Much of the courtly magnificence that we have looked at so far – the great church services, the banquets, dynastic marriages and so on – were planned and overseen, directly or indirectly, by one man, Thomas Wolsey (c. 1470–1530) (fig. 8.1). Other than the king himself, Wolsey is the biggest figure of the first half of the reign. His administrative genius and extraordinary capacity for work led to rapid promotion and escalating wealth and with this went a growing obsession with the trappings of power. This chapter is not a biography of Wolsey, but it does look at him through the lens of magnificence, in both its ecclesiastical and secular contexts, and it considers his role as a patron of goldsmiths.

Wolsey owed everything to the king, a fact that he acknowledged through his new year's gifts, which were always more costly than those of other courtiers. But Henry owed something to him too. Through his artistic patronage he played a major role in bringing the Italian ‘antique’ style to England. He also brought over Italian artists whose work would ultimately benefit the king. Henry benefited directly from his fall too, in that Wolsey's houses, his accumulated wealth and his unparalleled holdings of plate and works of art all went to the king. About ten per cent of all the plate in the 1532 royal jewel house inventory is identified as ‘late the Cardinal’s’.

Wolsey is a difficult figure to judge because contemporary opinions of him were so polarised: some (notably his usher and biographer, George Cavendish) idolised him; others (such as the contemporary historian Polydore Vergil and the imperial ambassador, Eustace Chapuys) despised him and saw his every action in the worst possible light. As a result, the truth is sometimes hard to get at. He was undoubtedly haughty, covetous and endlessly ambitious, but that is not the whole picture. His covetousness and ambition must be set against his energy and exceptional ability. No one could have been a better judge of that than his former master, Richard Fox, bishop of Winchester, who, on retiring from the council, told Wolsey that ‘more diligence and labour for the king's rights, duties and profits […] be in you than ever I see in times past in any other’.