George Cavendish (writer)

George Cavendish (1497 – c. 1562) was an English writer, best known as the biographer of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey. His Thomas Wolsey, Late Cardinall, his Lyffe and Deathe is described by the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography as the "most important single contemporary source for Wolsey's life" which also offers a "detailed picture of early sixteenth-century court life and of political events in the 1520s, particularly the divorce proceedings against Catherine of Aragon.

Cavendish was born in 1497, the elder son of Thomas Cavendish (d. 1524), who was a senior financial official, the "clerk of the pipe", in the Court of Exchequer, and his wife, Alice Smith of Padbrook Hall, Suffolk. He was the great-grandson of Sir John Cavendish from whom the Dukes of Devonshire and the Dukes of Newcastle inherited the family name of Cavendish. George was an English courtier and author and the brother of William Cavendish, the second husband of Bess of Hardwick. He was probably born at his father's manor of Cavendish, in Suffolk. Later the family resided in London, in the parish of St Albans, Wood Street, where Thomas Cavendish died in 1524. Around this time Cavendish married Margery Kemp, of Spains Hall, an heiress, and the niece of Sir Thomas More.

Probably aided by his father's position at the exchequer, in about 1522 Cavendish entered the service of Cardinal Wolsey as gentleman-usher, and stayed in his service until Wolsey's death in 1530. His position required him personally to attend the Cardinal at all times, as well as responsibilities for the lavish entertainments that Wolsey enjoyed. During this time Cavendish was often separated from his wife, children and estates. Cavendish also knew Anne Boleyn when she was first a 'debutante' at Henry VIII's court in 1522. He was adamant that she remained a virgin until her marriage, despite Catholic rumours to the contrary. However, although he attested to her sexual morals, he never forgave her for her hatred of Cardinal Wolsey or her animosity towards the Pope.

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