Alexander Samson, Mary and Philip: The Marriage of Tudor England and Habsburg Spain, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2020, pp. iii + 278, £80.00, ISBN: 978-1-5261-4223-8

Abstract

demise of his personal empire of power and patronage, but he was also a victim of circumstance who, as a low-born royal servant, always depended on Henry’s favour and never had any truly independent power. The book is easy to follow and balances narrative progression with a thematic focus on key areas of Wolsey’s achievements, although I feel each chapter would have benefited from a brief conclusion gathering together its main insights. Overall, in an admirably concise treatment, Richardson does justice to Thomas Wolsey’s complexity, drawing out the cardinal’s desire to be seen as a learned figure and patron of learning and eschewing simplistic portrayals of Wolsey as a schemer or overreacher. For all that, however, Richardson’s most telling judgement on Wolsey is that ‘His ambitions : : : ever outran his capacity to achieve them’ (p. 151). In spite of his immense and impressive abilities, Wolsey simply bit off more than he could chew. This balanced, nuanced, and up-to-date biography will hopefully make Wolsey accessible to a new generation of scholars and bring his extraordinary legacy the attention it deserves.