Western Kentucky University TopSCHOLAR® Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Honors College at WKU Projects Spring 5-9-2011 The King, the Cardinal, the Concubine, and the Chronicler: A Lesson in Fluid Prejudice Sarah Crites
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/stu_hon_theses Part of the English Language and Literature Commons, and the History Commons Recommended Citation Crites, Sarah, "The King, the Cardinal, the Concubine, and the Chronicler: A Lesson in Fluid Prejudice" (2011). Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects. Paper 314. http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/stu_hon_theses/314 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by TopSCHOLAR®. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors College Capstone Experience/ Thesis Projects by an authorized administrator of TopSCHOLAR®. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Copyright by Sarah Crites 2011 ABSTRACT George Cavendish’s Life of Wolsey is one of the best known contemporary biographies from the Tudor era. Written during a time that has fascinated historians for centuries, Cavendish’s work has been used and quoted by many authors from many different time periods. These writers produced biographies of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the subject of Cavendish’s biography; Henry VIII, whom Wolsey served as chief minister; and Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII’s love and eventual queen. The dynamics among these three individuals is shown in Cavendish’s work and in subsequent biographies related to that era. As time passed, authors became more and more suspicious of the biases inherent in Cavendish’s book. Because of this, modern writers use the work sparingly or at least explain the problems with the text before quoting it.