Conclusion Traduced by Ignorant Tongues? The aim of this thesis was to provide an overview of the Tudor literary characterizations of Cardinal Wolsey, and how these images evolved across the sixteenth century in response to the social, political, and religious events of that period. We have seen how early critics of Wolsey began a process of adopting generalized negative imagery to criticising the Cardinal (beginning with the general insult before moving on to ‘dog’ calling Wolsey a for example). As the century wore on, these images ‘butcher’s dog’, were refined and reapplied to Wolsey so that they came to crystallize around the Cardinal and, despite their initially nonspecific applicability, increasingly were utilized and understood to represent Wolsey alone What is so fascinating (‘that butcher’s cur’). about Wolsey and these Wolsey-texts is this process of adaptation. Any cardinal could have been represented by the scarlet and there were several galero, English cardinals throughout the sixteenth century who were well-known during their respective careers: certainly William Cardinal efforts to undermine Elizabeth I Allen’s would have earned him a high level of domestic interest, for example. However, whatever their contemporary or subsequent relevance, no English prelate has ever managed to capture the public imagination quite like Wolsey. His own aggressive evidenced through the reporting of events like the elaborately contrived reception of his in London, was an overwhelming success. Indeed, his efforts galero appear to have been so effective that they eventually came to represent his lack of godly humility. Equally, apparent efforts to seek out and punish those he felt were Wolsey’s undermining his reputation (as when he punished John Roo of Inn for his Grey’s libellous play) demonstrated the keen awareness of the importance of Cardinal’s In part by the careful manipulation of his public image, Wolsey managed to place himself squarely at the center of the European political stage.
Conclusion Traduced by Ignorant Tongues? The aim of this thesis was to provide an overview of the Tudor literary characterizations of Cardinal Wolsey, and how these images evolved across the sixteenth century in response to the social, political, and religious events of that period. We have seen how early critics of Wolsey began a process of adopting generalized negative imagery to criticising the Cardinal (beginning with the general insult ‘dog’ before moving on to calling Wolsey a ‘butcher’s dog’, for example). As the century wore on, these images were refined and reapplied to Wolsey so that they came to crystallize around the Cardinal and, despite their initially nonspecific applicability, increasingly were utilized and understood to represent Wolsey alone (‘that butcher’s cur’). What is so fascinating about Wolsey and these Wolsey-texts is this process of adaptation. Any cardinal could have been represented by the scarlet galero, and there were several English cardinals throughout the sixteenth century who were well-known during their respective careers: certainly William Cardinal Allen’s efforts to undermine Elizabeth I would have earned him a high level of domestic interest, for example. However, whatever their contemporary or subsequent relevance, no English prelate has ever managed to capture the public imagination quite like Wolsey. His own aggressive evidenced through the reporting of events like the elaborately contrived reception of his galero in London, was an overwhelming success. Indeed, his efforts appear to have been so effective that they eventually came to represent his lack of godly humility. Equally, Wolsey’s apparent efforts to seek out and punish those he felt were undermining his reputation (as when he punished John Roo of Grey’s Inn for his libellous play) demonstrated the Cardinal’s keen awareness of the importance of In part by the careful manipulation of his public image, Wolsey managed to place himself squarely at the center of the European political stage.
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