The King's Cardinal: The Rise and Fall of Thomas Wolsey (Pimlico)

The King's Cardinal: The Rise and Fall of Thomas Wolsey (Pimlico)

by PeterGwyn (Author)

Synopsis

Proud, greedy, corrupt and driven by overwhelming personal ambition. Such is the traditional image of Thomas Wolsey, Lord Chancellor, Archbishop of York, Bishop of Winchester, Abbot of St. Albans, Bishop of Tournai and Papal Legate. It is an image which Peter Gwyn examines, challenges and decisively overturns in this remarkable book. From exceedingly humble beginnings Wolsey rose to a pinnacle of power unsurpassed by any other British commoner. Peter Gwyn explores every aspect of the Cardinal's career - not least his relationship with Henry VIII - and sets it firmly in a vividly recreated Tudor world. The Wolsey who emerges is a man of prodigious energy and ability, a tireless dispenser of justice, an enlightened reformer wholly dedicated to his king and country - a man who has been consistently misrepresented and maligned for four-and-a-half centuries.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 688
Edition: New edition
Publisher: Pimlico
Published: 06 Jun 2002

ISBN 10: 0712668330
ISBN 13: 9780712668330
Book Overview: The best biography ever written of Henry VIII's most powerful counsellor and one of the key figures of the Tudor period.

Media Reviews
'Magisterial' Antonia Fraser, Sunday Telegraph 'Learned and controversial, it has all the elements of a detective story...His verdict is convincing...a fascinating book.' Lord Blake, Country Life 'A work of magisterial ambition and achievement...He has taken a great subject and transformed it.' Blair Worden, London Review of Books
Author Bio
Peter Gwyn taught history at Winchester College, where he was also the archivist from 1965 to 1976. He was elected Bowra Fellow at Wadham College, Oxford for 1981-2. He worked on this biography of Thomas Wolsey for eleven years.