His pomp was almost royal.

A train of prelates and nobles followed him as he moved; his household was composed of five hundred persons of noble birth, and its chief posts were occupied by knights and barons of the realm.

Two of the houses he built, Hampton Court and York House, the later Whitehall, were splendid enough to serve at his fall as royal palaces.

Nor was this magnificence a mere show of power.

The whole direction of home and foreign affairs rested with Wolsey alone.