92 



WOLSEY WOLVERHAMPTON. 



made reporter of the tar-chamber, registrar, and 

 afterwards chancellor of the garter. Ecclesiastical 

 preferments were also heaped upon him, of which 

 the principal were the bishoprics of Tournay and 

 Lincoln, in 1513, and the archbishopric of York in 

 1514. The following year, the pope, to ingratiate 

 himself with Henry, elevated him to the dignity of 

 cardinal. His nomination to be the pope's legate 

 a latere completed his ecclesiastical dignities, by 

 exalting him above the archbishop of Canterbury. 

 Naturally proud and ostentatious, no English sub- 

 ject, either lay or ecclesiastic, ever took so much 

 state upon himself. He entertained a train of 

 eight hundred servants, many of whom were knights 

 and gentlemen. In 1515, archbishop Warham, 

 whom he had much annoyed by his ambition, re- 

 signed the office of chancellor, to which Wolsey 

 was appointed ; and his administration in that ca- 

 pacity did him much credit. His legatine power, 

 on the contrary, was exercised with great severity 

 and oppression, and his eagerness for acquirement 

 was unbounded. At the time when the celebrated 

 rivalry between the emperor Charles V. and Francis 

 I. rendered the friendship of Henry of great impor- 

 tance, Wolsey was treated with the greatest re- 

 spect by both sovereigns, receiving pensions from 

 each, as well as a third from the pope. He ulti- 

 mately, however, favoured the side of Charles, 

 who settled upon him the revenues of two bishop- 

 rics in Spain, and flattered him with hopes of the 

 papal chair, which induced him to involve Henry 

 in a war with France. Insatiable in the pursuit of 

 ecclesiastical emolument, in 1519, he obtained the 

 administration of the see of Bath and Wells, and 

 the temporalities of the abbey of St Alban's, and 

 afterwards enjoyed, in succession, the rich bishop- 

 rics of Durham and Winchester. By these means, 

 his revenues nearly equalled those of the crown, 

 part of which he expended in pomp and ostentation, 

 and part in laudable munificence for the advance- 

 ment of learning. He founded several lectures at 

 Oxford, where he also erected the celebrated col- 

 lege of Christ-church. He also founded a collegi- 

 ate school at Ipswich, and built a palace at Hamp- 

 ton court, which he presented to the king ; but 

 much of this was done by the seizure of minor re- 

 ligious establishments, for which he obtained papal 

 authority. The critical affair of the divorce of 

 queen Catharine was one of the first steps to his 

 fall, as he was thought by the king to assist the 

 delays of the court of Rome. The attachment of 

 Henry to Anne Boleyn still further involved him ; 

 and, at length, in 1529, the dukes of Norfolk and 

 Suffolk were sent to require the great seal from 

 him, and he was ordered to quit York place, his 

 palace in London, and retire to Esher, all his rich 

 plate and furniture being seized in the king's name. 

 After some suspense, owing to some remnant of 

 attachment on the part of Henry, articles of im- 

 peachment were exhibited against him in parlia- 

 ment ; but he was defended so vigorously by his 

 retainer Cromwell, that they were withdrawn. 

 H.s enemies then indicted him, under the statute 

 of provisoes, for procuring bulls from Rome, which 

 was made the grounds of a sentence of forfeiture. 

 After the intended effect was produced of making 

 him resign York palace and its riches to the king, 

 he was granted a full pardon, and part of his re- 

 venues. In 1530, he was ordered to remove to his 

 diocese of York, where he passed part of the year 

 at his mansion at Cawood, until once more, on the" 

 tirst of November, in the same year, he was arrested 



for hiffc treason, and set out under custody, for 

 London. Indisposition of body, however, combin- 

 ing with mental distress, he was obliged to stop at 

 Leicester, where he was honourably received at the 

 abbey. His disorder increasing, a few days brought 

 him to his end, on the 28th of November, 1530, in 

 the sixtieth year of his age. Shortly before his 

 decease, he exclaimed to the officer appointed to 

 conduct him. " Had I but served God as diligently 

 as I have served my king, he would not have given 

 me over in my gray hairs." There has been con- 

 siderable disposition in later writers to vindicate 

 the character of this minister ; and it must not be 

 forgotten that, in the reign of Henry VIII., who 

 had basely murdered him, of Mary, the daughter of 

 the much injured Catharine, and of Elizabeth, 

 whose mother (Anne Boleyn) was the chief in- 

 strument of his downfall, no justice could be ex- 

 pected to be rendered to the better traits of his 

 mixed character. If he was loose in his morals, 

 grasping in his ambition, and rapacious, he was li- 

 beral, and even profuse, towards his dependants 

 and in his patronage of letters. He was enlighten- 

 ed far beyond the period in which he lived, ;md 

 not only by fostering learning, but by causing many 

 reforms to be made in the church, he prepared the 

 way for that more extensive, though imperfect 

 measure of reformation which took place in Eng- 

 land after his death. As a diplomatist, it is difli- 

 cult to say whether his abilities or industry was the 

 most remarkable. To him England is indebted for 

 the first notion of a vigorous police, and for a re- 

 gular system in the administration of justice; and, 

 in justice to his memory, it should be observed 

 that, while his influence prevailed with Henry 

 VIII., the ferocity of that royal butcher was kept 

 in check. We have a Life of Wolsey by his gen- 

 tleman usher Cavendish (new editions, with notes 

 by Singer, 1827), and an account of the Life and 

 Administration of Cardinal Wolsey, by Gait (1812, 

 4to., and 1817, 8vo.) 



WOLSTONECRAFT, MARY. See Godwin, 

 Alary. 



WOLTMANN, CHARLES Louis VON, was born 

 at Oldenburg, in 1770, and died in Prague, in 1817. 

 He has written many books. His History of the 

 Peace of Westphalia is a work of great merit, and 

 far superior to his other productions. 



WOLVERHAMPTON ; a borough and market 

 town of England, in the county of Stafford, 16 

 miles south of Stafford, and 123 north-west of Lon- 

 don. It is said to have derived its name from Wul- 

 fruna, wife of the duke of Northampton, who built 

 a monastery here in 996; whence its name of 

 Hampton was changed to Wulfrun's Hampton, since 

 corrupted into Wolverhampton. The town, which 

 stands on an eminence, consists of several streets, 

 diverging from the market-place, in the centre of 

 which is a cast-iron pillar, forty-five feet high, sup- 

 porting a gas lantern ; it is irregularly paved, but 

 well lighted with gas ; and the houses are in gene- 

 ral substantial and well built. It contains a neat 

 theatre, and a public subscription library, over 

 which is a suite of rooms in which assemblies and 

 concerts take place. Races are held annually in 

 August, and are well attended. In the year 1590, 

 the greater part of the town was destroyed by a 

 fire, which continued burning during five days. 

 This town has been long celebrated for the manu- 

 facture of locks, which is carried on to a great ex- 

 tent, together with files, nails, screws, gun-locks, 

 hinges, steel-mills, machinery, and furnishing iron. 



