Henry Wolsey Research Paper

Wolsey’s decisions throughout his life created the impression that he was an efficient administrator, both for the Crown and the church, although this can be debated. Once Henry VIII was announced king, Wolsey became a very important asset within the crown. In 1514, Wolsey was made archbishop of York, a year following, the pope made him cardinal. Soon afterwards the king appointed him Lord Chancellor; there was a strong bond between Henry and Wolsey, Henry delegated more and more state business to him, one being almost entire control over England’s foreign policy. However, his arrogance and grand style of living made him increasingly unpopular.

Extract A provides the interpretation that Wolsey was incapable of doing his duty to carry out Henry’s wishes. Davies explains how Wolsey was very unpopular, this was …show more content…
She also argues that Wolsey was ‘unseeing in an age of vision, an administrator rather than a creator’, yet from the historical knowledge we understand that Wolsey’s vision in foreign policy contrast this opinion. The failure of Wolsey's foreign policy was one reason why Henry turned on his adviser, but a more important one was Wolsey's inability to obtain a divorce for Henry from Katherine of Aragon. Mackie refers to Wolsey as `a great man`, placing subjective opinions upon the text and influencing the way she rights her factual content based upon her thoughts of him. Despite this however, unlike extract A, this source reflects more upon Wolsey’s positive outcomes and what he managed to achieve. There are reports to say that Wolsey went through his employment with the King being unchallenged by anyone else and was the sole influence upon Henry. There is also the issue that Wolsey was able to do so much without Henry worrying about what was happening and to what extent Henry was able to implement his own changes upon this reformation without entirely intervening in Wolsey’s