Thomas Wolsey (March 1473-29 November 1530) was Lord Chancellor of England from 1515 to 1529, succeeding William Warham and preceding Thomas More, also serving as Archbishop of York.
Biography[]
Thomas Wolsey was born in March 1473 in Ipswich, England, and he became an ordained Catholic priest in 1498. On 15 September 1514, he was consecrated as Archbishop of York, and he became a cardinal and Lord Chancellor in 1515. Wolsey was a very powerful courtier under King Henry VIII of England, his good friend, and he was sent to convince Pope Clement VII to annul Henry's marriage to Queen Catherine of Aragon after Henry fell in love with Anne Boleyn. Wolsey was unsuccessful in these efforts, and he was sentenced to death on his return to England, as King Henry VIII believed that Wolsey was delaying the divorce (and that he was against the divorce from the beginning). Wolsey died of natural causes while en route to London.