ABSTRACT
To understand the significance and function of Hampton Court as a great churchman's palace, it is necessary to consider Wolsey's position against the background of late medieval English attitudes to the position of cardinal. Cardinals were always unpopular with some in England, as Wolsey's opponents sneered: It was never merye in England when we had cardinals among us. The case against Beaufort might have been linked in popular perception with that against Wolsey because the chronicler Edward Hall, upon whom Shakespeare relied heavily, probably knew it from the London tradition of chronicles. Hall reminded his readers of Henry V's opposition to Beaufort's pretensions and stressed that Cardinalls hattes should not presume to be egal with princes. The cardinal reflected the spiritual and secular power of his master. Wolsey could therefore legitimately reflect the spiritual power of his master the pope, and the secular power of his master the king. Of the two, the king was much more immediate and important.
