Bainbridge

Cardinal Bainbridge serves as Archbishop of York and a key English representative in the College of Cardinals. His poisoning in Rome during the early 1510s sparks enduring rumors implicating Cardinal Wolsey in a bid for power. This scandal lingers as a political liability, repeatedly invoked by conservative courtiers like Gardiner and Norfolk to discredit Cromwell through guilt by association. Bainbridge personifies the fatal risks churchmen faced amid Henry VIII's rising ambitions and Wolsey's ruthless ascent.