Wolsey, Thomas

wul'zi, Thomas (1471-1530), an English cardinal and statesman. He was the son of an Ipswich butcher. He was educated at Oxford University, and on graduation was elected to a scholarship which gave him an opportunity for further study. While master of a grammar school, he taught the three sons of the Marquis of Dorsett, through whom he obtained an appointment to the pastorate of Limington. Later, he became chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who recommended him to Henry VII. Henry VIII recognized Wolsey's ability and advanced him rapidly from one church dignity to another. In 1515 he was made cardinal by Pope Leo X, and Henry made him his lord chancellor. In the delicate matter of obtaining a divorce from Catherine in order that he might marry Anne Boleyn, Henry felt that he did not have the full support of Wolsey. Anne considered the cardinal her personal enemy. Resentment and suspicion soon brought about Wolsey's downfall. In 1530 he was arrested in Yorkshire on a charge of high treason and died at Leicester Abbey on his way to the Tower of London. His last words are said to have been these: "Had I but served my God as diligently as I have served my king, He would not have given me over in my gray hairs." Shakespeare has used this thought artistically in his play of King Henry VIII. Wolsey cries out to his secretary: