Using the sources and your own knowledge, do you agree with the statement that Wolsey could have done more to reform government at home?

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Using the sources and your own knowledge, do you agree with the statement that ‘Wolsey could have done more to reform government at home’?

Use sources M, N, O and P.

Sources M, N and O disagree with the statement ‘Wolsey could have done more to reform government at home’ but all three sources suggest he was more inclined to help the poor and villains than the more powerful and influential nobles. Source P agrees with the above statement depicting that Wolsey was second-rate and could/ should have done a better job at being Cardinal and right-hand-man to the King.

Both sources M and N make the point that Wolsey’s main aim was to help the villains who had been neglected and dealt with unjustly for many years thus reforming the government and how/why it operated. Source O states that Wolsey made one of the biggest contributions towards the change in taxation which now meant ‘the Crown was levying taxation which accurately reflected the true wealth of taxpayers.’ Whilst source N asserts that Wolsey was ‘remarkable’ when referring to the 260 people known that he had brought to court. Therefore both these sources would agree that Wolsey did a good job of reforming the government and enabling villains to gain more justice henceforth making changes that show a significant reform. Most importantly both sources agree that villains were in favour of Wolsey and had much respect for him but whether this means Wolsey did his best to reform the government is debatable. Source N only makes points about the change is the feudal system however source O gives us more of an idea of the change in taxation and how when this is done effectively it is a ‘valid index of the strength of an early modern regime’ and its ‘sophistication and attention to principles of distributive justice was several centuries ahead of its time.’ Both of these characteristics of the government reform would have been praised upon but John Guy makes a point in saying it was only a ‘contribution’ and Wolsey should not take full credit for reforming the taxation system. Furthermore both sources plus influence from source M highlight Wolsey was liked by the villains due to these reforms suggesting that this was the key reason for making changes in the first place this can be seen in source M: ‘he favours the people exceedingly, and especially the poor’ and source N ‘Wolsey wanted to do something for the common wealth.’

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All three of these sources view the government’s reforms from a supposed non-biased perspective but neither of the sources reflects on the effect it had on other society member s such as nobles. Source M was written by Venetian Ambassador Guistiniani in 1515 and only out lines some of Wolsey’s more positive traits, nevertheless this could also have been written to keep hold of any alliances made between the two gentlemen.  Source O also talks about a system of taxation which in this case was a replacement of fifteenths and tenths which was the previous form of taxation paid by ...

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