Cardinal Wolsey
The abbey is perhaps most famous for its connection to Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, Archbishop of York and Lord Chancellor of England, who was for a time the most powerful man in England, second only to the King. In spiritual terms, his power even surpassed that of the Archbishop of Canterbury (the Primate of All England). Wolsey, at one part, was a candidate for the papacy on the death of Leo X, when Adrian VI was elected.
Wolsey fell out of the King’s favour in 1529 and went north to visit his Archdiocese of York. A year later he was accused of high treason and ordered to return to London. On the way, he stopped at Leicester Abbey. As he arrived, he told the abbot, "I am come to leave my bones among you.” Wolsey died at the abbey on 29 November 1530 and was buried within the walls of the Abbey church, where today a monument stands on his supposed resting place. From the disgrace of Wolsey, the path to schism from Rome was short, and the inevitable fall of the Abbey of St Mary de Pratis of Leicester.
The clothes manufacturers Wolsey is based nearby in Leicester and the company is named in honour of Cardinal Wolsey.
Read more about this topic: Leicester Abbey
Famous quotes containing the word cardinal:
“Time and I against any two.”
—Spanish proverb.
Quoted by Cardinal Mazarin during the minority of Louis XIV.