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Henry VIII 53-page revision booklet
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Henry VIIIEngland in Context
England had been left in a strong, stable and secure position by Henry Tudor, with almost no debts and plenty of
money in the King’s coffers. There was one remaining Yorkist claimant, Richard de la Pole, who was in France at the
time of Henry’s accession; he would pose little threat. Old Henry had died a weak man, forgotten by Europe – but it
was him that was forgotten, not England, and the country was quickly rejuvenated by the young King. His mistrust
for and hatred from the nobility was quickly forgotten when Henry VIII came to the Throne. Old Henry’s debt
collectors Empson and Dudley had terrorised the nobility for five years, and before them it had been Bray and
Empson working as an only marginally less feared duo.
Catherine of Aragon had been married to Henry’s brother Arthur who had died in 1502. She had been engaged to
Henry after that, but due to several European affairs, the marriage did not happen. After that she was largely
forgotten by Old Henry and wildly mistreated for a princess, having to spend her own dowry to make her way.
Henry VIII inherited a Throne stronger than any since Henry V had died. He was a far freer king than Old Henry ever
had been because of his dedication to his duties as king having left Henry VIII with a secure and powerful Throne.
Characters
King Henry King of England 1509 - 1547
Catherine of Aragon Queen of England 1509 - 1533
Anne Boleyn Queen of England 1533 - 1536
Jane Seymour Queen of England 1536 - 1537
Mary Princess and Lady 1516 - 1558
Edward Heir to the Throne 1537 - 1547
Thomas Wolsey Archbishop of York & Lord Chancellor 1514 - 1530
Thomas Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury 1533 - 1555
Thomas Cromwell Lord Chamberlain & Lord Privy Seal 1536 - 1540
James V King of Scotland 1513 - 1542
Francis I King of France 1515 - 1547
Charles V King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor 1516 - 1556
Clement VII Pope 1523 - 1534
Thomas Fitzgerald Leader of the Silken Thomas Rebellion 1534 - 1535
Robert Aske A Leader of the Pilgrimage of Grace 1536 - 1537
Sir Francis Bigod Leader of Bigod’s Rebellion and the Pilgrimage 1537
1
, Henry VIII in Context
Prince Henry was born the second son of Henry VII in 1491. At age three he was
appointed the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. He soon after became a Knight of the
Garter, Duke of York, and was Warden of the Scottish marches; Old Henry gave
him all of these positions so that he did not have to trust noble families to do
these jobs and could instead appoint trusted advisors as councils to do these jobs
for young Henry – for example Margaret Beaufort led a council of the North from
the East Midlands.
In 1502 his only living brother, Arthur, died. Arthur had been married to Catherine
of Aragon without issue. Arthur was the Prince of Wales and had been trained to
be King – Henry had been trained in religion in order to become the Archbishop of
Canterbury. Henry was thrust into the knowledge that he would become king –
and after his mother died in 1503, nobody knew quite how soon he would fulfil
that role; Henry VII fell deathly ill after Elizabeth’s death. He was betrothed to
Catherine in June 1503, to be married in 1506. This marriage did not happen as
Ferdinand, Catherine’s father, had fallen from grace within Europe – though he
would rise once again at the end of the year. By the time of his re-accession,
however, he did not allow Henry and Catherine to marry as Henry VII had sided
with Philip the Fair in the succession crisis.
Elizabeth’s children Philip the Fair had left an indelible impression upon Young Henry. They had spent
mourn her death time together during his time in England and Henry tried to act like Philip as a
Renaissance Prince. Henry was sad to hear of Philip’s death and would have liked
to have ruled in a world where they could be kings at the same time.
Henry was untrained to be king and had been repressed by Henry Tudor after Arthur’s death in an attempt to keep
him safe. He was uninterested in Kingship, being more taken with the pomp and nobility which came with it.
Europe in Context
Europe was in the midst of some of the greatest wars it had seen yet: the Italian Wars, started by a dispute over who
should be king of Naples after a Pope had deposed and reinstated the king in 1492 without revoking an offer he
made to another king to become the King of Naples. It was, for the most part, the Spain and the Holy Roman Empire
pitted against France.
The Renaissance had spread outside of Italy and was taking hold throughout Europe. Humanism was on the rise, but
the reformation had yet to begin. The sale of Indulgences had been rising in the 1350s and had begun to be
condemned by small sects of Christianity such as by the Bohemians in 1412.
