These many summers in a sea of glory
Geoffrey Elton
THE KING'S CARDINAL: THE RISE AND FALL OF THOMAS WOLSEY by Peter Gwyn Barrie & Jenkins, £20, pp. 666
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This vastly over-inflated book raises far more problems than it solves. This review- er's first problem springs from the author's frequent hostile references to him, ranging from schoolmasterly reproof to moral out- rage. Mr Gwyn gives us to understand that he welcomes the end of the protestant view of the 16th century and clearly regrets that the stake is no longer available to rid the world of troublemakers. Thus any criticism I would venture to offer will very probably be ascribed to personal pique. I can only say that I am doing my best to suppress all such feelings and to regard this monumental compilation with dispassion. I must, however, express my regret at the frequent intrusion of the 20th century: what is gained from the appearances of yuppies, of spitting images, of Mrs Thatch-
er? One could especially have done with fewer uses of the first person singular.
Mr Gwyn repeatedly declares his distrust of conspiracy theories in explaining the past, and he emphatically denies the exist- ence of faction in the politics of Henry VIII's reign. It is therefore strange to find that the chief driving force of his discourse lies in discovering conspiracies hatched against Wolsey by a faction of historians who are constantly denounced. But there are no such conspiracies, nor is there any such faction, though there are differences of opinion about the great cardinal and his life's work.
Mr Gwyn has persuaded himself of two fundamental concepts. One touches Henry VIII, here seen as the sovereign king, always in charge of all proceedings. In this there is a good deal of truth, though it is not nearly as proven as this book makes out that Henry was never influenced by various promoters of opinion and policy, with the result that many things happened contrary to his desires and often without his knowledge.
The other concept concerns Wolsey, here seen as invariably the king's loyal and obedient servant for whom even his posi- tion in the Church — the legateship obtained from the pope — meant only that he was able to offer to Henry a unified rule over both temporally and spirituality. This Point is asserted rather than proved. Thus in all the massive review of the evidence we are never told of Wolsey's express sorrow at the loss of his papal office, and the ostentatious pomp of this very • visible cardinal is written off as the incomprehen- sion of modern protestants for the conven- tions of the day. Yet seeing that this hostile opinion was first put on paper by a phalanx of Wolsey's contemporaries, it really will not do to refuse credit to everybody who criticised Wolsey. Mr Gwyn creates his picture by a dense argument around source evidence which leaves (as he often agrees) many matters undecided; he then decides them on the basis of his previously established convic- tions, and says so. Documents are taken at face value if they support those convictions and argued away as partisanship or pre- tence if they do not. In the end the structure of interlocking spider's webs looks superficially solid but unfortunately lacks real substance at often crucial points. Time and again he may be right, but may equally well be wrong, a verdict particular- ly applicable to his analysis of Wolsey's relations with other bishops and with the higher nobility. Only a page-by-page dis- section of the book could separate the truly proven points from those merely made possible, not to mention those left definite- ly unproven. On some matters Mr Gwyn is certainly wrong. Thus he misunderstands the history of both privy council and parliament, and he thinks that acts passed by the latter always represented policies espoused by 'the government', that is by Wolsey. This hoary misjudgment, which equips Wolsey with a multi-faceted 'social policy', should have been avoided.
So the argument will continue, at least for anybody willing to spend the time called for. But one thing can perhaps be settled even now, by a form of agreement. Mr Gwyn seems to think that he has put before us a Wolsey totally different from the one created by the historical faction he distrusts. His Wolsey is a notable states- man, full of immense energy and endless resource, with his fingers in every pie and with much success attending upon his unceasing activity, until his failure to free Henry from his first marriage led to his downfall. Except for details, that is the traditional picture of Wolsey.
The real question is whether the cardin- al's 15 years in charge of affairs (under and for the king) registered any positive and lasting achievement. About this, some of us have raised doubts, and Mr Gwyn seems to think he has proved us wrong. Yet what did his Wolsey achieve? Plans of reform (some of them taken up with more deter mination by Thomas Cromwell), a rather overstrained and in the end pointless attack on enclosures, a foreign policy which at the crucial moment left Henry without usable friends, a promotion of law enforcement more notable for noise than achievements, a temporary barrier against threats to the old Church. All this has always been seen and emphasised in va-
rious ways by all who have worked on this period. I still cannot see that within two years of his death there remained any real trace of the great cardinal and lord chan- cellor, or of his work, and that is what the 16th century seems to have felt too. None of this deprives Wolsey of his mighty intellect or his persOnal qualities: he was a fascinating and a thoroughly engaging man. It is therefore a pity that in this enormous book his person submerges in a rather featureless politician.
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