Tudor Minute November 29
Today in 1530 Cardinal Wolsey died in Leicester Abbey. Three weeks earlier his world had come tumbling down around him when the Earl of Northumberland arrested him for treason, and he left his home to head to London to be tried. He had dysentery, which delayed his journey midway through, and on the 24th he left Sheffield and traveled to Hardwick Hall, and then went to Nottingham.
When Cardinal Wolsey arrived in Leicester Abbey he was so ill that he told the abbot that he had come to leave his bones among them. The morning of the 29th he made his confession and said the famous words to Master Kingston, the constable of the Tower, who had come to take him to London: “Master Kingston, I see the matter against me now it is framed; but if I had served God as diligently as I have done the King He would not have given me over in my gray hairs.”
Cardinal Wolsey was buried in the abbey.
That’s your Tudor Minute for today. Remember you can dive deeper into life in 16th century England through the Renaissance English History Podcast at englandcast.com.
Links:
Watching the Tudors Episode 10: The Death of Wolsey
Music for Impressing a King: Taverner’s Missa Corona Spinea, Wolsey, and Henry VIII
http://www.culture24.org.uk/history-and-heritage/art527507-wolsey-hunt-is-on-to-find-the-remains-of-cardinal-wolsey-in-leicester