sist with the daily tasks of running a government. As a result, he was greatly influenced by people like Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, who began as Henry VII's chaplain in 1505, and eventually earned the titles of Archbishop of York in 1513 and Lord Chancellor of England in 1515 under Henry VIII's rule. Wolsey was a priest from Ipswich, but he was not overly concerned with religious piety. Instead, he saw his spiritual role as a means of securing greater power for himself. Indeed, Wolsey was able to exercise significant political influence over Henry VIII, and served as the king's most trusted confidante during his tenure as Lord Chancellor.
At the start of Henry VIII's reign, the question of the national religion was quite simple. Virtually all of Europe was Catholic, and thus, the political structure of the continent had the papacy at its center. It was not until 1870 that the doctrine of papal infallibility was adopted, but during the sixteenth century, the
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