![]() ![]() A precocious child, Thomas was probably educated by churchmen at Ipswich before he proceeded to Oxford. Thomas Wolsey was born in Ipswich, where his father, Robert, was a butcher and dealer in meat. He fell from favor because of his inability to secure the King's divorce. 1475-1530) was virtual ruler of England as chief minister to Henry VIII. If this sounds like you, I recommend you read “Cardinal Wolsey: For King and Country” by Phil Roberts.The English statesman and prelate Thomas Wolsey (ca. This is a book for someone who knows the general facts about the Cardinal but wants to learn more about this man. Overall, I thought this book had enlightening factoids about Thomas Wolsey, but it needed some tweaking to make it a brilliant biography. Another thing that threw me off was that Roberts did not write this biography in chronological order of the events until the end of this book. These facts would have been more appropriate in a book about Ispwich. I found this information fascinating, but I don’t know if it was important enough to spend that much time on it. In the beginning, he spent a lot of time looking into the history of Ispwich and its schools and church, including a lengthy segment about a missing statue, before getting into Wolsey’s life story. Finally, Roberts explores how Wolsey fell from the good graces of King Henry VIII and the last days filled with anguish as he slowly died from an illness.Īlthough Roberts presented interesting facts about Thomas Wolsey, I think the structure of his book was a bit all over the place. Roberts spends a lot of time looking at the different aspects of Wolsey’s life, like his policies, the schools he built in Ispwich, and his own homes. Wosley had a personal life outside of his public persona with his illegitimate children, his loyal friends, and the enemies he made along the way, including Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn. I wish he had included some family trees so that his readers could follow along with the different branches of the family. He then dives into the complex task of tracking the Wolsey family from the Norman Conquest to the Wars of the Roses, which did feel a tad rushed. Roberts begins by showing how Wolsey has been portrayed in other books and media such as films and TV dramas. I had not read many biographies about Thomas Wolsey, so I was excited to read this book. ![]() When I heard about this title, it was intriguing to me. Thank you, Pen and Sword Books and Netgalley, for sending me a copy of this book. Who was the man behind these significant Tudor moments? This is the question Phil Roberts tries to address in his book, “Cardinal Wolsey: For King and Country.” The man behind Hampton Court helped start the Great Matter and The Field of Cloth of Gold, Wolsey had numerous achievements. The son of Robert Wolsey, an Ispwich businessman, and his wife, Joan Daundy, who worked hard and ended up being the right-hand man of the young King Henry VIII. However, we should also consider his mentor as one of these great men, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey. ![]() When we think about those who rose through the ranks to achieve significant titles in the Tudor Court, we instantly think about Thomas Cromwell. ![]()
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