Since the Middle Ages, at least 40 Englishmen have become cardinals, the highest-ranking members of the Roman Catholic hierarchy after the pope. For the English, the word "cardinal" conjures up great statesmen like Wolsey, great thinkers like Newman and saints like John Fisher. But what kind of men became cardinals and what did they do? This work looks at the English cardinals' public careers, their background and their private lives to present a picture of a group of men whose spiritual and political influence on English history is far reaching.