Thomas Wolsey Biography and Timeline — Page 3

Calais Wool Staple Agreement

Concludes an Anglo-Imperial commercial arrangement regulating coinage and the Calais wool staple alongside the continuing political alliance.

Role range: 1515-1529

Bishop

Appointed Bishop of Durham

Role range: 1523-1529

Papal Legate

Appointed Papal Legate, for life

Wolsey Directs Grant Assessment

Wolsey directs commissioners to assess wealth and collect the grant without normal parliamentary approval, generating widespread resistance.

Role range: 1525 – 1515-1529

Amicable Grant

Wolsey presses the Amicable Grant as the fiscal basis for the planned French campaign.

Great Enterprise

Wolsey prepares diplomatic and financial measures for Henry VIII's proposed invasion of France.

Tax Resistance

Resistance to Wolsey's forced loan spreads in Essex as taxpayers reject the levy for the French campaign.

Amicable Grant Abandoned

Wolsey accepts the abandonment of the grant, leaving the crown to retreat from a fiscal policy that had produced dangerous popular unrest.

Role range: 1525 – 1515-1529

Treaty of Utrecht

Performs a diplomatic reversal and signs a treaty of alliance with France.

Role range: 1515-1529

Francis I Release Policy

Commits England to help secure the release of Francis I from Imperial captivity, marking a decisive shift away from Charles V.

Role range: 1515-1529

More French Pension Settlement

Negotiates an annual French pension for Henry VIII as the financial centrepiece of England's renewed accommodation with France.

Role range: 1515-1529

Treaty of the More

Wolsey negotiates peace with the French government after the collapse of the war-finance scheme.

Hampton Court Anti-Imperial Alignment

Uses the Hampton Court agreement to strengthen England's alignment with France against the growing dominance of Emperor Charles V.

Role range: 1515-1529

League of Cognac

England, the Pope, France, Venice, Milan & Florence form an anti-Habsburg League

Role range: 1515-1529

French Ransom Cooperation

Negotiates English financial and diplomatic support for efforts to recover the French royal children held as hostages by Charles V.

Role range: 1515-1529

Arrest of Thomas Wolsey

Stripped of office & wealth, which is taken into the King's hands, & imprisoned

Diplomatic Mission at Hampton Court

Wolsey hosts a French delegation with great magnificence & expense

Role range: 1515-1529

Treaty of Amiens

Concludes a Treaty with Francis I

Role range: 1515-1529

Ownership-Hampton Court

Wolsey loses favour with Henry VIII who then acquires Hampton Court

Marriage

A tribunal opens to deliberate over the divorce of King Henry from Catherine of Aragon

Dismissal

Fails to persuade Pope Clement VII to grant Henry a divorce from Catherine of Aragon. Charged with treason & dismissed, he dies before his trial

Role range: 1515-1529

Treason

Charged with treason & dismissed, he dies before his trial

Role range: 1515-1529

Arrest of Thomas Wolsey

Attacked in the House of Lords by John Palsgrave for arrogance & misrule

Arrest of Thomas Wolsey

Convicted of praemunire & exercising the powers of a papal legate

Dismissal

Dismissed for failing to secure Henrys divorce from Catherine

Death of Thomas Wolsey

Dies en route to the Tower at Leicester Abbey