The Rediscovery of Cardinal Wolsey's Coat of Arms

October 30, 2025
The Rediscovery of Cardinal Wolsey's Coat of Arms

 

Dickinson is excited to announce the historical rediscovery of the only known contemporary wooden carving of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey's coat-aof-arms. The carving was previously owned by the Davies-Cooke family at Gwysaney Hall in North Wales, and was believed, mistakenly, to be a Victorian replica. Recent archival research and scientific analysis have proven the coat-of-arms date to around 1525, soon after Wolsey's arms were granted to him by the College of Arms, marking the zenith of his career as Lord High Chancellor of England.

 

 Gwynsaney Hall, Mold, Wales

In 1525, Wolsey had risen to become King Henry VIII's most trusted advisor and was the most influential political figure in England. Dendrochronological analysis of the tree ring sequences undertaken by Ian Tyers reveals that the tree that supplied the oak board was felled at some time after circa 1500 and before circa 1534, in the exact timeframe between Wolsey's arms being granted and his disgrace and death five years later, following his failure to secure the king's divorce from Catherine of Aragon.

 

Searching unpublished inventories in the National Archives, Tudor historian Dr Elizabeth Goldring discovered a wooden coat-of-arms of Wolsey that hung in Thomas Cromwell's parlour ('A table of my lorde cardynalls Armes paynted and gylted' June 1527) at Austin Friars, Cromwell's mansion in the City of London, only to be removed by 1540, soon after Wolsey's downfall, and replaced by the coat-of-arms of the King. This act symbolised Wolsey's erasure from favour, as Henry VIII's wrath saw nearly all traces of his once-powerful minister destroyed. The rediscovery of the coat-of-arms is described by Dr Elizabeth Goldring as "an exceptional survival" and offers a fascinating insight into how symbolism and art were used by Tudor powerbrokers to assert their status.

 

 English School, Thomas Wolsey's Coat-of-Arms, c. 1525
 

Following his failure to secure Henry VIII's annulment from Catherine of Aragon, Cardinal Wolsey was charged with praemunire and stripped of his titles and properties. November 1530 saw the dramatic arrest of Wolsey at Cawood, North Yorkshire. It was the first step on a journey that would end, just over three weeks later, with the Cardinal's broken body being lowered into its shallow grave at Leicester Abbey. After his death, any symbols of his power were systematically eradicated. Inventories of Wolsey's own goods at Hampton Court Palace and York Place, Westminster, show that when he was at the height of his powers in the 1520s he has his coat-of-arms adorning all manner of goods, from tapestries to cloths of state, quilts, andirons and chairs. yet there is little evidence of these today, and they seem to have been destroyed. Across the country, all signs of support for this once all-powerful figure would have been quickly and quietly erased. This is, perhaps, the lone survivor.

 
 Anonymous, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, 1585-1596, Trinity College, Cambridge
 
The exquisitely crafted coat-of-arms is testament to the power that Wolsey once held. His arms were, typically, full of symbolism. The Tudor rose is front and centre of the shield, symbolising his loyalty to King Henry VIII. The red capello romano and tassels denote his rank of cardinal, bestowed on him by Pope Leo X in 1515. The two Cornish choughs, sometimes called 'beckets', are a nod to Wolsey's namesake the great English martyr and saint, Thomas Becket, and the leopards' faces were taken from the De le Pole earls and the Dukes of Suffolk, a reference to Wolsey's birthplace of Ipswich. Coats-of-arms were a potent symbols and were widely used not only by holders, but also by their allies and supporters as a way of boasting connection to great personages or by way of flattery. Wolsey had risen from low birth and realised the importance of such cyphers to establish his credentials.