Wolsey was a great servant to Henry VIII in government from 1514-1529, becoming one of the highest powers in the country. As he was given the title of Lord Chancellor, it meant his power was at probably its greatest point. Henry was said to be a very lazy monarch, and therefore Wolsey would have a significant amount of duties to run the monarchy. Wolsey changed areas of government such as the justice system and revised areas such as finances and parliament structure. His relationship with the King was significant, as he would be the higher power and would need to negotiate with the King and yet still get the correct decision. Wolsey managed his relationship with henry well, he tried to get the right outcome for the country but never forced it upon Henry, not damaging their relationship and keeping Wolsey in power. Wolsey had a poor approach with justice; in court he gained a poor reputation for taking bribes and his relationship with England’s nobility was poor to say the least. The financial approach was a tough period in finance; with a King that wanted to spend and go to war, and Wolsey had no choice but to bow to his majesty’s request.
Wolsey was to follow on the financial policy of an extremely successful monarch with finances, in Henry VII. Wolsey’s balance sheet was a mixture of successes and failures; his aim was to manage the finances so that King’s policies were still affordable. He found a good source of income to raise funds for the French war. This was the largest tax ever and was extremely significant in Wolsey’s financial campaign; Henry would most likely not have raised the funds for the war given his lazy demeanour, leaving the monarchy in a large debt. Wolsey further improved crown finances with the reduction of expenditure. Although Wolsey was not making any significant changes, the changes were improvements and his financial policy was significant in keeping the head of the monarch above water. It was not all success; Wolsey created a feud with the nobility with the Eltham Ordinances which did not help his already poor relationship with them. Despite his accomplishment in finding funds for the French war, it was simply not enough and some two thirds short of the £600,000 that was intended to be raised. The royal finances, including the reduction in expenditure, worked at a surplus of £107,000; this was important for such a free-spending King and to make up the loss at war. Wolsey’s policies limited the King’s spiralling costs however there was sufficient funds to fund Henry’s foreign policy.
Wolsey had the aim in his time in an extremely well powered position to achieve justice for all; in some ways he achieved justice, but yet made the judicial system worse. Wolsey gained a reputation for taking bribes and gaining wealth for himself rather than taking a fair case into court; if his aim was justice for all, then he failed at that. However, the Lord Chancellor did have some successes; he kept control of the Lord Bergavenny after illegal retainment and charging him £100,000 in recognizances. He sent the Earl of Northumberland to prison for abusing privileges. This was significant in the Kingdom; Wolsey punished those that needed to be, and gained from it, adding to the finances that Henry himself may not have brought in. Wolsey was renowned for his severe punishment of the rich because of his humble upbringing and some see his aim of bringing justice to all is incomplete; “The poor men perceived that he punished the rich. They then complained without number and brought many an honest man to trouble and vexation” –Edward Hall. Edward Hall is implying that Wolsey was not concerned about being fair, which was his very aim. Wolsey’s judicial policies were significant to the running of government as he would control the reputation of the King and satisfaction; he did bring high benefit from those he punish and made full use of the Star Chamber with 120 cases a year, compared to 12 under Henry VII. Wolsey pleased the common man with the Court of Requests becoming free to all; however he did make failings in honesty and often was unfair to the nobility, the ones who could harm him and the King the most.
To judge Wolsey’s successes at parliament would be a difficult analysis; Wolsey rarely called parliament as he did not need money because of his fairly positive balance sheets. Some argue that Wolsey had a hatred for parliament given the infrequent calling of it, but it would be difficult to judge because of there not being a need for it to be called. There was some resentment for Wolsey in parliament because of his background and what he had then achieved from that, becoming Archbishop from a Butchers son. The parliament ruling was significant to the running of government, however given it’s the small amount of meetings, it is almost irrelevant and only compliments Wolsey’s financial successes.
The nobility were the biggest threat to both Henry and Wolsey, and Wolsey in his power position was the man to have to deal with them. The nobility envied Wolsey because of his climb up the social ladder; not only this but his keen suppression of them. Wolsey often crushed the nobility in the Court of Chancery and in the Star Chamber, influenced the King on his decisions over patronage and Wolsey’s resentment of low birth. The significance of the nobility was huge in the reign of Henry, they were the power that could overthrow his monarchy and influence Henry’s opposition. The most significant event that Wolsey succeeded with was the prevention of the Buckingham plot; he stopped the rebellion from overthrowing Henry and was a huge success for Wolsey. Wolsey essentially kept Henry on the throne and was vital in suppressing the nobility in his running of government.
Wolsey’s relationship with the King was vital to the running of the government as Wolsey would try and influence the King with his favoured decision but the ultimate say would be from Henry. Wolsey’s relationship with the King was described by G.R.Elton as “Trying to rule the king when he was not the king”; it is not difficult to find how he came to this opinion. Wolsey often made the important decisions and encouraged henry to indulge on playing sports and other luxuries, Wolsey had titles that were high enough to challenge the King, such as Cardinal and Papal Legate and the fact he never challenged the King and still bowed to his orders was commendable. An overall study of his relationship with the king gives the impression that royal authority was supported rather than challenged by it. His relationship with Henry was Wolsey’s permission to run government; he needed to have a good relationship with him to be able to have the power that he did have; the decisions that Wolsey wanted to make were influenced by his relationship. Henry’s was allowed to indulge and take a backseat role in running government because of Wolsey, therefore the Lord Chancellors relations was hugely significant so that Wolsey was allowed to run the government.
Wolsey was significant to the running of government as he took control of the duties that Henry could have done, and did them successfully. Wolsey made sure that if the King did go to war then there would be sufficient funds to do so as he strengthened the crowns finances. Despite his resented move up the social ladder; Wolsey suppressed those that hated him in the nobility and stopped and rebellions and any attempts to overthrow Henry. Wolsey was successful himself by increasing his own worth significantly at the expense of the rich which did not improve their opinion on him, but did bring free courts to the poor, his originating background. Wolsey was a servant to the King yet he essentially ran the country and without his running of government there is no telling of the problems that could have arose under Henry’s sole leadership with his naturally lazy and free-spending attitude.