Wolsey Crest - a naked arm embowed, in the hand a shin-bone, all proper. The crest sets on a wreath which may be twists of silver and green and should reside on top of a Knight's  steel helmet.

Motto:  MANUS  HAEC  INIMICA  TYRANNIS
These words go on a ribbon like a pennant or streamer which is gracefully flown above or below the Shield. 

Translation:  A black shield (any shape) (may be supported by a lion), A silver cross with concave scalloped edges, A red lion, stylized (elongated, dynamic) full body view, head at        left; face full toward observer (head only) and paw raised, Four blue leopards' faces, natural picture (Note:  both lion and leopards are on the cross), A silver (chief) section across the top of the shield with A red rose (with a gold center), on same in center and Two Cornish choughs in natural color, iridescent, black with pinkish red bill & legs and feet (blackbirds).

The Motto is latin and roughly translates to: 
"This hand with shin bone shall only be raised in anger against a tyrant or tyranny itself."

The black shield, engraved cross and leopard faces were used by the Earls of Suffolk
The red lion came from Pope Leo the tenth
The Rose is the Lancaster Rose
Two Cornish choughs denotes that the Cardinal was a patron of St. Thomas of Canterbury

This Coat of Arms is registered at the College of Heralds in London, England, and was awarded to Cardinal Thomas Wolsey.  It is to be seen also at Hampton Court as well as in Christ Church at Oxford.

This description was researched and contributed by Wilford Whitaker, May 1999.  Same or similar descriptions were also contributed by Charles Woolsey, II and Norb Woolsey.  The original Coat of Arms drawing is from the The Historical Research Center® several corrections were made based on the official description.

 Wolsey Blazon of Arms:
Sable, on a cross engraved argent, a lion passant guardant, crowned or, between four leopards´ faces azure, on a chief of the second, a rose of the third enclosed by two choughs proper.
Translation:  The heraldic colour sable (black) denotes Constancy.  The lion represents Strength, Courage and Generosity.  The rose expresses Beauty and Grace.

Motto:  au bon droit.                                     Translation:    By just right.
Origin:  England          Crest:   A naked arm embowed grasping a shinbone. 

Robert M. Woolsey in his fairly well-documented The Woolsey Family, states the following:
"As of this writing there seems to be no real knowledge of the parents of George Woolsey (2.110B).  However, he brought with him this Gentleman´s coat-of-arms, of a kind very similar to that of the Thomas Cardinal Woolsey (2.074B)."

[This comes from a generic, commercial parchment of the Wolsey Coat-of-Arms, (see below) that is quite current today.  I have not researched it yet to find if a dog appears on a Woolsey-Wolsey Coat-of-Arms.  www.]

The history of the most ancient Anglo/Saxon surname of Wolsey reaches far into the chronicles of the Saxon race.  The Saxon Chronicle, compiled by monks in the 10th century, now reposes in the British Museum.

The Saxon race gave birth to many English Surnames, not the least of which was the surname Wolsey.  The Saxons were invited into England by the ancient Britons of the 4th century.  A fair-skinned people, their home was the Rhine valley, some as far north east as Denmark.  They were led by two brothers, General/Commanders Hengist and Horsa.  The Saxons settled in the county of Kent, on the south east coast of England.  Gradually, they spread north and westward, and during the next four hundred years forced the Ancient Britons back into Wales and Cornwall in the west, and Cumberland, to the north.  The Angles occupied the eastern coast, the south folk in Suffolk, north folk in Norfolk.  Under Saxon ruel England prospered under a series of High Kings, the last of which was Harold.

Arms - Sable, on a cross engrailed argent, a lion passant gules, crowned or, between four leopards´ faces azure; on a chief of the second a rose of the third between two Cornish choughs proper.
Crest - A naked arm embowed, grasping a shin bone, all proper.
 These arms are also found in Burke´s Encyclopedia of Heraldry, published in 1851.

For the explanation of Arms, I have taken the following from History of Heraldry, published in the Magazine of American Genealogy, August 1929:

The colours common to shields and their bearings are called tintures, and are of seven different kinds; two metals and five colors, viz., or, gold; argent, silver; azure, blue; gules, red; vert, green; purple, purple; and sable, black.  Some writers on the science admit two additional, tawney or tenie, orange; and sanguine, blood colour; but they are rarely to be met with in British Arms.

Status of the Woolsey family in England is given in Burke´s Landed Gentry, thus:  “people of gentle birth, education and good-breeding, those between the nobility and yeomanry, having landed estate.” 

Research is on-going in English records to determine if the American Woolsey truly can claim one of these arms.