The King's Cardinal: The Rise and Fall of Thomas Wolsey (Pimlico) (26 page)

Nor had the pope been especially helpful over Wolsey’s more private concern, his appointment to the bishopric of Tournai. This whole episode, in its detail extremely complicated, is in essence quite simple.
¹²²
Wolsey had wanted to become bishop of Tournai. No doubt personal ambition was involved, and when the possibility had first arisen, in the autumn of 1513, he was not yet an English bishop. The point that is usually overlooked is that after the recent English occupation of the city it made political sense to appoint an English bishop, and Wolsey was the obvious candidate. Two major difficulties stood in his way. In June 1513 Leo
X
had appointed Louis Guillard, son of the vice-president of the Paris parlement, to the bishopric. Guillard was only twenty-one, under the canonical age. This did not prevent him from receiving the necessary papal bulls for taking possession of the see,
but it did mean that technically he would remain only bishop-elect until his twenty-seventh year. This gave Wolsey a glimmer of hope; even more so did Guillard’s refusal to take the oath of loyalty to Henry after the English occupation of Tournai in September, for Wolsey now had grounds for approaching the pope, who in the early summer of 1514 appointed him administrator of the see until Guillard would take the oath.

At this point the second difficulty came into play. The town of Tournai comprised only a small proportion of the see, which meant that most of it was outside English jurisdiction. It soon became apparent that, despite the papal blessing, it was impossible for Wolsey to establish effective control of the diocese, especially as Guillard proved to be a very astute adversary who had, of course, French backing. The details of the ensuing battle are not significant, but Leo’s reluctance to help Wolsey is. Late in 1516 Leo not only confirmed Guillard’s clear title to the bishopric, but empowered him to call on the secular arm to help him obtain his rights, thereby giving Francis the ideal excuse for reconquering Tournai. This hardly suggests that a grateful pope was eager to reward his loyal servant Wolsey, and that, after exerting a great deal of pressure, Wolsey and Henry persuaded Leo to revoke the bull and to have Wolsey’s appointment reconfirmed does not seriously affect the conclusion to be drawn. In order to safeguard its temporal interests in Italy, the papacy was prepared to sell its vast reservoir of spiritual and ecclesiastical favours to the highest bidder. Sometimes this was Wolsey, but it was just as often others, and over the bishopric of Tournai it was Francis and Guillard who usually won. There was never any question of one person or state monopolizing the bidding: possessing something that no other power had, the papacy was in a very strong position to sell to whom it wanted, and at an advantageous price. In these circumstances the only sensible course was the one that Wolsey adopted – to seize opportunities as and when they occurred. This he had done in 1515 in order to become a cardinal, and would do again in 1518 in order to obtain his legatine powers. What he did not do was to allow the course of English foreign policy to be dictated to by a papal auction that he was never in a position to control. As for the bishopric, in the end Wolsey was happy enough to surrender all claim to it in return for a suitable pension.

But to return to the arrival in London of the French ambassadors towards the end of June 1517, in time to witness those elaborate ceremonials in honour of a rival embassy, from Charles and the regents, which had, it will be remembered, so impressed the Venetian ambassador. The suggestion was made earlier that they were also intended to impress the French,
¹²³
at a time when they had every reason to be increasingly apprehensive of the Burgundian court. Despite Noyon and Cambrai and despite the proposed marriage between Charles and Francis’s daughter, Louise, they must, by the summer of 1517, have realized that once Charles was established in Spain it was most unlikely that he would abide by these agreements – indeed, the likelihood was that he would wish to destroy them. No king of Spain would willingly return the recently conquered Navarre or recognize the French title to the kingdom of Naples. Even more worryingly, he might not accept any French
presence in Italy. And who was it helping to bring about Charles’s establishment in Spain, but the English? Clearly it was time for the French to take the English more seriously. This, of course, is what Wolsey had been trying to get them to do for the previous three years, and thus by the autumn of 1517 the right climate for successful negotiations had been created.
¹²⁴

