A HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX 



not till after the return from ' The Field of the 

 Cloth of Gold' in 1520 that he seems to have 

 considered the house practically complete and 

 ready for the splendid entertainments which after- 

 wards took place in it. 144 



It has been said that Wolsey was probably 

 the greatest political genius that England has ever 

 produced, and that ' he must be estimated rather 

 by what he chose to do than by what he did.' "* 

 His designs were cast on a vast scale, and at a great 

 crisis in European history he raised England to the 

 leading position in international affairs which she 

 has held practically ever since. 1 " The field of 

 action he deliberately chose was foreign policy, 

 and all his schemes, and his magnificence, includ- 

 ing the almost regal state in which he lived at 

 Hampton Court and elsewhere must be understood 

 as part, and not a small part, of his political de- 

 sign. The letters of the ambassadors from foreign 

 courts, which have been preserved, show plainly 

 the important share that the cardinal's splendour 

 had in influencing their policy. It conveyed to 

 their minds more rapidly than anything else could 

 have done the power of the man said to be the 

 son of a butcher at Ipswich who was not only 

 making himself the master of England's fortunes, 

 but who came very near to making himself master 

 of the fortunes of Europe. Without this explana- 

 tion, without some appreciation of the largeness of 

 the plan into which the gorgeous entertainments 

 of the cardinal's ' court ' fit like the fine detail on 

 some great building, without which it would be in- 

 complete, a mere description of his magnificence 

 shrinks into a meaningless list of somewhat bar- 

 baric festivities meant only to dazzle the populace. 

 It is necessary to gain some insight into the vast 

 interests he had at stake to appreciate at its full 

 value the picture of the cardinal walking in his 

 ' galleries, both large and long,' HS meditating on 

 affairs of State ; giving unwilling audience to im- 

 patient petitioners during his moments of leisure 

 in the garden, 149 or presiding over the princely 

 fetes he organized in honour of the king or his 

 guests or the foreign ambassadors. 



The political letters and documents of Wolsey's 

 time, calendared in the Letters and Papers of Henry 

 fill, dated at Hampton Court or addressed there, 

 are innumerable, 150 but the papers which most 



intimately touch Wolsey himself at Hampton 

 Court Palace are his letters to his agents in Rome, 

 concerning his candidature for the Papacy in 1523, 

 on the death of Adrian III,"' and those relating 

 to the foundation of the cardinal's colleges at 

 Oxford and Ipswich." 1 It is mentioned that the 

 foundation charter of ' Cardinal's College ' (after- 

 wards Christ Church), Oxford, was granted in ' the 

 south gallery at Hampton Court.' IM The letters 

 of Melancthon and Luther were among those 

 discussed at Hampton Court, and there is some 

 correspondence concerning them. 1M The ma- 

 jority of papers, however, dated from Hampton 

 Court, until the matter of Henry's divorce has to 

 be considered, are concerning foreign affairs. 



Sebastian Giustinian, the Venetian ambassador, 

 who constantly visited Wolsey at Hampton Court, 

 writing to his Signory in 1519, gives the following 

 description of the cardinal : ' He is but forty-six 

 years old, very handsome, 166 learned, extremely 

 eloquent, of vast ability, and indefatigable. He 

 alone transacts the same business as that which 

 occupies all the magistracies, offices and councils of 

 Venice, both civil and criminal, and all state 

 affairs likewise are managed by him, let their 

 nature be what it may. He is pensive and has 

 the reputation of being extremely just. He 

 favours the people exceedingly, and especially the 

 poor, hearing their suits and seeking to dispatch 

 them instantly. He is in very great repute, seven 

 times more so than if he were Pope. He is the 

 person who rules both the king and the entire 

 kingdom. He is in fact ifse rex, and no one in 

 this realm dare attempt aught in opposition to his 

 interests.' 1M His influence with Henry during 

 the early part of the king's reign was almost 

 unlimited, and Henry entertained a great affec- 

 tion for him personally, writing to him as ' mine 

 awne good Cardinal,' expressing his gratitude 

 for and appreciation of his Lord Chancellor's 

 services, begging him to pay attention to his 

 own health, and signing himself ' Your loving 

 Master, Henry R.' '" He seems also to have 

 treated him with great confidence and unusual 

 familiarity, walking with him in the gardens at 

 Hampton Court arm in arm, and sometimes 

 even with his arm thrown round the cardinal's 

 shoulder. 148 



145 L. and P. Hen. VIII, iv, fai*. 



" Creighton, Life of Wthey, 2. 



"' Ibid. 

 18 ' My Galleries were fayer, both 



large and long. 

 To walk in them when that it 



lyked me best.' 



Cavendish, Life of Wolsey (ed. Singer), 

 ii, 10. 



L. and P. Hen. fill, ii (2), 3807. 

 'When he walks in the park he will 

 suffer no luitor to come near, but com- 

 mands them off as far as a man can 

 hoot an arrow.' (Tho. Allen to the 

 Earl of Shrewsbury.) Cavendish says 

 he was accustomed to say Evensong 

 with his chaplain as he walked in the 

 garden. Cavendish, op. cit. i, 42, 

 233, 246. He also seems to have 

 been in the habit of holding conversa- 

 tions with the ambassadors in the garden. 



See Du Bellay's Letters. L. and P. Hen. 

 VIII, iv (2), 4332, 4391, App. no. 158. 



1M The entries in the King's Bk. of 

 Payments, for messengers carrying let- 

 ters to the cardinal at Hampton Court 

 are very numerous ; L, and P. Hen, 

 VIII, iv (2), 3380. 



lsl The references given are only 

 typical, by no means exhaustive. L. 

 and P. Hen. VIII, iii, 3389. Adrian 

 died 14 Sept. 1523 ; ibid. 1892, &c. 



"' Ibid, iv (2), 4+3 5 i 'bid- 3198. 

 4230,4231,4423, 4460,4461,51175 



(3) P- 255; 74- 

 . Ibid. (2), 4461, 3 July 1518. 

 '"Ibid. 2371-2, Ac. 

 Iu Skelton, his implacable enemy, 

 wrote of him (fPorb [ed. Dyce], ii, 

 315), : 



' So full of malencoly, 

 With a flap afore his eye.' 



328 



Holbein, in the picture now at Christ 

 Church, Oxford, painted him in profile, 

 presumably because of a drooping 

 eyelid. Much bitter and scurrilous 

 literature was written concerning Wol- 

 sey not only by Skelton but by William 

 Roy, a converted Franciscan friar (see 

 Rede me and be not vjrothe [Arber 

 Reprints], 37 et seq.). 



" Brewer, Reign of Hen. VIII, i, 

 60. Giustinian, Despatches, i, 1 37, 2 1 5. 

 'Though he might be called proud 

 cardinal and proud prelate by those 

 who were envious of his power, there 

 is no trace throughout his correspond- 

 ence of the ostentation of vulgar 

 triumph or gratified vanity.' Brewer, 

 L. and P. Hen. VIII, i, Pre. p. Ixxxvii. 



"7 Ellis, Orig. Linen (Ser. 3), i, 190. 



1M Law, Hiit. Hampton Court Palate, 

 43- 



