But it is difficult to detect in her conduct the heroic virtues assumed by Rome, and easier to see self-protective caution at work. Although a jury of twelve men would have . Richard Pole held a variety of offices in Henry VII's government, the highest being Chamberlain for Arthur, Prince of Wales, Henry's elder son. Margarets later life, at least, is well documented, but we cannot approach her story from the inside. But Margaret kept any dissident thoughts to herself, avoiding jeopardy until, in the summer of 1536, the actions of her son Reginald plunged her whole family into trouble. He had long felt a calling to the priesthood. It was his great popularity that saved him. When Arthur married Catherine of Aragon, Margaret became one of her ladies-in-waiting, but her entourage was dissolved when Arthur died in 1502 aged fifteen. "Margaret Pole, Tudor Matriarch and Martyr." In the end, he decided, in the words of his friend Erasmus, to be a chaste husband rather than an impure priest.. (1) In 1487, an imposter, Lambert Simmel, pretended to be her brother Edward, and was used to try to gather a rebellion against Henry VII. In 1520 Margaret was appointed governess to Henry's daughter Mary. [18][19][20][21][22] Margaret was buried in the chapel of St Peter ad Vincula within the Tower of London. Quite the opposite. His resignation was at first not accepted. Later that year, Reginald was summoned to Rome, made a cardinal and put in charge of organising a crusade against England economic sanctions first, war if need be. She answered that no crime had been imputed to her. Her second son, Arthur Pole, had a generally successful career as a courtier, becoming one of the six Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber. Thomas Cromwell producerade en tunika av typen 'Five Wounds of Christ', som pstods vara en symbol fr nskan att placera . Managed all schedules for company and . Margaret was one of just two women in 16th-century England to be a peeress in her own right (suo jure) without a husband in the House of Lords. "Pole, Margaret Plantagenet, Bl." Margaret Pole. Margaret Pole, as she was now styled, was held in the Tower of London for two-and-a-half years. Margaret was 14, and probably remained at court rather than living with her husband. Find out more about the London Review of Books app. But he himself did not sign the letter in which most of Englands nobles and prelates petitioned the pope to declare the marriage unlawful. European rulers keen to destabilise England had promoted the claims of this plausible, glamorous young man, but by the summer of 1498 he was in the Tower, about to embark on the last act of his mysterious life. Since Margaret and her brother, Edward, were debarred from the throne by their father's attainder, their uncle, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, was offered the crown and became king as Richard III. Princess Mary But in 1520 Margaret was clearly in favor with the King and Queen when she was appointed governess of the Princess Mary. True or not, the marriage proved to be happy and fruitful, though of brief duration. 1 Through his father he was descended from Edward III's son, Thomas of Woodstock, and his mother was Catherine Woodville, sister of Edward IV's queen, Elizabeth Woodville; she afterwards married Henry VII's uncle, Jasper Tudor, Duke of Bedford. Margaret Plantagenet, Countess of Salisbury (14 August 1473 28 May 1541), also called Margaret Pole, as a result of her marriage to Sir Richard Pole, was the only surviving daughter of George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, a brother of Kings Edward IV and Richard III (all sons of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York), by his wife Isabel Neville. It was time to be rid of Warwick. Margaret was born into the England of the Wars of the Roses and was the daughter of George, Duke of Clarence, one of Edward IV 's younger brothers and was of the House of York. Thomas More worked hard for the king. Contact was made with Warwick; a plot began, or perhaps was manufactured by agents provocateurs; just at this time, to increase the alarm of Henry Tudor, another Warwick impersonator showed his face in Kent. Based in North Carolina, Higginbotham is a lawyer by background and has written several historical novels, spanning different eras. And he was well-connected enough to later secure his sons appointment as household page to John Morton, the archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Chancellor of England. He worked eight years as undersheriff and proved himself an impartial judge and able administrator. On the 27th May 1541, the elderly Margaret Pole, 8th Countess of Salisbury, godmother and