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POLE (FAMILY)

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Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 974 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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POLE (See also:FAMILY) . The family of the Poles, earls and See also:dukes of See also:Suffolk, which, but for See also:Richard III.'s defeat at See also:Bosworth, might have given the next See also:king to See also:England, had its origin in a See also:house of merchants at See also:Kingston-upon-See also:Hull. It has been said that these Poles were the first See also:English peers whose fortunes had been founded upon riches gained in See also:trade; but the Berkeleys, descendants of See also:Robert fitz See also:Harding, the See also:rich burghers of See also:Gloucester,must perhaps be reckoned before them. Their See also:pedigree begins with one See also:William atte Pole (d. c. 1329), a See also:merchant of Ravens-rode who settled in Hull, where his widow became the wife of See also:John Rotenhering, also a merchant. His sons, See also:Sir Richard and Sir William atte Pole, were both famous for their See also:wealth at a See also:time when the See also:Crown had See also:great need of rich men's aid. Sir Richard (d. 1345), the king's See also:butler in 1327, removed to See also:London, and is styled a London See also:citizen in his will. The male See also:line of this, the See also:elder See also:branch of the Poles, failed with a See also:grandson, John Pole, who by his See also:marriage with See also:Joan, daughter of John, See also:Lord See also:Cobham, was See also:father of Joan, See also:Lady of Cobham, the Kentish heiress whose lands brought her five knightly husbands, the See also:fourth of them Sir John See also:Oldcastle the Lollard. Sir William atte Pole (d. 1366), the second son of William, joined his See also:brother in advancing large sums to the See also:government while keeping safely apart from politics. The first See also:mayor of Hull, he sat for Hull in five parliaments, and was advanced to be See also:knight See also:banneret and a See also:baron of the See also:exchequer.

He was counted " second to no merchant in England," but after his time his descendants See also:

left the counting-house, his four sons all serving in the See also:French See also:wars. The eldest son, See also:Michael Pole, who had fought under the See also:Black See also:Prince and John of Gaunt, was summoned as a baron in 1366, before the father's See also:death, and, as a stout supporter of the Crown, was appointed in 1381 See also:governor of the See also:person of the See also:young king Richard II., whose marriage with the Lady See also:Anne of Bohemia he had arranged on a visit to her brother the king of the See also:Romans. In 1383 he became See also:chancellor of England and thereafter, as the loyal servant and nearest counsellor of the king, he had to See also:face the See also:jealousy of the great lords and the hatred of the See also:Commons. His wealth added to the envy of his enemies, for, to his inherited See also:Yorkshire and See also:Lincolnshire lands, his marriage with See also:Catherine, daughter and See also:heir of Sir. John of See also:Wingfield, added a great Suffolk See also:estate, where, fortifying the See also:manor-house of the Wingfields, he made his See also:chief seat. In 1385 he was created See also:earl of Suffolk, a See also:grant from the Crown giving him the See also:castle and See also:honour of See also:Eye with other See also:East Anglian lands formerly held by the Ufford earls. In 1386 the opposition, led by Gloucester, the king's See also:uncle, pulled him down. He was dismissed from his chancellor-See also:ship, and impeached by the Commons on charges which, insufficient upon the face of them, secured his conviction. Richard was forced to send his See also:minister into See also:ward at See also:Windsor until the See also:parliament was dissolved, when Suffolk once more appeared as the See also:leader of the king's party. But the opposition was insistent, and Suffolk, after Richard had been compelled to give his word that those who had advised him See also:ill should See also:answer for it to the next parliament, fled over See also:sea to See also:Calais. One of the earliest of the many popular songs that bark against the Poles tells joyfully of this See also:flight of the detested " Jake." See also:Sentence of death by the gallows was passed in his See also:absence. The over-zealous governor of Calais who found him at his See also:gates, clad as a poor See also:Fleming, his See also:chin shaved, packed him back to England, whence he escaped again, doubtless with the king's aid, reaching his native See also:town of Hull, where he saw for the last time his " goodly house of See also:brick." Old See also:friends found him a ship that landed him in the See also:Low Countries, and he died an See also:exile in See also:Paris in 1389.

The exile's son Michael, who had married Catherine, daughter of the earl of See also:

