Thomas Cardinal Wolsey, the Most Reverend Father in God, Archbishop of York and Lord Chancellor of England, was, next to King Henry VIII, the most powerful man in the realm. But he was also still the poor boy from Ipswich who had constantly to prove himself. It was only natural, therefore, that when he decided to establish a private residence just outside London, it should be the most sumptuous one in the land. In 1514, he picked a site a few miles down the Thames from London. There stood a small manor belonging to the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of...
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