Ferdinand was the King of all Spain after the death of Philip the Fair in 1506. Philip’s son, Charles, however, was very
much alive, and was the son of Philip and Joanna – making him the primary claimant to the Throne of the Habsburgs
through Philip, the Throne of Castile through Joanna’s mother Isabella and the Throne of Aragon through Joanna’s
father Ferdinand.
Henry’s older sister Margaret was married to James IV of Scotland and his younger sister Mary was engaged to
Charles V after meeting Philip the Fair during his stay in England.
2
,Thomas Wolsey’s coat of arms granted to him in 1525. They are presently used by Christ Church, a college
at Oxford University which he founded as Cardinal College.
Part I
The Alter-Rex
1509 - 1529
3
, The Butcher’s Son: The Rise of Thomas Wolsey
T
homas Wolsey was born in about 1473 to a butcher called Robert Wolsey and Joan Daundy. He quickly went
on to study theology at Oxford, achieving his Bachelor of Arts in it at 15 years old. He was anointed a priest in
1498 and became the dean of Divinity at Oxford before 1500.
By 1502, he was a chaplain to the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Henry Deane, after
the deaths of John Morton and Thomas Langton (who had died five days after his
appointment). Henry Deane died in 1503, being succeeded by William Warham, who
did not employ Wolsey. Instead, he was taken in by Sir Richard Nanfan, a diplomat to
other European countries, who died in 1507. After his death, Wolsey was employed
by Henry VII, where he served as a secretary to Richard Foxe. Foxe recognised his
intelligence and capability to perform many complex tasks simultaneously. In April
1508, Old Henry personally sent Wolsey to Scotland to discuss whether the Auld
Alliance would be renewed.
Shortly after, Henry VIII ascended to the Throne. He, unlike his father, was immensely
uninterested in being king. His father had left two extremely conservative key
Wolsey advisors: Richard Foxe and William Warham. They more or less tricked Henry into
renewing the Treaty of Étaples in 1510 after it had expired with his father’s death;
Warham and Foxe were both wise enough to know that England would lose in a war
with France. Wolsey was this wise, too, thoroughly discouraging Henry from ever doing so.
However, Wolsey was not a man of principles. Henry expressed unquenchable interest in warring with France in
1511 and, desiring a chance to show himself as a strong figure, gave many rousingly pro-war speeches in Parliament.
Henry tried to attack France that year and formed an alliance with Ferdinand II and Maximilian I, neither of whom
had any actual reason to attack France. Louis bribed both of them to drop out of the attack and Henry subsequently
cancelled all plans.
1512 saw the imperviously stubborn Henry plan another attack. With the same allies. Maximilian did nothing and
Ferdinand betrayed Henry, leaving his troops stranded and starving at sea as he claimed the Pyrenees Mountains
that he had so desired for a long time. What few troops remained returned to England in disgrace, not having set
foot on land. A small force had attacked southern France and been relatively successful, claiming no land but
pillaging some smaller villages. This small force had been organised by none other than Thomas Wolsey.
With this great success (for Wolsey – everyone else, including Henry, had failed) came great reward. Henry gave
Wolsey full charge of the inevitable 1513 campaign to France. He was given the role of Quartermaster General and
would organise the full invasion. Fortuitously, Henry decided that he would join the troops on this excursion.
The troops, alongside Maximilian’s, took the town of Therouanne after the Battle of the Spurs. This battle was
heavily propagandised despite the fact that in reality, Henry and Maximilian’s forces outnumbered a French scouting
group 30,000 to 7000. After ‘gifting’ Therouanne to Maximilian, Henry’s forces forcibly captured Tournai, a town
which had welcomed him in as a guest and where he had played the lute, harp, lyre and flute with the town’s Lord.
Henry had been immensely impressed by Wolsey’s organisational skills and had seem them in action first-hand. By
1514 he was Henry’s chief minister and had been Archbishop of York since 1513, and in 1515 Warham resigned as
Lord Chancellor. Henry immediately appointed Wolsey to this position.
1515 also saw Henry pressuring Pope Leo to make Wolsey a Cardinal. Warham was still Archbishop of Canterbury
but being a Cardinal would allow Wolsey to supersede his authority. He was a Cardinal by September, and by 1518
he was a Papal Legate, meaning that he was able to do things without the Pope’s blessing: he could act as a Pope in
his own right.
Between 1510-1512, he had two illegitimate children with a woman named Joan Larke. His son was named Thomas
Wynter and his daughter was Dorothy.