Stafford, was restored to the earldom in 1397, and, although his father's See also:attainder was revived by the See also:act of the first parliament of See also:Henry IV., the earldom was restored once again in 1399, together with the castle and honour of Eye. His See also:life was that of a soldier, and he was with the See also:host before See also:Harfleur in 1415, when he died of a violent See also:dysentery. Michael, the eldest son and heir, marched from his father's deathbed to See also:Agincourt, where he See also:fell, See also:Drayton's ballad recalling how he plied his See also:axe on the great See also:day. By his wife, a daughter of the first See also:duke of See also:Norfolk, he had three daughters, but no one of them marrying, his lands passed with the earldom to his brother William. This William (1396-1450), the fourth earl of his name, had sailed with his father and elder brother to Harfleur, but had been sent See also:home sick after the See also:siege. He returned with the " viage " of 1417, leading See also:thirty mep-at-arms and ninety archers. Henry V. made him See also:admiral of See also:Normandy, and until the crowning of Henry VI. in Paris in 1431 he served in See also:France without, by his own See also:account, coming home or seeing England. He held the chief command before See also:Orleans after See also:Salisbury had fallen to a See also:cannon-shot from the See also:city, but was forced to surrender to Joan of Arc at Jargeau, where his brother See also:Alexander was killed, another brother, John, being taken prisoner with the earl. A fourth brother, See also:Thomas, a clerk, became See also:hostage to See also:Dunois See also:Queen See also:Elizabeth's crowning he Fiore her See also:sceptre. Having held many offices under See also:Edward IV. he was ready to See also:bear a sceptre at Richard's See also:coronation, and, after Bosworth, to swear fealty to the Tudor See also:dynasty and to bear another sceptre for another Queen Elizabeth. He died in 1491, having safely kept his lands, his dukedom, and his See also:head through perilous years. But each advance in See also:rank had brought danger and misfortune to the Poles.

Before the death of the second duke they had begun to pay the See also:

price of their matching with the royal until the vast See also:ransom of the earl was paid down. After 1431 I house. In the next See also:generation their name was blotted out. Suffolk turned to English politics. Like his grandfather, he 1 John Pole, eldest son of Duke John and the Lady Elizabeth, found a king's uncle, another Gloucester, the chief of his enemies. had been created Earl of See also:Lincoln by his uncle, Edward IV. Before he followed Richard to Bosworth, the young See also:man had been chosen as heir to the See also:throne, See also:Clarence's son See also:Warwick being put aside. He survived King Richard and Henry VII. spared him. But he egged on See also:Simnel's See also:plot, joined the rebels in See also:Ireland, and was killed at Stoke in 1487, leaving no issue by his wife, the daughter of the earl of See also:Arundel. See also:Edmund, his younger brother, (c. 1472—1513) should have succeeded in 1491 as duke of Suffolk, but on coming of See also:age he agreed to satisfy himself with the See also:title of earl of Suffolk, the king grudgingly restoring some portion of the estates forfeited by his brother. In 1499 he suddenly left the See also:kingdom, but was persuaded to return. But the death of the imprisoned earl of Warwick may have suggested to him that Henry's See also:court was a dangerous See also:place for those of the See also:blood of See also:York, and in 1501 he found his way to the See also:emperor See also:Maximilian in See also:Tirol with a See also:scheme for the invasion of England.

Although the kaiser at first promised him men for the See also:

adventure, nothing came of his promises. Maximilian, persuaded by a See also:gift of English See also:money, See also:bound himself not to succour English rebels. Suffolk, who had reassumed the ducal See also:style, was attainted in 1504, and in the same See also:year was seized by the duke of Guelders. From the duke's hands the prisoner was taken by See also:Philip, king of See also:Castile, who surrendered him to England on a promise that his life should be spared. But in 1513, when Richard, his brother, was in arms in the French service, Edmund Pole was taken from his See also:prison in the See also:Tower to the See also:block. Richard Pole, who in 1501 escaped from England with Edmund, had been received by the king of See also:Hungary, and afterwards by See also:Louis of France, who assigned him a See also:pension. Commanding See also:German Lanzknechts in the French service, he was the friend and See also:companion in arms of the See also:chevalier See also:Bayard. At the death of his brother Edmund, he took the title of the duke of Suffolk, claiming the throne of England. In 1514 Louis gave him the leading of 12,000 riotous German mercenaries to See also:essay the See also:conquest of England. The treaty of See also:peace stayed the adventure, but Louis refused to surrender Richard, and allowed him to depart for the imperial city of See also:Metz. See also:Francis I. continued the See also:payment of his See also:allowance, and gave him employment. In 1522 the See also:anonymous writer of a See also:journal describes the coming to Paris of " Richard de la Poulle, soydisant duc de Suffort et la See also:Blanche See also:Rose." In 1525 the See also:White Rose was killed by the French king's See also:side at See also:Pavia.

With him died the last descendant in the male line of William Pole, the Hull merchant. By one of the See also:

strange chances of See also:history, another family of the name of Pole, having no kinship with the house of Suffolk, owed, like the Suffolks, their See also:advancement and their fall to a match with a princess of the royal house. Sir Richard Pole, a See also:Buckinghamshire knight, was the son of See also:Geoffrey Pole, a See also:squire whose wife, Edith St John, was See also:sister of the See also:half-blood to the See also:mother of Henry VII. About 1490 or 1491 he married the Lady See also:Margaret, daughter of See also:George, duke of Clarence. He died in 1505, and in 1513 King Henry VIII. created the widow countess of Salisbury, as some amends for the judicial See also:murder of her brother, the Earl of Warwick. Four years later, the See also:barony of Montague was revived for her eldest son Henry. Until the king's marriage with Anne See also:Boleyn, the countess of Salisbury was about the court as governess of her godchild, the Lady See also:Mary. When her son, the famous See also:Cardinal Pole, published his See also:treatise, Defeating Gloucester's project of an See also:Armagnac match, Suffolk arranged for the young king's marriage with Margaret of See also:Anjou, and brought home the See also:bride to See also:Portsmouth in 1445. In the year before he had been created See also:marquess of Suffolk, being the fourth Englishman to take the style of marquess. His party and the queen's were on the point of overthrowing their opponent, Gloucester, when the " See also:good duke " died suddenly in the hands of those who had arrested him. This death, followed by that of Cardinal See also:Beaufort, left the See also:field to Suffolk. Under a patent of 1443 Suffolk became earl of See also:Pembroke at Duke See also:Humphrey's death.

