The traditional view of Wolsey is that he was rapacious and greedy, exploiting Henry VIII’s lack of interest in government for his own advantage. Matusiak challenges this, maintaining that Wolsey was a gifted and diligent minister of the crown, whose own ambitions never unduly affected English interests. Wolsey’s two enduring tendencies were a readiness to take on tasks that intimidated others, and a willingness to take irregular shortcuts to get things done. This dichotomy is a fascinating starting point for you to reassess Wolsey, and Chapter 2 will allow you to use the cardinal’s rise to examine these different elements of his power. 
Chapter 11 is of particular interest: Matusiak outlines all of the grandeur of Wolsey’s time as Lord Chancellor, and he suggests that Wolsey’s guiding principles were the sense that to govern was to dominate and that high office could only be exercised effectively by continual displays of magnificence. It was these two things that made him unquestionably the most powerful official in the kingdom but also the most deeply resented. Students will enjoy weighing up Wolsey’s reputation against his wealth. 
This book offers the chance to reassess Wolsey and recognise him for his ‘diplomatic wizardry’ and his ability as the ‘all-time master of political escapology’.

 Standing at the executioner’s block in 1540, Thomas Cromwell said: ‘I have been … but of a base degree [but] was called to high estate’. This juxtaposition of characteristics offers two ways to approach Cromwell in order to reshape your teaching of Tudor government. First is to focus on his background and rise to power, which MacCulloch traces from the pubs of Putney to the heart of the Tudor Court. In Chapter 2 he shows how Cromwell’s sharp intelligence, connections with merchants in Italy, London and Southampton, and his ability to speak Italian were crucial in marking him out as a man of potential. The rise of this working-class boy created deep resentment in the aristocracy, but it did not stop him from being successful. 
The second approach is to re-examine Cromwell himself. Previously seen as a thug or as a man driven solely by ambition, Cromwell was actually a principled politician whose idealistic approach to politics is brought to life in this biography. MacCulloch introduces us to a man who was ‘more than a politician shaped by cynical ambition’. In fact, Cromwell’s career involved a string of huge risks. He oversaw the execution of Anne Boleyn, despite sharing her zeal for religious reform. He also secured the marriage of his son to Elizabeth Seymour, the king's sister-in-law, and then steered the church into a much more reformist position. ‘No “secular-minded” politician would have taken such risks’ writes MacCulloch. You could use these views as a starting point to debate the extent to which the Reformation in England was an ideological or opportunistic act. 

This article will be useful to your teaching for a number of reasons. First, students may be familiar with Mantel’s ‘Wolf Hall’ trilogy and recognise her name. In addition, it points them to one of the major primary sources for the period. Mantel gives a succinct and very accessible summary of the work of Wolsey’s contemporary and biographer, George Cavendish, and is also able to weave together the work of Wolsey and Cromwell as servants of the Crown. The picture that emerges is of gifted men emerging from humble beginnings in order to take their place at the very centre of power.

An insight into two of the main personalities of the time, Thomas Cranmer and Thomas Cromwell, and their partnership.

This clip explores how Hampton Cout was used by Cardinal Wolsey, a key figure in Henry's court.