Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 20.djvu/725

WOLSELEY. 617 WOLSEY. the onciiiy. Tlu'rcupdn he (ii;^;uii/('(l llio Ciovern- ment in Zulul.Tiid. Tn 188ii-8.5 he was adjutant- general. His victory over Arabi I'asha (q.v.) at Tel-el-Keliir, in K^■yIlt, Septeiiilier l:i, 1882. raised him to the peerajje. Ajjain coniniander in Kf.'ypt, 1884-85, he attempted in vain to relieve Khar- tum, where (iordou was besieged, the plaee falling into the hands of the Mahdi Just as Wolseley's advance reached the vicinity ; nevertheless his able service in the Sudan eanipaipns won him the rank of viscount. In 181)0 he became eommandor-inchief of the troops in Irclaml, and in 1805 of the Uritish Army. This last position he resigned in IDOO in favor of Lord Roberts. His principal writings arc: tfoldier's Pocketbook for Field Service (1882); "Narrative of the Red River Expedition," in Travel, Adventure, and Sport (1889): Life of John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough (1804) ; The Decline and Fall of "Napoleon (1S05). Consult Low. Memoir of Sir (Inrnet Joseph Yolseley (London, 1878). WOLSEY, wnl'zl, Thomas ( 1475 ?-1530) . A famous English cardinal and statesman. He was born at Ipswich, in Suffolk, of parents not very exalted in station, his father having been, accord- ing to report, a butcher, though there is evidence of his having possessed .some ]iroperty. He was sent, at the early age then usual, to O.ford, where he entered Magdalen College, and graduated at fifteen. He was selected fellow of his college about 1497, and ordained prie.st in the spring of the following year. He was appointed master of the college school soon after. In 1500 the Mar- quis of Dorset, three of wliose sons he had edu- cated, presented him to the living of Limington in Somerset. His career from this time was marked by a steady rise. Besides receiving two other benefices, he became chaplain to Archbishop Deane of Canterbury, and afterwards to Sir Richard Nanfan, deputy of Calais, who com- mended him to Henry VII. As royal chaplain he made many friendships at Court, and acquitted himself so well in special embassies to the King of Scotland and the Emperor that he rose still higher. Jnst before Henry's death he was made dean of Lincoln, and immediately on the acces- sion of Henry VIII., royal almoner. Other ec- clesiastical dignities followed, and he took his seat in the Privy Council toward the end of 1511. From this time the life of W'olsey is in effect the history of England, of which he was the practical ruler. The influence which he exercised in public aft'airs was such as has seldom been enjoyed by a subject. After holding for a short time the deaneries of Herefor<l and York, he was appointed Bishop of Tonrnay. which had just fallen into the hands of the English, though he never actually obtained possession of the see. In the spring of 1514, however, he became Bishop of Lincoln, and six months later he was translated to the Archbishopric of York. His foreign policy favored the alliance with France, and gradually led the young King away from the Emperor. His position in Europe was recognized I)v his nomina- tion as Cardinal bj' Leo X. in September, 1515; and before the year was out he was made Lord Chancellor in Warham's plaee. The revenues derived from his various offices were of princely magnitude, and they were further enlarged by subsidies from foreign jiotentatcs, anxious to conciliate his favor. He did not bear his honors meekly ; in his manner of life he affected a sumptuous niagnificcnei'. and his bi'aring was ar- rogant and imperious, lie o|)cnly aspired to be Po])e ; and there seemed more than once ground for su])posing that this crowning object of his ambitions was actually within his reach. He be- came the direct representative of the Papacy in 1518, as legate a latere in conjunction with Cardinal Campeggio, and this position was after- wards prolonged indefinitely, with increased pow- ers. His purpose in cementing the alliance with France was not to eonnuit England exclusively to that country, but to put her in such a positiim that she should control the fate of Europe. In 1521, accordingly, circumstances having changed, we find him acting as commissioner for the King in negotiating an offensive and defensive alli- ance with Charles V. against France. He was obliged to side with the war party in the Council, and the measures which he took to raise money caused him to be very unpopular with the nation at large. Such a nuin, in fact, could not but have many enemies, eager, as occasion miglit offer, to discredit him with the King; and the occasion came when the King set his heart on divorcing Queen Catharine and marrying Anne Bolevn. Wolsey was definitely hostile to the King's project, and his negotiations with the Pope for securing his consent te the divorce were conducted, it seemed to Henry, in a half- hearted manner. In 1527 he set out for France- as the King's ambassador, and concluded a num- ber of treaties with Francis I. at Amiens. But. during his absence Henry's displeasure was care- fully fanned, and the disgrace of the once pow- erful ^Minister was accomplished. In 1520 Wolsey was stripped of all his honors and driven with ignominy from the Court. A bill of attainder was passed against him in the House of Lords, though it w'as thrown out in the Commons. He retired to Esher, a house belonging to the Bishopric of Winchester which by this time he had acquired, and lived in seclusion until he received orders to go to his diocese of York. He moved slowly to- ward Yorkshire, but on the way was arrested by the Earl of Nortliumbcrland at Cawood on a charge of high treason. Less than a month afterwards (November 29, 1530). as he was be- ing conveyed toward London in custody, he died of dysentery at the Abbey of Leicester. The faults of Wol.sey are obvious; but liis pride, ambition, and lu.xurj' were counterbalanced by not a few redeeming qualities. He was generous and afTable to his dependents, not a few of whom remained faithful to him, at considerable risk, in his misfortunes. Of learning he was a liberal and enlightened patron ; the endowment of Christ Church, Oxford, which he had designed to call Cardinal College, is a monument of this. He was a man of large capacity, and on the whole a faithful, conscientious, and salutary counselor to the monarch who so long entirely trusted him. Consult, besides the State papers of the period, which are condensed in Brewer, Reign of Henry yill. from His Accession to the Death of Wolsey (London. 1884); Creighton, Cardinal Wolsey (ib., 1888) : Gairdner, "The Fall of Cardinal Wolsey," in Transactions of the Royal Historical Society (ib., 1899) ; and Taunton. Cardinal Wol- sey (London, 1900) : and the contemporary Life by Cavendish, as edited by H. Morley (3d ed., ib.,. 1890).