His honours were capped in 1448 with a dukedom of Suffolk, he being then admiral of England, governor of Calais, See also:

constable of See also:Dover, and See also:warden of the Cinque Ports. But it seemed that See also:long service in the See also:foreign wars had not purged the offence of the name of Pole. All the old enmity which had driven his grandfather into exile was gathering against Suffolk. His peace policy had cost the cession of See also:Maine and Anjou, while the blunders of his ally, See also:Somerset, as See also:lieutenant in France, lost Normandy to England. See also:Early in 1450 the Commons, in spite of Suffolk's See also:appeal to his years of loyal service, accused him of See also:treason and he was sent to the Tower. A long See also:indictment was reinforced by new accusations, and the king could do no more for his minister than set him See also:free under a sentence of five years' banishment. He sailed from See also:Ipswich on the May Day of 1450, but before he could enter the See also:port of Calais he was cut off by a royal ship, the " See also:Nicholas," whose See also:master had him put overboard into the See also:cock-See also:boat, where his head was hacked off by an Irish See also:knave's rusty See also:sword. His See also:body, See also:cast headless upon Dover See also:beach, was carried by the king's orders to the Poles' vault in Wingfield See also:church, where his effigy may still be seen. Who sent out the " Nicholas," and by whose orders Suffolk died, are questions which remain unanswered. He was the third See also:husband of Alice See also:Chaucer, whom he married as the widow of Thomas, Earl of Salisbury, slain before Orleans. She was the daughter and heiress of Thomas Chaucer, of Ewelme, and, although See also:direct See also:evidence is wanting, the granddaughter, without doubt, of Geoffrey Chaucer, the poet. She lies at Ewelme, under a magnificent See also:tomb.

John Pole (1442-1491), only son of the murdered duke, should have succeeded to the dukedom, his father having died unattainted. But the honours were apparently regarded as forfeited, and the dukedom was formally restored to the boy in 1455, the earldom of Pembroke being allowed to See also:

lapse. Although three generations of See also:warrior lords See also:lay between him and the Hull warehouses, the origin of his house was still fresh in men's memories. John Paston, See also:writing in 1465, could tell every name in the duke's pedigree back to " William See also:Pool of Hull," who had been " first a merchant and after a knight," and " what the father of the said William was " John Paston knew " right well." The duke's father was an upstart for the See also:crowd, whose See also:ballads pelted him with the name of " Jac Napes," suggested by his See also:familiar badge of the See also:ape's clog and See also:chain. Nevertheless a wife of royal blood was found for the young duke, King Edward IV.'s own sister Elizabeth. The marriage confirmed him a See also:partisan of the White Rose. The son of Margaret's faithful minister rode against her man at the second See also:battle of St Albans. Before he was of age he was steward of England at his brother-in-See also:law's crowning, and at De unitate ecclesiastica, the whole family fell under the displeasure of the king, who resolved to make an end of them. The Lord Montague was the first victim, beheaded in 1539 on a See also:charge of treasonable conversations, evidence having been wrung from his unhappy brother, Sir Geoffrey Pole. In 1541 the aged countess, attainted with her son Montague, met her death at the barbarous hands of an unskilful heads-man. Sir Geoffrey Pole, seeing that his house was doomed, fled the See also:country, and joined the cardinal in exile. He returned with him at Mary's See also:accession, both dying in 1558.

His sons See also:

Arthur and Edmund, taken in 1562 as plotters against Queen Elizabeth, were committed to the Tower of London, where they died after eight years of imprisonment. See T. See also:Rymer's Feodera; C. See also:Frost, History of Hull (1827); Chronicon de Melsa (Rolls See also:Series) ; G. E. C., See also:Complete See also:Peerage; Testamenta Eboracensia (See also:Surtees See also:Soc.) ; Hon. and Rev. H. A. See also:Napier, Swincombe and Ewelme (1858) ; See also:Diet. Nat. Biog., s.v. " Pole "; ; E.

See also:

Foss, See also:Judges of England (1848—1864); Chronicon Angliae (Rolls Series); Paston Letters, edited by J. See also:Gairdner; Sir J. H. See also:Ramsay, See also:Lancaster and York (1892); Letters and Papers of Richard III. and Henry VII. (Rolls Series); Inquests See also:post mortem, See also:Close and Patent Rolls, Rolls of Parliament. (O.

End of Article: POLE (FAMILY)

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