Protestantism in England From the Times of Henry VIII - James Aitken Wylie

were speedily drowned ha the thunders of Luther;
and most people came to see, though all did not
acknowledge it, that if Henry the king was above
the monk, Henry the author was below him.
Wolsey now turned his face toward the
Popedom. If he had succeeded in achieving this,
which was the summit of his ambition, he would
have attempted to revive the glories of the era of
Innocent III: its substantial power he never could
have wielded, for the wars of the fifteenth century,
by putting the kings above the Popes, had made
that impossible. Still, as Pope, Wolsey would have
been a more formidable opponent of the
Reformation than either Leo or Clement. It was
clear that he could reach the dignity to which he
aspired only by the help of one or other of the two
great Continental sovereigns of his time, Francis I
and Charles V He was on the most friendly footing
with Francis, whereas he had contracted a strong
dislike to Charles, and the emperor was well aware
that the cardinal loved him not. Still, on weighing
the matter, Wolsey saw that of the two sovereigns
Charles was the abler to assist him; so breaking
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