It was Wolsey's teaching, however, that prepared Henry for his task. The king who could use a minister like Wolsey and then throw him away when he was no longer useful, felt that there was no limitation to his self-sufficiency. ... For politics in the largest sense, comprising all the relations of the nation at home and abroad, Wolsey had a capacity which amounted to genius, and it is doubtful if this can be said of any other Englishman. ... Taking England as he found her, he aimed at developing all her latent possibilities, and leading Europe to follow in her train. ... He made England for a time the centre of European politics, and gave her an influence far higher than she could claim on material grounds. ... He was indeed a political artist, who worked with a free hand and a certain touch.. ... He was, though he knew it not, fitted to serve England, but not to serve the English king. He had the aims of a national statesman, not of a royal servant. Wolsey's misfortune was that his lot was cast on days when the career of a statesman was not distinct from that of a royal servant." _M. Creighton, Cardinal Wolsey, chapters 8 and 11._ ALSO IN: _J. S. Brewer, The Reign of Henry VIII._ _J. A. Froude, History of England from the Fall of Wolsey, chapters 1-2._ _G. Cavendish, Life of Wolsey._ ENGLAND: A. D. 1514. Marriage of the king's sister with Louis XII. of France. See FRANCE: A. D. 1513-1515. ENGLAND: A. D. 1516-1517. Intrigues against France. See FRANCE: A. D. 1516-1517. ENGLAND: A. D. 1519. Candidacy of Henry VIII. for the imperial crown. See GERMANY: A. D. 1519. ENGLAND: A. D. 1520-1521. Rivalry of the Emperor and the French King for the English alliance. See FRANCE: A. D. 1520-1523. ENGLAND: A. D. 1525. The king changes sides in European politics and breaks his alliance with the Emperor. See FRANCE: A. D. 1525-1526. ENGLAND: A. D. 1527. New alliance with France and Venice against Charles V. Formal renunciation of the claim of the English kings to the crown of France. See ITALY: A. D. 1527-1529. ENGLAND: A. D. 1527-1534. Henry VIII. and the Divorce question. The rupture with Rome.