dismissal 1529 Thomas Cardinal Wolsey ( – 29 November 1530), who was born in Ipswich, Suffolk, England, was an English st
Thomas Cardinal Wolsey ( – 29 November 1530), who was born in Ipswich, Suffolk, England, was an English statesman and a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. When Henry VIII became king of England in 1509, Wolsey became the King's almoner. Wolsey's affairs prospered and by 1514 he had become the controlling figure in all matters of state and extremely powerful within the Church. The highest political position he attained was Lord Chancellor, the King's chief advisor, enjoying great freedom and often depicted as an alter rex (other king). Within the Church he became Archbishop of York, the second most important seat in England, and then was made a cardinal in 1515, giving him precedence over even the Archbishop of Canterbury. His main legacy is from his interest in architecture, in particular his old home of Hampton Court Palace, which stands today. Few men born without noble blood had as much power as Wolsey during the age of absolute European monarchy. Despite his many enemies, Cardinal Wolsey held Henry VIII's confidence until Henry decided to seek an annulment of his marriage to Catherine, so that he could marry Anne Boleyn. Wolsey's failure to secure the annulment is widely perceived to have directly caused his downfall and arrest. Henry's marriage to Catherine had produced no sons who survived infancy, leading to the possibility of a power struggle after Henry's death; the Wars of the Roses were still within living memory. His daughter Mary was considered unable to hold the country together and continue the Tudor dynasty, because England until then had not accepted a queen regnant —except arguably for Empress Matilda who fought and lost a long civil war in order to keep her throne. Henry believed that Catherine's inability to produce a viable male heir was due to her being the widow of his elder brother, Arthur, Prince of Wales, which, he became convinced, violated Biblical proscription and cursed his marriage as incestuous.
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