The death of the king in the following year brought to the throne a sovereign of a very different character from the one who had just left it. Great changes were to be made at court by Henry VIII; but amid them all Wolsey managed to be not only retained, but pro- moted still further. Many circumstances favored his promotion. He was in the prime of life; he was ac- customed to the court for which his manners and ad- dress peculiarly fitted him; and he also held an impor- tant place in the Church. Added to this, there were an- imosities between the Earl of Surrey, the lord-treasurer, and Fox, the bishop of Winchester, who was also keeper of the privy seal and secretary of state. Fox, desiring to strengthen his own influence by placing one of his friends and adherents near the king, made Wolsey the king's almoner. The adroit courtier rose so rapidly in the king's estimation that he did almost as he pleased. He studied to please the young king by joining in in- dulgences which, however suitable to the gayety of a court, were ill becoming the character of an ecclesiastic. Yet amid the luxuries which he promoted in his royal master, he did not neglect to inculcate maxims of state, and present to him the advantages of a system of favor- itism which he secretly hoped would one day result in his own advancement. Before the year of the king's accession had closed, he had become lord almoner, and had been presented with valuable lands and houses in London. In 1510 he became rector of Torrington; in 1511, canon of Windsor and registrar of the Order of the Garter; in 1512, prebendary of York; in 1513, dean of York and bishop of Tournay, in France; in 1514, bishop of Lincoln, and in the same year archbishop of York. In 1515 he was made a cardinal, and succeeded Warham as chancellor. In 1516 the pope made him legate a la- tere, a commission which gave him great wealth and almost unlimited power over the English clergy. He also farmed the revenues of certain dioceses which were held by foreign bishops, appropriating a good share to his own use, and received stipends from the kings of France and Spain and the doge of Venice. Thus Wol- sey had secured to himself the whole power of the state, both civil and ecclesiastical, and derived from various sources an amount of revenue hitherto unknown to any but the royalty. Yet his ambition was not satisfied. He aspired to the papacy, and had a considerable fol- lowing in 1522 as candidate for the place left vacant by Leo X, and again in 1523 for that of Adrian VI.
Wolsey was fond of display, and indulged that fond- ness to a degree never before approached by a subject. At York Place (now Whitehall) his residence was fur- nished with every luxury; and at Hampton Court he
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hnilt for liimselfa palace which he eventually presented tci the kiiisj. His dress was t^drt^eoiis, his manner of living- snniptucnis, and liis luinsclKild tunsistcd of more tlian live liundred iicrsons, ainoni^ whom were many people of rank— lords, carls, and the like. Yet while his train of servants consisted of these persons, his house was a school where their sons were educated and initiated into public life. AVhile he was dazzling the eyes or insulting the feelings of people by an ostenta- tion of gorgeous furniture and equipage, he was a gen- eral and liberal patron of literature and art. He pro- moted learning with a muniticcnt hand. He estab- lished lectureships, professorships, and colleges at his own expense. He Mas the founder of a college, or school, at Ipswich which, for a time, rivalled the schools of Eton and Winchester, but was discontinued at the cardinal's fall. He also founded Cardinal's College at Oxford, Avhich remains to-daj' as Christ Church.
He was an opponent of the Lutheran Reformation, and manifested his zeal against it in 1521, by procuring the condemnation of Luther's doctrines in an assembly of divines held at his own house. He also published the pope's bull against Luther, and endeavored to suppress ills writings in England. But he was always lenient towarils English Lutherans, and one article of his im- peachment was that lie was remiss in punishing here- tics. His ecclesiastical administration was exceedingly corrupt, furnishing to all clergymen an example of hold- ing many preferments without performing the duties of any of them. The effect of this was to sow in England many of the seeds of the Reformation which followed. In 15"28 he resigned the sec of Durham for that of Winchester; but to the Latter place he never went. About this time was the beginning of difficulties, the end of which he might have foreseen, but had no power to avert. Henry YIII desired to employ the cardinal's talents in aid of his proposed divorce from queen Cath- erine and marriage with Anne Boleyn. But his tardy efforts and rigid adherence to legal forms and technical- ities greatly exasperated the king, who was not to bo trilled with even in the gratification of his baser pas- sions. Unfortunately, too, for Wolsey, his conduct had been such as to inspire the hatred of both the queen and her rival. Catherine knew that he had taken steps towards procuring her divorce, and Anne Boleyn knew that he was using his influence against her mar- riage with the king. Added to this enmity in high place were the jealousy and opposition of the numerous aspirants for preferment who had been less successful than himself. With such a combination against him, his fall was speedily and relentlessly accomplished.