Cardinal Thomas Wolsey was an ambitious clergyman. He served as archbishop of York, the second highest ecclesiastical office in England, and also King Henry VIII’s chancellor, the highest advisory position, second in power only to the monarch. Life had gone well for Wolsey, and he was able to build a magnificent palace for himself just outside London and along the Thames River. Additionally, he had ambitions and some reason for hope for exchanging the red hat of a cardinal for the papal tiara. He had friends in high places, even in Rome, and he had the support of King Henry whose power and influence in world politics was growing thanks to the competent rule of his father, King Henry VII.
It was necessary for a monarch to marry politically correctly, in Henry’s case to marry Catherine of Aragon, daughter of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, whose marriage had created a powerful new European nation. A treaty arrangement, sealed by marriage, was highly advantageous to Henry in view of his ongoing conflicts with the powerful kingdom of France.
Secondarily, it was essential that a king produce a male heir as soon as possible to protect the dynasty. In this case, the Tudor dynasty was new, a result of a tenuous union of the feuding houses of York and Lancaster. After a marriage of twenty-five years, Catherine had not produced a living male heir. Henry was afraid and angry. He had fallen in love with a lady of the court, Anne Boleyn, who would not allow Henry to make her his mistress. The only recourse Henry saw available to him was to divorce Catherine and marry Anne. Wolsey feared losing his influence at the papal court, and stalled, essentially refusing to honor Henry’s demands that he secure the divorce for him.
Henry fired Wolsey and took his palace from him. Wolsey died in disgrace in 1530, and
Henry moved to Hampton Court with his new wife Anne. I have seen the “A & H” relief sculpture at Hampton Court. Anne produced, not the male heir he wanted, but a girl, the future Queen Elizabeth I. It was Henry’s third wife, Jane Seymour, who gave him the son he desired. But Jane died in childbirth, only to be followed by three more of Henry’s wives!
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