Cardinal Wolsey was largely influenced by the healthy position of Hampton Court, when he bought the place from the Knights Hospitallers of St. John, who had owned it since the early part of the thirteenth century. The Cardinal, like so many other great men, had never been strong, and had taxed his strength to the uttermost by the enormous quantity of work which he undertook. Not only was he Archbishop of York, holding various other bishoprics, but he was Lord Chancellor of England, an office which carried with it vast legal duties, and also that of chief adviser to the King, through whom all the business of the State was carried out. No wonder he needed a quiet spot far from the busy throng, but he would have been wiser had he built a modest country house, which would not have aroused the envy of the King. But Wolsey had a passion for building, as his work at Whitehall, his college of Christchurch, Oxford, and the school at Ipswich, witness, and he apparently could not refrain from erecting a palace, which was to excite universal admiration, and ultimately to assist in his fall from power. Though suffering from a variety of ailments, among which were ague and dropsy, Wolsey never rested, but, having bought Hampton Court in 1514, pushed on the building, so that it was finished and ready for occupation two years afterwards. No word concerning any architect has come down to us, so that we may presume that the palace was erected according to the Cardinal's own plans, and that he is responsible for the romantic charm of the Tudor work, with its clustered chimneys, gabled roofs, mullioned windows, and all the picturesque dignity of the red-brick courtyards. No sooner had the builders evacuated, than Wolsey filled the palace with the most rich and costly furniture, magnificent tapestries, and beds upholstered in gorgeous velvet and silk, everything being adorned with the Cardinal's arms, until it quite outshone anything that the King possessed. King Henry often honoured his "good Cardinal" with a visit, sometimes coming unexpectedly to surprise his Chancellor. The greatest banquet Wolsey ever gave was to the French Ambassador in 1527, when 280 beds were prepared, each room being lighted with blazing fires and candles in silver candlesticks. Music was performed all through the banquet, at which marvellous dishes appeared representing St. Paul's Church and various birds and beasts.