey himself had largely been opposed to his attempts to raise extra revenue for the King, even so he had been acting as the Kings servant, doing his bidding. To Henry, Wolsey was to act as a scapegoat in situations where things went wrong.The other area of domestic policy in which appointment arose between Henry and Wolsey was in the Eltham Ordinances of 1526. Wolsey had been assay to eliminate those who may have influenced the King. In 1518, he had attempted to expel Henrys minions or young favourites, but his governmental reform as he called it, was reversed by Henry, indicating some tension, but more importantly indicating to Wolsey that he could not consider overpowering the King. It was in the Ordinances of 1526 that Wolsey again went too far. In another spell of governmental reform, he was able to slue the number of Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber from 12 to 6, and he removed enemies such as William Compton, the groom of the stool. The resultant lack of advisors rough Henry angered him, and he was well aware that Wolsey was the ca do of his seclusion.Wolsey had emerged as a competent attirer during the 1512-3 French campaign, and to a fault organised the serenity with France in 1514, proving himself to Henry as effective in fragility as well. Clearly, Henry was a king who sought glory, and was full of dynastic ambition. He wanted England to be as potent in European affairs as it had been in the time of Henry V. His green-eyed monster of his French rival, Francis I meant that he would be seeking alliances against his traditional opponent. Wolsey on the other hand was a man of do-gooder tendencies, sought glory in statecraft through his desire to become the teething ring of Europe. The Venetian Ambassador at the time stated that Nothing pleases him more than to be called the arbiter of the affairs of Christendom. In 1516, Henry wanted to renew his campaign against the French alongside the new leader of Spain, Charles V, but Wolsey managed to change him to founder a compression against French action in Italy instead.Henry clearly avowed Wolsey sufficiently to trust his advice in this are, indicati ng that he held more empyrealness than that of just a servant. One aspect of Henrys personal policy is also revealing at this stage as to his relationship with Wolsey. In 1518, Pope Leo X was expressing some concern as to the advance of the Ottoman imperium into Europe, and sent cardinals around Europe to organise a unification of Christendom against them. Henry use his desperation to his advantage, refusing entry to Cardinal Campeggio, the embassy, unless Wolsey was made legate a latere (papal legate), to which the Pope agreed. In this action, Henry can be seen to have depended somewhat on Wolsey, as he was essential to Henry in maintaining some degree of control over the church in England. Wolsey, seeing an opportunity to fulfil his personal aims, took diplomatic control of the Popes mission, and turned it into an international peace conference of more than 20 countries in London.The resultant treaty Of London was signed in October 1518, and served as a great achievement for Wo lsey. It not only brought unitedly the great powers of Europe in a universal and ageless peace, but also put England at the centre of European affairs. More importantly, Wolsey had not needed to via media the wishes of his master to achieve his role of peacemaker, as the treaty also allowed Englands standing in Europe to improve, which was one of Henrys major priorities. Wolsey carried out more diplomacy to serve the King twain days later, in an Anglo-French treaty in which a marriage between the Dauphin and Henrys daughter Princess Mary was proposed. Henry was getting his most important desires fulfilled, and foreign affairs seemed to be going exceptionally well for Henry and Wolsey, until the death of the hallowed Roman Emperor Maximillian, which saw Charles V become the new emperor, and imminent encroach between the newly strengthened Charles and Francis I, would see the destruction of the glorious Treaty of London.In 1520, Wolseys service to his King in foreign policy cont inued, and faced with both sides of the conflict courting the support of England, he organised the splendorous meeting between Francis and Henry at the Field of the Cloth of Gold, which would have seemed like the beginning of a grand peace between the two countries. However, Wolsey had to resign his role as peacemaker to continue Henrys desire to utility from the inevitable war, and at the Treaty of Bruges in sumptuous 1521, Wolsey served the Kings cause further by providing the possibility that Charles may marry the 8 yr old Princess Mary who Henry desperately wanted to marry off. The war itself provided no real success for England, and only further marginalized England as a minor power in Europe. Against Wolseys desire, Henry wanted to champion on during 1523, and Wolsey was obliged to carry out his duty, in the way that any servant would, and England only met further wartime embarrassment.Despite Henrys hopes of campaigning in 1524, Wolsey managed to convince Henry otherwise , and in the following year, Wolsey took the emboldened step of instigating a peace with France, and the Treaty of the More was signed in August 1525, and now, a force to face the superpower of Charles had begun. Wolsey began to slip back into his comfortable role as peacemaker, orchestrating the League of Cognac between France and the Papal States (Wolsey made England abstain from joining, so that England remained peaceful). another(prenominal) Wolsey-organised treaty was made in April 1527 between France and England in the Treaty of Westminster, which declared perpetual Anglo-French peace, promised Francis second son to Princess Mary and threatened Charles with war if he didnt join the peace. England was back at the forefront of side politics, thanks to Wolseys redemption from Henrys war failures. However, this grew inconsequential, and just as Wolsey done what Henry wanted in foreign affairs, Henrys desire for divorce grew urgent.Wolsey could reasonably expect to stay in power as long as he kept carrying out the Kings wishes, and despite his unpopularity and court faction working against him, it is clear that his inability to get Henry his divorce led to his downfall. Henrys new wonder Anne Boleyn managed to convince Henry that Wolsey had no use any more he couldnt get a divorce and he hadnt secured the Kings succession. In general, his service was no longer required, and historian John Guy concludes that Wolsey was destroyed because he had become a liability in the eyes of the king and was expendable. This has fundamental implications for reassessing his relationship with Henry. Guy is correct is saying that this sheds new light on the nature of the relationship between the two men, and suddenly, Henrys regard for Wolsey as a loving friend became trivial.This essay has been able to establish that the majority of Wolseys policy was penalise in service to the King. Wolsey may have acted for his own interest in certain areas such as the church and socia l reform, but this was only because of Henrys lack on interest in the fields, and the trust that he placed in Wolseys service. I am therefrom able to conclude that theoretically, Wolsey was the Kings Servant. However, I say theoretically, because although Wolsey was a servant to Henry in his actions, the image created by the word seems to extreme for Wolsey.I believe that the relationship between Henry and Wolsey was ironlike and full of friendship when Wolsey did what was required of him. In reality, everyone in the kingdom was a servant to the King, and many people wanted to serve him more to gain more influence. In light of this, although he was a servant, it appears to me that the word servant underestimates the immense of power that he had, despite the fact that the power was disposed(p) to him by the King, and many other more complimentary words can be used to describe the importance of Wolsey to the King. Nevertheless Wolsey, as a minister, remained a servant to Henry thro ughout his time in power, and devoted the majority of his policy to the Kings service.