Cardinal Wolsey
Wolsey, Cardinal
(Thomas Wolsey). Born circa 1473 in Ipswich; died Nov. 29, 1530. English state figure.
From 1507 to 1509, Wolsey was chaplain to King Henry VII. Under Henry VIII, he concentrated in his own hands the highest administrative and clerical positions: in 1514 he became archbishop of York, in 1515 lord chancellor and a cardinal, and in 1518 a papal legate. Wolsey furthered the centralization of government and strove to subordinate the church to the state. The unsuccessful implementation of a policy regarding enclosures and other failures in domestic politics undermined Wolsey’s position. In 1529 he was dismissed as lord chancellor, and in 1530 he was charged with treason, which made him subject to the death penalty. Wolsey fell ill and died on a journey from York to London.