Thomas Wynter or Winter (c. 1510 – c. 1546) was the son of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey by his mistress Joan Larke. Thanks to his father's patronage, Wynter held a number of lucrative ecclesiastical offices in England, including the Archdeacon of York, Richmond, Cornwall, Provost of Beverley and Dean of Wells Cathedral. Much of the revenue from these offices flowed into the hands of his father. Following Wolsey's death in 1530 Wynter was left without a protector and he was obliged to surrender many, though not all, of his positions in the church.
Biography
Early life
Thomas Wynter's exact date of birth is unknown, but most scholars argue that he was born sometime around the year 1510. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Online (ODNB), "Thomas Wynter" by Julian Lock. His mother is the supposed mistress of Thomas Wolsey, Joan Larke, daughter of Thetford innkeeper Peter Larke.Peter G. Bietenholz and Thomas B. Deutscher, eds. Contemporaries of Erasmus: A Biographical Register of the Renaissance and Reformation, 3 volumes (Toronto, Canada: 1985-7) 3:455-6. Some historians, such as Stella Fletcher, show some scepticism about Wynter's parentage, arguing that Wynter could be the son of one of Wolsey's siblings. (He had two brothers and a sister, who leave little trace in the historical record.)Stella Fletcher, Cardinal Wolsey: A Life in Renaissance Europe, (London, U.K.: 2009) pp. 7, 17. Most historians argue that Wynter was Wolsey's son because Wolsey had maintained a great interest in Wynter's education and career.Peter Gwyn, The King's Cardinal: The Rise and Fall of Thomas Wolsey, (London, U.K.: 1990) pp. 301–302. Contemporary ambassadors and officials also believed Wynter was the cardinal's son, and stated as much in their correspondence. Thomas Lupset, a tutor of Wynter's, wrote to Erasmus in August 1525, stating that Wolsey treated Wynter with so much affection that it was as if "he were his own legitimate offspring."Charles G. Nauert, Jr. and Alexander Dalzell, eds. Collected Works of Erasmus, Volume 11: Letters 1535–1657, (Toronto, Canada: 1994) p. 235 (Letter No. 1595). The Imperial ambassador Eustace Chapuys wrote to Emperor Charles V that "A son of [Wolsey's], who is in Paris following his studies, and of whom I have formerly written to your Majesty, has received orders to return," to England in October 1529.Calendar of State Papers, Spanish, 1529–1530, (London, U.K.: 1879) No. 194, p. 304. Similarly, the ambassador from Milan referred to Wynter as Wolsey's son in a dispatch the following year.Calendar of State Papers, Milan, 1385–1618, (London, U.K.: 1912) No. 817, p. 540. Wynter supposedly grew up North of London in Willesden.A. F. Pollard, Wolsey: Church and State in Sixteenth-Century England, (New York, NY: 1929) p. 308.
Education and Ecclesiastical career In August 1518, at roughly age nine, Wynter matriculated to the University of Louvain. He studied Latin, among other elements of classical education, under his first known tutor, Maurice Birchinshaw.Bietenholz and Deutscher, eds. Contemporaries, 1:148. Within a few years, Wynter received dispensation to start holding clerical offices, and obtained three benefices by June 1522, including the lucrative prebend of Milton at Lincoln Cathedral.John Le Neve, et al., Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae, 1300–1541, 12 volumes (London, U.K.: 1962–1967) 1:92; Pollard, Wolsey p. 309. Wynter would go on to obtain several more benefices in England over the next few years, despite the fact that he was studying abroad almost constantly until 1529. He became Archdeacon of York on 31 August 1523, which he held longer than any other benefice, before surrendering it in June 1540.Le Neve, et al. Fasti, 1300–1541, 6:19. When his father, Wolsey, spoke of Wynter in his correspondence, he referred to him as the Dean of Wells, a position he received in January 1526.Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII (L&P), 37 volumes in 21 (London, U.K.: 1862–1920) Volume 4, nos. 2054, 4521, 4824.
Studies in Paris Although Wynter studied in Paris with some of the best Humanists in Europe, he never showed any serious aptitude beyond normal intelligence.Thomas F. Mayer, Thomas Starkey and the Commonweal: Humanist Politics and Religion in the Reign of Henry VIII, (Cambridge, U.K.: 1989) pp. 47–48. Wynter certainly made strong attempts at learning, attending public lectures, and often dedicating much of his time to studying.L&P, Volume 4, nos. 3955, 4015, and 4294. However, Wynter was instead a surrogate for his father's influence, as well as a source of income. Scholars in Paris praised Wynter partly for his own skills, but also for Wolsey's sake.L&P, Volume 4, no. 2805. Wynter would often entertain guests, and was forced to spend considerable sums of money on furniture and housing to befit the son of a Cardinal as important as Wolsey.Wynter furnished the house and entertained the Duke of Suffolk and the Earl of Southampton during their stay in Paris in 1529. L&P, Volume 4, nos. 5598, 3955, 4015.