4
, Not his Father’s Son: Foreign Policy I
O
ld Henry had been involved in two wars in his time: the Siege of Boulogne in 1492 which he had gone to for
the purpose of being given the French Pension and ending a pretender’s time there and the First Italian War,
where he had become involved by promising not to become involved.
Henry VIII, however, had less scruples about war. He had three wars with France as well as one with Scotland in his
first four years as king. He then went to war, or attempted to go to war, with France in 1515, 1516, 1521 and 1523.
1528 then saw him go to war with the Holy Roman Empire as an ally of France. By the end of his reign, he had at
least attempted to go to war eleven times.
Henry, desiring to be seen as a White Knight and a hero, married Catherine of Aragon in June 1509 – two months
after his father’s death and his own accession. He even married her two weeks before his official coronation. This
secured peace with Spain – and despite Ferdinand’s limited remaining tenure as king there (and with him the end of
the House of Trastámara, to which Catherine belonged), Spain was the one country which Henry never went to war
with nor had any compulsion to do so. Even his later wars against Charles V, Catherine’s nephew, were directed at
the Holy Roman Empire rather than Spain despite the fact that he was the ruler of both.
Henry renewed the Treaty of Étaples with France in 1510. It was scheduled to be annulled when one of the
signatories died, so renewing it was necessary to maintain the French Pension as well as good trade between the
two countries. Henry’s conservative councillors who he had inherited from his father had encourages this as they
knew of the importance of maintaining good relations with the most powerful force in the world.
1511 saw another European change in the tide of the Italian Wars. Most of Romagna had been conquered by France
and Pope Julius proclaimed another Holy League after the breakdown of the League of Cambrai. This anti-French
Holy League, once again, included England as well as Spain and the Holy Roman Empire while being supported by
Venice (who all of Europe had been pitted against only a year prior) and Switzer mercenaries.
With Wolsey’s help and several failed attempts, Henry broke the Treaty of Étaples and invaded in 1513, capturing
Tournai for England and Therouanne for the Holy Roman Empire. Henry propagandised a small victory at the Battle
of the Spurs into a heroic triumph for England, as did Maximilian for the Holy Roman Empire. Louis refused to fight
Henry as he did not want to give any legitimacy to this excessively small incursion. Whilst the war had been almost
fruitless for Henry aside from a small town and some propaganda, it had been successful in re-including him in
European affairs where his father had become obsolete and forgotten in his ending years; Old Henry, in his prime,
had got himself involved in the Italian Wars despite the fact that England had no role in them, but had lost this place
in the Third War of 1508. Henry VIII had (possibly without knowing it) re-involved England in the great matter of
Europe, showing that the country was once again under the rule of a great and powerful King.
Whilst Henry was on his campaign, France’s old ally Scotland broke the Treaty of Perpetual Peace of 1497, desiring to
maintain the Auld Alliance. August saw the beginning of a Scottish invasion with five cannons being brought down
from Edinburgh castle. James IV set off not far behind them.
Catherine of Aragon was the regent of England whilst Henry was galivanting in France. A week after the cannons
reached the border, she ordered for all land in England owned by Scots to be seized. She ordered Thomas Lovell
(Chancellor the Exchequer, unrelated to Francis Lovell, who rebelled against Old Henry) to raise an army in the
Midlands. James sent a notice to the English of his plans of invasion one month in advance, inkeeping with medieval
standards of chivalry, giving the English chance to prepare. Catherine chose the banner of Saint Cuthbert as her
battle standard; Saint Cuthbert was a martyr from the Viking invasion of Lindisfarne and had been carried by the
English at their victories over the Scots in 1138 and 1346.
Later in August, the Scots crossed the border and began capturing and demolishing castles along the river Tweed. A
later historian of this invasion states that James IV spent too long at one of these castles “enjoying the company of
Elizabeth, Lady Heron, and her daughter.”
5
,Many nobles believed that after capturing all castles along the river they had done enough for France, but James
insisted on staying and progressing further, sending the Earl of Angus home in tears for suggesting it. They arranged
the battle to be at Flodden with the English, but it actually took place just north at Branxton. The Battle of Flodden
was fought between the two armies. Catherine led 26,000 men and James led about 35,000: the English suffered
1500 casualties and the Scots suffered about 11,000, including the King. James IV was killed at ‘Pipard’s Hill’ and
succeeded by his infant son James V.