But success did not immediately follow, and the reason is simple. The negotiations failed because, in Wolsey’s view, the French were still not prepared to concede enough. In particular, they were not prepared to pay enough for Tournai, or sufficiently to compensate the English merchants who had suffered at the hands of French pirates.
¹²⁵
At the end of November the two French envoys sent over earlier in the month to conclude, it was hoped, an agreement left empty-handed.
¹²⁶
In December English commissioners were sent to Calais in an effort to settle the merchants’ complaints, but returned to England with their business unfinished only to find Wolsey in a very bad mood.
¹²⁷
For the time being all negotiations with France were broken off, and there was even talk of war. In February 1518 Richard Fox wrote to Wolsey to inform him that Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight were in no condition to withstand a French attack, and at about the same time the garrisons of Calais and Tournai were put on the alert.
¹²⁸
On 15 March Henry spent an hour and a half providing the Venetian ambassador with ‘manifest proof of the deceit of the King of France’.
¹²⁹
However, three days later Pace, back in England in his new post as royal secretary, reported that Henry had received two letters from the French king as well as a favourable report from the envoy sent over to France some weeks before to congratulate Francis on the birth of a son – which offered a new negotiating point, for it opened up the possibility of a marriage between the dauphin and Henry’s daughter, Mary.
¹³⁰
It was a possibility that the French were quick to exploit. Stephen Poncher, bishop of Paris and in charge of negotiations on the French side, wrote to Wolsey on 8 April urging him to reopen them, and to show that he meant business he sent over his secretary with a number of proposals, including a marriage alliance.
¹³¹
At about the same time news reached Wolsey of the appointment of Cardinal Campeggio as legatus
a latere
so that in this capacity he could come to England to explain the pope’s plan for a five-year truce in Europe and a crusade against the Turk.
¹³²
It was these two initiatives, from the French and the papacy, which Wolsey seized upon and turned into his greatest triumph, the Treaty of London.

But before that treaty is examined, attention must turn to somewhat shadowy and
sinister events which were taking place at Abingdon and Woodstock in the spring of 1518 – events which suggest that there was some opposition in high places to Wolsey’s conduct of foreign policy. One of the consequences of the epidemic of ‘sweating sickness’ that England had been suffering from since the previous summer was, as was noted at the beginning of this chapter, the disruption of Henry’s normal routine. Staying out of London as much as possible, and keeping his household down to a bare minimum, he decided to spend the early spring in the Thames valley. He was at Abingdon by 27 March, and there he stayed for the next three weeks – which happen to be some of the best documented weeks of Henry’s life. Given the physical separation of king and leading minister, and the crucial state of the negotiations with France, there was need for a constant stream of letters between the two men. Indeed, at one stage Henry insisted that a train of horses be set up so that messages could be sent every seven hours.
¹³³

Not all the communications were about foreign policy. On 3 April Pace wrote that Henry thanked Wolsey for the final clause in his letter ‘touching great personages’, and praised Wolsey’s special regard for his safety. At the same time he was anxious for Wolsey to know that he had taken effective measures on his own account, for

at such time as his Grace had perfect knowledge of the coming of the said great personages unto him, his Grace did secretly provide that they should be advertised by their own servants resident in the court, as well of the strait lodging here as the penury of horse meat, and for these respects to bring with them a very small company. And Sir Henry Marney is executor of the king’s pleasure, and doth look thereunto wisely and faithfully, as well within this town as nigh thereunto
.
¹³⁴

Three days later Pace reassured Wolsey that Henry had not forgotten what Wolsey had written concerning some of the nobles at that time with the king.
¹³⁵
This is all the specific information that has survived about the episode, or at least all that can be precisely dated, but there are one or two hints of continuing concern.

