Thomas Wolsey - Early Life

Early Life

Thomas Wolsey was born circa 1473, the son of Robert Wolsey of Ipswich and his wife Joan Daundy. His father was widely thought to have been a butcher and a cattle dealer, but sources indicate that Robert Wolsey died at the Battle of Bosworth Field and was a significant casualty. Robert may have been a respected and wealthy cloth merchant, and the butcher story was perhaps invented to demean Wolsey and show how high he had climbed in terms of status.

Thomas Wolsey attended Ipswich School and Magdalen College School before studying theology at Magdalen College, Oxford. On 10 March 1498, he was ordained a priest in Marlborough, Wiltshire and remained in Oxford, first as the Master of Magdalen College School before quickly being appointed the dean of divinity. Between 1500 and 1509 he held the living of Church of Saint Mary, Limington, in Somerset. In 1502, he left and became a chaplain to Henry Deane, archbishop of Canterbury, who died the following year. He was then taken into the household of Sir Richard Nanfan, who trusted Wolsey to be the executor of his estate. After Nanfan's death in 1507, Wolsey entered the service of Henry VII.

It was to Wolsey’s advantage that Henry VII had introduced measures to curb the power of the nobility and was prepared to favour those from more humble backgrounds. Henry VII appointed Wolsey royal chaplain. In this position Wolsey was secretary to Richard Foxe, who recognized Wolsey's innate ability and dedication and appreciated his industry and willingness to take on tedious tasks. Thomas Wolsey’s remarkable rise to power from humble origins can be attributed to his high level of intelligence and organisation, his extremely industrious nature, his driving ambition for power, and the rapport he was able to achieve with the King. In April 1508, Wolsey was sent to Scotland to discuss rumours of the renewal of the auld alliance with King James IV.

In 1509, Henry VIII appointed Wolsey to the post of Almoner, a position that gave him a seat on the Privy Council, providing an opportunity to raise his profile and to establish a rapport with the King. His rise coincided with the accession of the new monarch, Henry VIII, whose character, policies and diplomatic mindset differed significantly from those of his father, Henry VII. A factor in Wolsey's rise was that the young Henry VIII was not particularly interested in the details of governing during his early years. Under the tight personal monarchy of Henry VII, Wolsey was unlikely to have obtained so much trust and responsibility.