Catherine sent Henry the gift of James IV’s bloodied coat. She had wanted to send the entire body, but the nobility
would not allow her to.
In 1514, Henry decided not to go to war again for the main reason that he was entirely out of money. Wolsey
negotiated a peace deal with France which included Henry keeping Tournai, the renewal of the French pension as
well as the payment of all arrears, and a marriage between the 18-year-old Mary (Henry’s sister) and the 52-year-old
King Louis XII. This also proposed a joint attack on Castile and Navarre to claim for Catherine to rule as Queen. This
never happened, but it shows Henry’s anger over a predictable betrayal by Ferdinand two years prior.
Mary had been betrothed to the future Charles V since 1507. This was called off by Wolsey in favour of this marriage
to Louis, which took place just in time in October 1514; Louis died on December 31 that year. Henry sent his courtier
Charles Brandon, who Mary was in love with and who was in love with Mary, to collect her with Henry’s express
instructions being ‘don’t get married’. The new French King Francis officiated their marriage in March 1515. Wolsey
had to openly plead with Henry not to have the both of them executed and he desired a war against Francis in
retaliation. Wolsey talked him down from any executions or another war.
From the peace settlement after that war onwards, Wolsey reverted to his natural state: a broker of peace. He
convinced Henry that there was greater glory in being a peaceable king and because England couldn’t afford the
wars it had already fought, let alone any more.
1516 saw the death of Ferdinand II and the coronation of Charles V as king of a truly and finally united Spain – as
well as forming a Habsburg ring around France.
Wolsey designed the Treaty of Universal and Perpetual Peace, signed as the Treaty of London, in 1518. It was signed
by England, France, the Papal States, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire, Burgundy and the Netherlands, as well as
several other much smaller states. It promised that none of these countries would go to war and all would come
together to protect a member if they were attacked. This was especially anti-Ottoman and was much like the League
of Cambrai which England had been excluded from – except this time England was the one to collate it. Henry, with
great pomp and presence, met with each leader individually in London and signed a copy with each of them. This
was the greatest centre of attention that England had ever been, upstaging even the Pope.
The death of Emperor Maximilian threatened the stability of this treaty. The Holy Roman Empire was an electorate,
though the emperor would usually bribe the electors simply to vote for his son or chosen candidate. Charles V,
Maximilian’s grandson, was the obvious Habsburg choice, but Francis put himself forward as a candidate as he
feared the prospect of having Spain and the Holy Roman Empire entirely united under one king. The electors
considered him, but the general outrage of the prospect of a French emperor gave them pause. Maximilian had
promised 500,000 florins to anyone who voted for Charles. There was a threat of war over the imperial crown, but
Wolsey offered Henry’s services as mediator between the two as part of the Treaty of London.
Henry met Francis at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in June 1520. It cost about half as much as a war would have for
each side (£40,000 for France and £36,000 for England). Henry brought about 5000 people and 2000 horses, and
Francis about 3000. Henry and Francis hated each other throughout. Soon after, Henry met Charles at Tournai in a
less grand fashion. Tournai had been returned to France in 1519 as a part of the Treaty of London.
In December 1521, the French began to plan for a war against Charles. Francis funded a Navarrese army for
incursions into Spain and bought independent Germanic mercenaries to cause trouble across the French border.
Charles was distracted by Martin Luther, who he confronted in March that year. He viewed Catholicism as the
natural form of cohesion between German states and begrudgingly sided with the Pope. This Italian War was fought
6
,between the Holy Roman Empire and Spain, the Papal States and England against France, who found support in
Venice. Henry, fulfilling his duty in the Treaty of London, sided with Charles as Francis was the initial aggressor. The
Treaty of Bruges promised that Henry would send an army to help Charles in this war, though Wolsey advised
against it.
He, Charles and a rebellious French noble, the Duke of Bourbon, established a plan to attack Paris in 1524. This failed
in just as much majesty as the Treaty of London had been a success. The English army only got within 50 miles of
Paris as their cavalry was unable to make it through a quagmire, Charles, like his grandfather in 1511, did not arrive
at all and Bourbon mustered no support and arrived with a pitiable army. Henry, disgraced, ordered Wolsey to
withdraw the troops.
1525 then saw the Battle of Pavia, which was won blisteringly well by the Habsburg army, decimating the French
forces. Charles had brought 19,000 men to Francis’s 17,000: respectively, there were 1500 and 13,000 casualties.
