Hammersmith: Kelmscott Press, 1893
[S.L.] III [Kelmscott Press -1893]
Cardinal Wolsey (1470/71-1530) was as Henry VIII’s Lord Chancellor for many years the most powerful man in England apart from the king himself. He fell out of royal favour for failing to secure the annulment of Henry’s marriage to Katherine of Aragon to enable him to wed Anne Boleyn. Seeing Wolsey as obstructive, the Boleyn family used its influence against him, and he died on his way to London to answer a charge of treason. George Cavendish, the author of this book, was a gentleman usher in Wolsey’s household from some point before 1522 until Wolsey’s death. Probably writing between late 1554 and June 1558, he drew upon personal observation and experience in what has been acclaimed as the first separate biography in the English language. His record is the most important single contemporary source for Wolsey’s life and offers a detailed picture of the divorce proceedings. The book circulated in manuscript before being printed in a garbled form in 1641. The private press edition shown was transcribed from Cavendish’s autograph manuscript and is, as it claims in the foreword, the first edition to present the text in the exact form in which Cavendish left it.