WOLSEY, THOMAS, CARDINAL. an English prelate; born in Ipswich, Eng land, ir, March, 1471; was educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he took his degrees as a scholar of distinction. After quitting the university he was ap pointed to the parish of Lymington in Somerset. Then he became a private chaplain to the Archbishop of Canter bury, one of the governors of Calais, chaplain to Henry VII., and latterly Dean of Lincoln. When Henry VIII. be came king, the advancement of Wolsey was rapid. Successively he was appointed Canon of Windsor, Dean of York, Bishop of Lincoln, Archbishop of York, and his nomination as cardinal in 1515 and Pope's legate in 1518 completed his ecclesiastical dignities. In 1515 he was also appointed lord-chancellor of the kingdom. He was twice a candidate for the papacy, and his power in England, as also his revenues, were only equalled by those of the crown. Part of his im mense revenues he expended in display, and part more laudably for the advance ment of learning. He projected ona magnificent scale the College of Christ Church at Oxford; founded several lec tures, and built the palace of Hampton Court, which he presented to the king.
This rapid preferment by the king was largely the result of a remarkable series of diplomatic victories, in which Wolsey had been the means of enabling Henry to hold the balance between Francis I. and the Emperor Charles V. His success hi the region of politics terminated in the splendors of the Field of the Cloth of Gold (1520). In his ambitious career the cardinal had made many enemies, who were held in check so long as he re tained the favor of his royal master. This favor Wolsey lost when he failed to obtain from Pope Clement a decision granting the king's divorce from Catha rine of Aragon. Thenceforth the enemies of the fallen prelate harried him un mercifully. He was banished from court, stripped of his dignities, found guilty of a prxmunire, and sentenced to imprison ment. Finally, after a brief respite, during which he was restored to some of his offices, and had returned to his see of York, he was arrested at Cawood Castle on a charge of high treason, and on his way to London as a prisoner died in Leicester Abbey, Nov. 29, 1530.