Besides his ecclesiastical income, Wynter also received the mineral rights to the bishopric of Durham, worth £185 per year, in 1528.Pollard, Wolsey, p. 309; L&P, Volume 4, no. 4229 (7). In total, Wynter's lands and benefices were worth about £1,575 per year in 1525, and would be worth £2,700 per year in November 1529.Nauert and Dalzell, Collected Works of Erasmus, Volume 11, p. 235; Pollard, Wolsey, p. 311; Edward Herbert, The Life and Reign of King Henry the Eighth, (London, U.K.: 1649) p. 270. Most of Wynter's income was siphoned off by Wolsey, who forwarded around £200 per year to Wynter in Paris, which helps explain Wynter's near constant requests for more money.Pollard, Wolsey, p. 311; ODNB, "Wynter" by Lock. Despite his son's less than stellar intellect, Wolsey continued to try and bestow greater honours on Wynter, including a failed attempt to secure the Diocese of Durham in 1528. Arthur F. Leach, Memorials of Beverley Minster: The Chapter Act Book of the Collegiate Church of St. John of Beverley, 1286–1347, Volume 2, (Durham, U.K.: 1903) p. xcvii; L&P, Volume 4, no. 4824.
Nepotism Historians have traditionally seen Wolsey's promotion of his son as an example of the corruption in late medieval Catholicism. Stanford Lehmberg called it the "most glaring example" of senior clergy granting their children benefices and skimming the profits.Lehmberg, The Reformation Parliament, 1529–1536, (Cambridge, U.K.: 1970) p. 85. Recently, scholars more sympathetic to Wolsey and the Church argue that his actions were not unique for the period.Gwyn, King's Cardinal, p. 302. Further, though there many prebends and benefices were held in pluralism, the parishioners of England were, for the most part, content with the state of the Church, and there were clergymen in the parishes to administer the sacraments.G. W. Bernard, The Late Medieval English Church: Vitality and Vulnerability before the Break with Rome, (New Haven, CT: 2012) pp. 63–78.
Even so, Wolsey's decline from power beginning in 1528 only accelerated once Parliament wrote and submitted their formal protest against Wolsey in 1529. This included references to Wynter as recipient of "great treasures and riches" which Wolsey then acquired as a proxy.L&P, Volume 4, no. 5749 (p. 2552). Wynter was in Paris at the time of his father's downfall, and King Henry VIII summoned Wynter to return, as it seemed likely that his father would die soon.L&P, Volume 4, no. 6023 (p. 2683). Before his return to court in July 1530, Wynter resigned the majority of his benefices, though he kept his offices as the Archdeacon of York, Provost of Beverley, and a few other benefices.
Death of Wolsey Cardinal Wolsey died in November 1530, and Wynter was left without a protector. He reached out and came under the patronage of two of the leading ministers in Henry VIII's government, Bishop GardinerL&P, Volume 5, no. 1453. and his father's former protégé Thomas Cromwell. In 1530, Wynter joined the Doctors' Commons, a legal body whose members included such powerful figures as Sir Thomas More, Cuthbert Tunstall and Nicholas West.James K. McConica, English Humanists and Reformation Politics under Henry VIII and Edward VI, (Oxford, U.K.: 1965) pp. 52–54. From there, Wynter went about raising funds to return to schooling on the continent.
By 1533, Wynter was studying law in Padua, Italy, thanks to his benefices and the generosity and influence of Cromwell.Jonathan Woolfson, Padua and the Tudors: English Students in Italy, 1485–1603, (Toronto, Canada: 1998), p. 286. Wynter regularly wrote to Cromwell to update him on his studies, and to pass on whatever news or gossip he picked while meeting ambassadors and scholars from across Europe.L&P, Volume 5, nos. 1210, 1452; Volume 6, no. 299; Volume 7, no. 100. Despite Cromwell's assistance and his benefices, Wynter could not reconcile his spending and his budget. Wynter wanted to maintain a life of a financially independent scholar, where wealth was "a great assistance to study and an ornament to life." Wynter stated his problem simply, as "I am devoted to letters but desire to keep my preferments," and by the end of 1533, he could not do both.L&P, Volume 7, no. 280.; W. Gordon Zeeveld, Foundations of Tudor Policy, (Cambridge, MA: 1948) pp. 92–94.
Return to England Wynter returned to England and court in July 1534 in poverty. He managed to get an audience with Henry VIII and Queen Anne Boleyn, who took pity on Wynter. She told Wynter that he was beloved of the king, and that he had "many friends who wish you well. Reckon me among that number."Eric Ives, Anne Boleyn, (New York, NY: 1986) pp. 329–330. Wynter remained in England for the next several years, resident at either Cawood Castle in his Archdeaconry of York, or Beverley where he still held the provostship.L&P, Volume 10, no. 86.iii. Wynter was eventually stable enough in England to have clients of his own, including Richard Morison and Edmund Harvel.L&P, Volume 8, nos. 132, 511, 579; Volume 9, no. 101; Volume 10, nos. 418, 661.
Archdeacon of Cornwall Eventually, Cromwell was able to get a new preferment for Wynter in the southwest of England. On 10 October 1537 Wynter was installed by proxy as the Archdeaconry of Cornwall.A. L. Rowse, Tudor Cornwall: A Portrait of a Society, new edition (New York, NY: 1969), pp. 148. As most of Wynter's lands and other property were in the East Riding of Yorkshire, he decided to rent out the Cornish archdeaconry to one William Bodye, a servant of Cromwell.John Le Neve, et al. Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae, 1541–1857: Volume 12, Exeter, (London, U.K.: 2007) p. 26. Renting out the rights to hold archdeacon's courts, receive probate fees, and perform visitations was common in the sixteenth century, and many archdeacons were not resident. Unfortunately for Wynter, his flock in Cornwall came to despise Bodye, which would heighten tensions in the area for years to come.