"Wolfgang, St., and bishop of Ratisbon in the 10th ccntur}', belonged to a noble family of Alemanni, ^and was a pupil of the Convent of Reichenau, which, in the early half of that century, possessed the best school among the convents of Germany, and of Wiirzburg, where he had the misfortune to explain a passage in INIartian Capella (FJe Nuptiis Pliiloloiji<e et Jfe7curii) more thoroughly than his teacher, a learned Italian named Stephen, was able to do, and to be refused further instruction in consequence. In 956 he accompanied archbishop Henry of Treves to his diocese, and became a teacher of youth and dean of the clergy. On the death of the archbishop in 964, Wolfgang retired to the monaster^' of Einsiedeln, and became an example of faithful asceticism to his brother monks. Bishop Ulric of Augsburg ordained him to the priesthood, and he thereupon resolved to engage in missionary labors. He travelled through Alcmannia and Noricum to Pannonia;
WOLLASTON
1031
WOLSEY
but, meeting with less success than he had cxpecteil, he accepted a call to visit bishop Pilgrim of Passau, and was soon aftcr\vards, through that prelate's inliuence, chosen bishop of Katisbon, and invested wilh the staff. He was consecrated and enthroned in St. Peter's Church by archbishop Frederick of Salzburg and his suffragans in 973. Soon afterwards he persuaded his chapter to ac- cede to the wish of the Bohemians for a separation of their country from the diocese of Katisbon, and its erec- tion into an independent see; and ho also supplied the Monastery of St. Emmerau, over which the bishops of Katisbon had always presided, with a regular abbot, and set apart a portion of the cathedral possessions for the support of the monks. He furthermore reformed the nunneries of Upper and Lower Minister at Katisbon, whose occupants, being generally of noble family, ar- gued that they, as canonesses rather than regular nuns, were not required to practice so strict an asceticism as nuns; the end being accomplished through the zeal of the nuns of the new convent of Middle Minister which he founded. He was equally zealous and judicious in his care over the material and spiritual interests of his secular clergy and over the moral and physical needs of the common people. He was immovably loyal to the emperor, so that duke Henry II of Bavaria was unable to ))ersuade him to become a supporter of the rebellion against Otho II; and when Henry submitted, Wolfgang built as a thank-oifering the crypt at St. Emmerau. He accompanied the emperor's suite in the campaign of 978. On the return the army was pursued by the French, and, on reaching a swollen river, was in danger of being cut to pieces because the soldiers feared to at- tempt the crossing. Wolfgang thereupon plunged into the stream, and the army, emboldened by his exam- ple, escaped without the loss of a man. His influence led to a better cultivation of the East Marches of Bava- ria, He built the Castle of Wieselberg as a defence against the inroads of the Hungarians. He also edu- cated the children of did<e Henry, the oldest of whom became at a later day the emperor of German}'. After administering the episcopal office during twenty -one years, he died at Puppingen, Oct. 31, 994, and was buried in a chapel of St. Emmerau's. See Othlo, Vita ]Vo/J- kangi, in Pertz, ]\fonum. Germ. vol. vi; Calles, Ann, Kcdes. Germ. vol. iv ; Arnold de Yocliberg, in Canisiiis, iii, 1 ; Ried, Cod. Diplom. i, 106 sq. ; BoUand, in Pauli Vit. S. Erhardi ad .Tan. p. 538 ; Zirngibl, in Neue A b- kandl. d. bairisch. Akademie, iii, 1793, p. 679 sq. ; Rett- berg, Kirchengescli. Deutschlands, ii, 2G8 sq. ; Herzog, Real-Encyklop. s. v.
"Wollaston, Francis, LL.D., an English clergy- man, a grandson of William Wollaston, was born in 1731 ; became rector of Chiselhurst, in Kent, and died in 1815. He published. Address to the Clergy, etc. (1772) : — Queries relating to the Book of Common Prayer (177-1): — and several astronomical works.
"Wolsey, Thomas, a celebrated English cardinal and statesman, was born at Ipswich, in March, 1471. He is said to have been the son of a butcher named Robert Wolsej', and his wife Joan, who were poor but reputable, and possessed sufficient means to give their son the best education his native town afforde<l, and then to send him to Magdalen College, Oxford, where he graduated at the age of fifteen, and gained by his early advancement the sobriquet of" the boy-bachelor." He was soon after chosen a fellow of his college, and on taking his master's degree was appointed teacher of jNIagdalen grammar-school, and was ordained. In 1498 he was made bursar of the college, and has the credit of building Jlagdalen Tower about this time. While at Oxford he became acquainted with Erasmus (q. v.), and united his efforts with those of that eminent schol- ar for the promotion of letters. But in subsequent years, as Wolsey began to advance in position and pre- ferment, while Erasmus continued to live the life of a mere scholar, the intimacy which existed between them
began to diminish into a mere courteous formality, which circumstance drew from Erasmus the opinion, when Wolsey fell, that he was not worthy of the honor which he had received. While teaching at Magdalen College Wolsey acted as tutor to the three sons of the marquis of Dorset. By this means an acquaintance, sprang up between Wolsey and the marquis which re- sulted in giving the former his first ecclesiastical pre- ferment— viz. the rectory of Lymington, in Somerset- shire, conferred on him in 1500. While here he fell into disgrace. Being at a fair in the neighborhood, he was engaged in some kind of disorderlj^ conduct (possi- bly drunk, as has been charged), and was arrested by one Sir Amias Poulet, a justice of the peace, and put in the stocks. The indignity was remembered by Wolsey, and when he became chancellor, Sir Amias was imprisoned for six years by his order. He next became domestic chaplain to Henry Dean, archbishop of Canterbury, and on his death, in 1503, was appointed chaplain to Sir John Nafant, through whose influence he became chaplain to King Henry YII. In 1504 he received the rector\' of Redgrave, in Norfolk, which con- stituted his third living. His influence and favor at court were rapidly increasing, and in Februarj^, 1508, the king gave him the deanery of Lincoln and two preb- ends in the same church.