In today’s YouTube video (are you subscribed to me yet? If not, why not?!) we talk about the relationship between Anne Boleyn and Thomas Wolsey.
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[00:00:00] Hi, welcome to the YouTube channel
for Renaissance English History podcast.
I have my helper today.
I’m Hannah.
She’s my mom.
I’m her mom.
And what’s special about today?
Today’s my birthday.
Hannah’s perfect.
And I’m Hannah’s starting to, but currently
right now, when we are making this video,
you are probably not watching it right now
because, I mean, it’s not even out now, but
right now, mom would still have been an agony.
No epidural, all natural.
I was so silly.
I popped out 20, 25 hours.
20 hours.
I’m gonna pop out.
What time is it now?
Okay, this is getting way too personal.
So Hannah, what are we talking about today?
Let me tell you what we’re talking about.
Let’s pull up these notes.
I don’t know what we’re talking about today,
mom.
We are talking about the relationship with
Ian.
Do you remember who she is?
She’s right.
Do you know which one she is?[00:01:00]
My cheat sheet.
I was gonna say the third, but you just told
me that she has the second.
Yeah, she’s the one that Henry left.
Yeah.
Catherine ve gone for.
So she we’re gonna talk about her relationship
with Cardinal Woolsey.
Is that, is she a bird?
Is she a cardinal?
No, but you know why they called them that?
’cause they had these cardinals hats that
were red and they wore these red outfits.
I mean, I think that has to do with it.
Somebody’s, here’s probably gonna leave me
a comment and tell me that’s wrong.
But as far as I know, that’s what it comes
from.
He was a religious uh, advisor, but he was
also Henry’s lord chancellor.
He was kind of Henry’s right hand man.
Okay.
Like Hamilton was Washington’s right hand
man.
Cool.
Real quick before you get into it, yeah.
Mm-hmm.
I got this necklace for my birthday and it’s
in Opal and I’m gonna go watch TV now.
Okay.
Well wait, don’t you wanna have me do, if
you’re new here, very special, warm.
Welcome to you right there.
Yeah.
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This is.
Tesco, and I’ve been podcasting on Tudor,
England [00:02:00] since 2009 before you were
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All right, so I’m gonna record for a couple
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Let’s get into it.
In the vibrant tapestry of Tudor history,
few relationships have influenced England’s
trajectory as profoundly as the intriguing
interplay between Ann Belin and Cardinal Thomas
Woolsey.
And the captivating lady and waiting who would
become the second wife of Henry VIII and Woolie,
the powerful prelate who dominated England’s
political and religious landscape.
They were pivotal figures in one of history’s
most dramatic tales.
So in this video, we are going to journey
through the opulent halls of the Tudor Court,
where ambition, desire, and fate intertwine
setting the stage for monumental change.
So let’s start with a background on Thomas
Woolsey.
His story [00:05:00] is one of a meteoric
rise to power from humble beginnings to the
echelons of England’s elite.
Born in Ipswich to a butcher and his wife
Woolsey’s intellect and ambition propelled
him far beyond the confines of his modest
upbringing.
He was educated Oxford.
He was lauded as a prodigious scholar, earning
the nickname the Boy Bachelor for his academic
achievements at the tender age of just 15
years old.
But it was in the realm of politics and church
affairs where Woolsey truly made his mark.
Henry VIII recognized his talent setting Woolsey
on a path of increasing prominence.
By the time young King Henry VIII ascended
the throne, Woolsey had become an indispensable
asset.
Their partnership was founded on mutual respect
and trust while Henry indulged in the pleasures
of kingship.
Woolsey managed the intricacies of governance.
In essence, he was England’s defacto ruler.
His positions were manifold.
He was [00:06:00] the Archbishop of York.
He was the Lord Chancellor of England, and
perhaps most significantly he was the papal
Legate, a direct representative of the Pope
in Rome.
This last title granted him unparalleled religious
authority in second only to the Pope himself.
Yet with all of his power, he was not immune
to the shifting sands of court politics.
Or the whims of a king in search of a male
heir.
As the 1520s dawned, a new figure began to
cast a long shadow over the English court,
and that would be Anne Bein. Little did Woolsey
know that his fate and Anne’s ambitions would
soon become linked.
Lin’s returned to the court from France in
the 1520s and the early 1520s was marked by
grace, intelligence and a distinct French
flare, a testament to her time spent in the
courts of Burgundy, the Netherlands, and of
course France.
Her European sojourn had shaped her into a
sophisticated and alluring presence, [00:07:00]
captivating the attentions of many, including
a young nobleman named Henry Percy.
Their budding relationship filled with the
promise of love was abruptly cut short.
The general consensus at court was that Woolley
had played a significant role in ending their
courtship.
Cavendish said that Henry himself had ordered,
it ended because he already was starting to
feel feelings for Anne.
Um, Percy already had marriage plans, so you
know, there was a, a couple of things that
wasn’t just that Woolsey didn’t like Anne.
Uh, Anne blamed him for that definitely.
And her ire with Woolsey began in earnest
with this intervention.
She felt wronged her personal life, manipulated
for political reasons, yet as one door closed,
another opened, Henry VIII was already getting
restless in his marriage to Catherine Aragon,
due to many things, including her inability
to produce a male air, and he became increasingly
[00:08:00] enamored with Anne.
Here Anne, of course, demonstrated her astuteness.
Unlike her sister, she refused to be a mere
mistress, subtly asserting her worth and stoking
the king’s desire even further, as their relationship
deepened, the pressing matter of Henry’s annulment
from Catherine became the court’s primary
preoccupation.
