George Cavendish (writer) - Writings and Influence

Writings and Influence

It is not to be doubted that Cavendish had taken down notes of Wolsey's conversation and movements, for many years passed before his biography was composed. Between 1554 and 1558, he wrote it out in its final form. It was not, however, possible to publish it in the author's lifetime, but it was widely circulated in manuscript. Evidently one of these manuscripts fell into William Shakespeare's hands, for that poet made use of it in his Henry VIII, and Samuel Weller Singer even said that Shakespeare "merely put Cavendish's language into verse."

Thomas Wolsey, Late Cardinall, his Lyffe and Deathe was first printed in 1641, in a garbled text, and under the title of The Negotiations of Thomas Wolsey. The genuine text, from contemporary manuscripts, was given to the world in 1810. Singer published the first complete edition in 1825: The Life of Cardinal Wolsey, and Metrical Visions; from the original autograph manuscript. The "metrical visions" were his tragic poems: laments in the voice of ill-fated contemporary figures like Lady Jane Grey. Until the 19th century it was believed that the book was the composition of George Cavendish's younger brother William, the founder of Chatsworth House, who also was attached to Wolsey. Joseph Hunter proved this to be impossible, and definitely asserted the claim of George. The latter is believed to have died at Glemsford before July 1562.

The intrinsic value of Cavendish's Life of Cardinal Wolsey has long been perceived, for it is the sole authentic record of a multitude of events highly important in a particularly interesting section of the history of England. Its importance as a product of biographical literature was first emphasized by Mandell Creighton, who insisted on the claim of Cavendish to be recognized as the earliest of the great English biographers, and an individual writer of charm and originality. He writes with simplicity and vividness, rarely yielding to the rhetoric which governed the ordinary prose of his age.

George Cavendish is also the pen name of an author who wrote the novel 'Riviera Terminus.'