First, when John Clerk, the future bishop of Bath and Wells, arrived at Woodstock on 27 April carrying letters from Wolsey he was ordered by Henry ‘that in no wise he should make mention of London matters before his Lords’. Henry also asked Clerk to put it about that Wolsey would arrive at Woodstock within five or six days, when in fact there were no plans for Wolsey to come there. Then, at the Council meeting that evening Henry went out of his way to praise Wolsey, saying that there was no man living ‘that pondereth more the surety of his person and the common wealth of this his realm’. Meanwhile, Wolsey was informed that Sir Thomas Lovell would be coming up to see him ‘for reasons be known’, arriving in London on 1 May.
¹³⁶

Unfortunately, those reasons are not known to us. However, there is a possibility that Lovell took with him the famous letter written in Henry’s own hand in which he warned Wolsey to ‘make good watch on the duke of Suffolk, on the duke of Buckingham, on my lord of Northumberland, on my lord of Derby, on my
lord of Wiltshire, and on others which you think suspect, to see what they do with this news’.
¹³⁷
The letter is undated, but the reasons for connecting it with this episode are these. Henry began by stating that ‘the most of this business I have committed to our trusty councillor this bearer to be declared to you by mouth’ – and Lovell was certainly a trusty councillor, having been close to Henry’s father even before Bosworth. There was undoubtedly a marked concern about ‘great personages’, and the two who head Henry’s list, the dukes of Suffolk and Buckingham, were with him at Abingdon and Woodstock and were both present at the Council meeting on 27 April at which Henry had so deliberately praised Wolsey’s concern for his surety. Of course, the letter can be interpreted as indicating that Henry was informing Wolsey of disquiet for the first time, which if so would appear to rule out any connection between the letter and this particular episode, because Wolsey did know of the disquiet prior to any communication with him via a ‘trusty councillor’. But the reference to ‘others which you think suspect’ surely suggests that Wolsey did have prior knowledge, because without more information than was contained in Henry’s letter there would be no good reason for Wolsey suspecting anyone else. And in late April 1518 there was indeed important ‘news’ – the successful revival of negotiations with France. A close alliance with the French would have been a dramatic reversal of the apparent aims of English foreign policy during the previous three years, and that it was considered controversial is suggested by two pieces of evidence. First there was Henry’s warning to Clerk not to mention ‘London matters’ to anyone with him at Woodstock. Now ‘London matters’ could have referred to anything: perhaps to the controversial and much disliked measures to cope with the ‘sweating sickness’.
¹³⁸
But it could have referred to the French negotiations. Certainly these were kept secret for as long as possible, a fact confirmed by the second piece of evidence. When, towards the end of June, a French envoy arrived in London with more proposals, Henry considered the matter of such importance that he made a secret dash to Greenwich to consult with Wolsey
¹³⁹
– despite his intense fear of the sweating sickness.
¹⁴⁰
And it was only on his return to Woodstock on 5 July that he announced to the members of his Council the advanced state of the negotiations.
¹⁴¹

Whether or not Henry’s famous letter should be ascribed to the end of April 1518, the fact remains that at this time the attitude of some of the nobility was cause for some concern. However, it was probably never much more than that, deriving more from general warnings from abroad than from any specific information nearer home. Of the general warnings there were a number. As early as October 1515 the bishop of Worcester was reporting from Rome that Francis
I
had alleged that there was about to be an insurrection in England headed by the nobles.
¹⁴²
In May 1516 Pace reported from Trent in Northern Italy rumours of opposition to Wolsey’s handling of affairs.
¹⁴³
In February 1517 Henry instructed his ambassadors in the Low Countries
to deny Maximilian’s suggestion that he, Henry, was unpopular with his noblemen.
¹⁴⁴
But the most relevant warning, which almost certainly led directly to Henry’s and Wolsey’s worries in the spring of 1518, came in February of that year, via the bishop of Worcester, from the pope. And on the 27th Wolsey replied that it was quite impossible to express Henry’s gratitude for the information that there was a party in England plotting in conjunction with the French. The bishop was to reassure the pope that there was nothing to fear. No one was more loved and respected than Henry, and as for Wolsey himself, if he offered to resign he was quite sure neither the king nor the nobility would allow him to. On the other hand he could well believe that the French would stick at nothing to disturb the peace of the realm.
¹⁴⁵