For Henry the annulment was not just a matter
of the heart, but also of dynasty.
His desperation for a male heir coupled with
his infatuation for Anne, pushed the great
matter to the forefront of England’s political
agenda.
And as the king’s most trusted advisor, Woolsey
was entrusted with this sensitive task.
Given Woolsey’s dual role as both the king’s
chief minister and the Papal Legate, Henry
assumed that the annulment would be a relatively
straightforward affair.
However the process proved anything but simple.
The Pope was under significant pressure from
the Holy Roman emperor, Charles the V, who
was of course Katherine’s nephew and [00:09:00]
was reluctant to annul the marriage.
Additionally, the sack of Rome in 1527 by
Charles’s troops further complicated matters
as the Pope was virtually a prisoner and couldn’t
make independent decisions.
The months turned into years.
Ann’s patience were thin.
She had already experienced Woolsey’s interference
in her relationship with Percy.
Now she perceived his inability to secure
the annulment as yet another betrayal.
While Woolsey genuinely tried to navigate
the complex web of European politics, his
efforts were continually thwarted.
Anne’s growing influence over Henry, combined
with Woolsey’s perceived failures.
Set the stage for the inevitable clash.
Their intertwined destinies would play a decisive
role in the unfolding drama of the Tudor Court.
The woman once seen as an unsuitable match
for Henry Percy was now at the heart of English.
Political life wielding influenced.
Few could have predicted Lin’s growing presence
in Henry’s life had [00:10:00] ramifications
beyond their intimate relationship.
It began to permeate the very politics of
court.
Anne’s animosity towards Woolsey was of course
multifaceted.
She was still upset with him about messing
up with her romance with Henry Percy, and
you know, as the annulment dragged on, she
became ever more convinced that Woolsey was
actually acting against her.
She wasn’t alone in her mistrust.
Court gossip and whisperings of Woolsey’s
other political adversaries found a willing
audience in her.
Together, they painted a portrait of Woolsey
as a self-serving Prelate, more interested
in his own power than in the king’s desires.
Moreover, Ian began introducing Henry to reformist
religious ideas, subtly challenging Woolsey’s
staunch Catholic beliefs, the religious divide
between them further strained their relationship
with Anne.
Subtly suggesting that perhaps Woolsey’s loyalty
to Rome was greater than his loyalty to the
English crown.
[00:11:00] By the late 1520s, his star was
waning.
His failure to secure the annulment was seen
not just as a personal failure, but a diplomatic
and political one as well.
Henry’s frustrations with him were clear.
And Anne, with her growing influence over
the King was well positioned to exacerbate
these tensions.
Anne’s alliances within the court played a
pivotal role.
She fostered close ties with Woolsey’s political
enemies, including the Duke of Norfolk and
the Belin family’s own connections.
Highlighting his luxurious lifestyle, which
you know, didn’t seem like that of a prelate
or a man of God.
By 1529, the inevitable occurred Woolsey was
dismissed from his position as Lord Chancellor
replaced by Sir Thomas Moore, stripped of
his properties and wealth.
He was ordered to retire in York, but even
in his reduced state, his enemies were not
done.
In 1530, he was arrested on charges of treason.
He was supposedly writing letters to Catherine
Aragon.
Although he would never stand trial, [00:12:00]
dying un route to London, Woolsey’s downfall
was complete.
Anne’s triumph was clear.
The man who once stood in her way, both in
matters of the heart and politics was gone,
but the English court was a place of shifting
alliances and tumultuous affairs as Woolsey’s
Star set.
Anne’s own fate was on the rise with the challenges
and triumphs of her own awaiting.
The intense interplay between Anne and Cardinal
Woolsey had profound implications for England.
Woolsey’s downfall not only highlighted the
volatile nature of court politics, but also
demonstrated the immense power of an individual,
in this case, Anne, and the role she could
have over the Monarch and the nation’s entire
direction.
With Woolsey out of the way, the path to Henry’s
break from the Catholic church became more
unobstructed and reformist beliefs.
Her influence over Henry contributed to the
eventual establishment of the Church of England.
This monumental shift was not just about Henry’s
desire for a male heir or his love for [00:13:00]
Anne.
It also stemmed from the political and religious
tensions of the era with figures like Anne
and Woolsey at the very heart.
For Anne, her victory over Woolsey was bittersweet.
She did become Queen of England and give birth
to Elizabeth the first.
Her time on the throne was fraught with challenges.
Her inability to produce a male heir coupled
with the court intrigues and the fickle nature
of Henry’s affections would eventually lead
to her own tragic end.
The relationship between Anne and Thomas Woolsey
is a microcosm of broader intrigues passions
and political maneuverings in the Tudor era.
Their personal feud reflects the larger struggles
of the time from the quest for power to the
religious upheavals that would shape England
to forced centuries.
In the annals of history, their names are
forever intertwined.
A reminder of a time when love, ambition,
and destiny emerged in the halls of the Tudor
Court.
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Heather Teysko is the creator, writer, and producer of The Renaissance English History Podcast, one of the longest running indie history podcasts, going since 2009. She's been writing about history online for over 25 years, since her first site on Colonial American history became number one in history on Yahoo in 1998. She writes books, created the original Tudor Planner (a yearly diary filled with Tudor history) and in 2019 created the world's first Tudorcon (you can "attend" online this year!). She has been passionate about Tudor England since she first read Alison Weir's The Six Wives of Henry VIII 20 years ago, and subsequently moved to London after college to spend her time immersed in Tudor history.