Francis himself was taken prisoner by Charles. Five of Francis’s ten commanders were killed and another three
surrendered; not one of Charles’s commanders were killed, surrendered or taken prisoner. The casualties included
the last Yorkist claimant to England’s Throne, Richard de la Pole, who had fought for Francis.
Henry was delighted at this victory and told Wolsey to
Timeline:
make a deal with Charles which would make Henry
Henry’s reign began 22 April 1509 King of France. Henry had nothing to do with this
First attempt at France 1511 battle and had not provided so much as a sword to it.
First invasion of France 1512 Charles reinstated Francis as king of France as he
Battle of the Spurs 16 August 1513 believed that he could control Francis from then on;
Battle of Flodden 9 September 1513 he was even forced to give his sons up as hostages.
Princess Mary marries Louis XII 9 October 1514
Francis immediately allied with the Pope in a renewed
Charles V crowned King of Spain 23 January 1516
Italian War. Henry wanted to go to war against the
Treaty of London October 1518
Habsburgs, possibly in response to Charles’s refusal to
Charles V crowned in HRE 28 June 1519
appoint him King of France and got Wolsey to form
Field of the Cloth of Gold June 1520
the League of Cognac. This was an alliance between
Reignition of the Italian Wars 1521
France, England, the Pope, Venice, Florence, Navarre
Treaty of Bruges Late-1521
(the last Iberian state not controlled by Spain or
Failed invasion of France 1524
Portugal), and several other small Italian States.
Battle of Pavia 24 February 1525
League of Cognac 1526 Henry was busy vying for divorce with Catherine,
Anglo-French alliance Early-1527 Charles’s aunt, which aggravated the war even
Battle of Landriano 21 June 1529 further. Charles was successful in conquering the
Treaty of Cambrai 3 August 1529 entirety of the middle of Italy. He already ruled
Wolsey’s death 29 November 1530 Naples as he had inherited it from his mother –
Naples had been under Trastámara and then
Habsburg control since 1504. Charles had, effectively, got the Pope prisoner after the Sack of Rome.
1527 saw England and France sign an alliance against Charles. Princess Mary was promised to Prince Henry of
France. Wolsey, however, was distracted by Henry’s growing impatience for a divorce or annulment and no English
troops ever set foot in the 1528 war. The Battle of Landriano saw the defeat of French troops in 1529 and Charles
secured his control over all major parts of Italy in the Treaty of Cambrai. England had not been invited to the signing,
but Wolsey managed to get Henry an invitation. England’s status as a major power was acknowledged although he
got nothing from it. Wolsey was arrested not long after.
Henry’s early reign was dominated by war. Primarily with France, though Wolsey’s tenure as Alter Rex did end on a
war allied with France. Despite the extreme expenses of these wars, they meant that England was involved in the
central issues of Europe and could be seen as a great power – a fact lost at the end of Old Henry’s reign with his
sickness. Henry was extremely driven by personal interest and grudges, for example wanting a war in revenge for
Charles not gifting him the French Crown. By 1529, Charles V was by far the most powerful man in Europe, controlling
7
,Spain, most of the Holy Roman Empire (a few states up
Key Points:
north had become rebellious over religion), most of Italy
and the Low Countries. The proceeding Italian Wars would • Henry/Wolsey had got England involved in
see France do something unheard of and massively important foreign matters again.
criticised throughout Europe, showing their desperation to • England had become the tertiary power in
depose Charles: creating an alliance with the MUSLIM Europe. Both sides of any war courted
Ottoman Empire, causing Henry to once again join the side Henry’s favour.
of Charles. None of Henry’s interventions in the Italian Wars • Wolsey had engineered some of the most
during Wolsey’s time had any real effect on the outcome: in significant treaties of the time, particularly
fact, most of the times that he had fought he had been on the Treaty of London; whilst ineffective,
the losing side, but his involvement still showed his this was a massive thing for England to be
importance. involved in, let alone to be the centre of it.
• Henry could change alliances as quickly as
the wind could change – this extended
even to his allegiance to Wolsey.
8
, Not One for Change: Government and Economy I
W
olsey hated Parliament. He was a commoner, and the House of Lords refused to listen to him. He may
have desired to abolish Parliament all together and only had Henry call it twice – once in 1515 and once
in 1523.
