Essay On What Was Wolsey's Downfall

Henry the VIII wanted to end his marriage to Catherine of Aragon in 1527 with using an annulment, this was then Wolsey’s job to provide what the king wanted. Due to Wolsey’s constant victories, he was able to sustain power for 15 years, outlasting the King‘s other advisers. Yet his fall was swift and dramatic, which came after his failure of obtaining Henry’s divorce from Catherine of Aragon. In regards to this, it seems clear that this is the reason why Wolsey fell from power, yet there are possible contributing factors that must take into consideration. For instance Wolsey’s failure sometimes was out of his control as Queen Catherine was Charles V’s aunt so he would never accept the annulment in fear of hear being humiliated. Charles also had captured Pope Clement this meant that all decisions would have been controlled and manipulated to Charles’ will, delaying the annulment even more. Another failure that was out of Wolsey’s control was the role of factions within the court, Anne Boleyn and her family
Despite this being the main reason, it is true that Wolsey’s unpopularity was a factor that contributed as well, his many enemies at court provided reasons for Henry to remove him but Henry didn’t get rid of his straight away because Wolsey was able to do what he asked. However, when he failed, Henry took into consideration these enemies (especially the Duke of Norfolk because of his family ties with Anne Boleyn.) and his failures with gaining the nobilities favour. Therefore Wolsey’s ultimate downfall was the failure of not securing an annulment, but his unpopularity and minor failures such as the subsidies were contributing factors to the most important reasons of why he eventually fell from