The 1515 Parliament refused everything he had set out to do, causing his reluctance to call them again; he only
called it in 1523 to ask for a subsidy to invade France with Charles. Much like Old Henry, in fact, Wolsey liked to be
able to control government himself without having to rely on others and was the centre of many governmental
institutions. However Wolsey had one rather large issue with this: he was not king. He was not even a noble or came
from a landowning family: he was a Made Man who tried to control the government.
He presided over the Court of Chancery, which was responsible for upholding equitable treatment throughout the
country and the Star Chamber, which held the nobility accountable for their actions and he expanded to include
private lawsuits against businesses. Old Henry’s much maligned (by the nobles) Star Chamber became the centre of
justice and government. This was too successful – there were too many cases for him to hear, so he set up several
overflow tribunals to deal with the amount of business that went through there.
Wolsey was completely against reforming the institutions of the courts but ensuring that there was real justice for
those that needed it. To get this justice, he began the process of changing the legal system from Common Law to
Civil Law.
Common law had been used since 1066. It used the idea of precedent for how to deal with a case, meaning that
rulings could be almost 500 years outdated, whereas Civil Law was based on the judge’s own perception and
personal judgement as to what the punishment should be.
However, Wolsey had no qualms with abusing his position of power by overturning results which negatively affected
him or by punishing people illegally, such as Sir Amyas Paulet, who he kept waiting for five years as punishment for
putting Wolsey in stocks as a boy.
Wolsey did, however, reform some aspects of the economy. Henry was a warmonger, and war was expensive. Old
Henry had made do by reducing his spending, particularly by never going to war properly, but Wolsey with this new
King needed new methods. He planned to repeal and replace the Fifteenths and Tenths method of subsidies with a
more accurate method where all tax payers had to provide information on their income so that they could be taxed
more. The Tudor Subsidy was introduced in the Subsidy Act 1512. The two coexisted as Wolsey never repealed the
Fifteenths and Tenths.
Henry had given away most of Old Henry’s crown lands by 1515, and Wolsey put forth an Act of Resumption which
returned these lands to the crown; his income had dropped from £400,000 to £25,000. Between 1513 and 1529,
£325,000 was raised by Wolsey’s subsidy and £118,000 by Fifteenths and Tenths.
1522 saw the first National Tax Survey since the Domesday book. This assessed who should pay how much tax based
on income and assets.
In 1525, Wolsey called for an Amicable Grant for the King. Henry desired another war, but Parliament would not
have granted him a loan after 1523, so Wolsey was forced to resort to a less legal measure. This was presented as a
gift to the King for him to invade France to claim the Crown after Francis had been captured by Charles. However,
Henry had yet to repay the previous subsidies to his nobility and this one would be far larger than any he had asked
for before. This led to the Amicable Grant Rebellion, one of the largest rebellions during the Tudor period. As a
result, Henry dropped the Grant and reduced the amount people had to pay for the 1523 subsidy. This rebellion
could have been a great threat to Henry, but Sir John Spring prevented it from ever truly beginning.
The process of Debasement involved removing gold or silver from a coin to create more coins. This reduced the
overall value of each coin. Wolsey initiated this process in an attempt to increase Henry’s wealth to allow him to go
to war. This eventually led to the Tudor Depression.
9
, The Eltham Ordinances were an attempt by Wolsey in 1526 to secure his position as the top of Henry’s court. He
attempted to reduce the King’s Council to a small working council which would follow the King on his travels. He
proposed there being just twenty councillors who would meet the King daily – this would allow them to focus on the
most important aspects of government. He also justified this by arguing that it would reduce the cost of the Court
and Household. However, his real intentions with this reform were to reduce outside influences on Henry and to
make it less likely that he would find someone to replace Wolsey’s influence. Some of the people who would have
been forced to leave would have been opponents of Wolsey such as Thomas Boleyn, and Wolsey’s allies such as
Thomas More would have been permanently near the King.
However, in 1527, Wolsey failed to secure an annulment for Henry and Catherine, and he fell from power, being
stripped of all his titles by 1529, meaning that he was unable to ever pass this reform.
He tried to prevent enclosures with a national inquiry into it in 1517, but this was ineffective.
Wolsey was not one for reform. He refreshed how justice was done in the country, but did not change how the courts
actually worked. Wolsey presided over all cases that he could manage to himself, but despite his apparent liking for
justice, he had no qualms abusing the courts for his own power. He would overturn decisions and use them for
personal vendettas, and the Eltham Ordinances show that he wanted to maintain his power and position no matter
what it would mean for others.
10
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