former governess to Henry VIII's daughter Mary, was executed at the Tower of London. But if the weather turns nasty you up with an anchor and let it down where there's less wind, and the fishing's better. Margaret Plantagenet, Countess of Salisbury (14 August 1473 - 28 May 1541), also called Margaret Pole, as a result of her marriage to Sir Richard Pole, was the only surviving daughter of George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, a brother of Kings Edward IV and Richard III (all sons of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York ), by his wife Isabel . And when the English clergy were forced to acknowledge Henry as the supreme head of their church, More attempted to resign his office. But literacy was their usual weapon, not spells, and many of them picked up enough legal knowledge to fight their corner in civil disputes. For example, as Lord Chancellor, More proclaimed the opinion of the English universities as favorable to the kings annulment. Born on the 14th August 1473, she went on to marry Sir Richard Pole in 1491. Her father, Duke of Clarence and brother to Edward IV, switched sides several times during that long family battle over the crown of England. A devoted Catholic, More refuses to sign Parliament's Act of Supremacy, which declares King Henry, and not the Pope, the Supreme Head of the new Church of England. The accounts differ slightly; Marillac's report, dispatched two days afterwards, recorded that the execution took place in a corner of the Tower with so few people present that, in the evening, news of her execution was doubted. BORN: 1473. And why such an obvious and clumsy admission? In June 1535, after he had been imprisoned for over a year, Cromwells servant, Richard Rich, now solicitor general, stated that he had spoken with More and More had denied Parliaments power to make Henry head of the church. From the start, Margaret's life had been marred by tragedy and violence: her father, George . The prestige of her ancient family, her traditionalist stance in religion, and her status as a peer in her own right all these defined a woman who might wish to resist the new order. Rather, he felt that he could be more effective in the city itself, not closeted away amongst the nobles and councilors of Henrys court. When Arthur died in 1502, the Poles lost that position. [6] She remained there until she returned to favour when Henry VIII came to the throne in 1509. Birth Year: 1478. These are not consistent; and ifas he claimed at one pointPole rejected the Divorce in 1526 and refused the Oath of Supremacy in 1531, he received benefits from Henry for a course of action for which others were sentenced to death. After his death, and for centuries thereafter, Sir Thomas More was known as the most famous victim of Henry VIII's tyranny. As part of the investigations into the so-called Exeter Conspiracy, Geoffrey Pole was arrested in August 1538. She is a close student of the sources, and careful not to stuff her novels with false excitements. More was thus in his early thirties, successful, happily married, when the tax collectors Dudley and Empson were beheaded on Tower Hill at the command of the new king, Henry VIII. The Execution of a Duke. by Susan Higginbotham. Her son Reginald described himself afterwards as son of a martyr and in 1886, Pope Leo XIII had Margaret Pole beatified as a martyr. But with him away from court there were outside influences on their relationship that neither brother could see coming. For at least five years, Montagu, Exeter and others had been passing information to the emperor through his ambassador, urging the invasion of England, and Reginald himself had assured the readers of his 1536 letter that a host of disaffected subjects were lurking within the realm, ready to support the invaders against Henry as soon as foreign troops landed. By 1527, the king was in his mid-thirties, and his wife six years older. Margaret Pole was the daughter of George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, brother to Edward IV, and a leading figure in the Wars of the Roses. Henry still hoped for Mores support. Henry VII paid for Richard's funeral. It was the Act of Succession, passed the following month, that sealed his fate. It is painted on a dateable oak panel, and the dates suit the presumed subject, but the artist is anonymous. Abstract. His decision to become a lay Christian now made, More quickly married. Buckingham was alleged to have said that the lack of sons to carry on the Tudor line was Gods punishment for the imprisonment and death of the young Earl of Warwick. He badgered Katharine ceaselessly. He blindfolded himself and exhorted the assembled crowd to witness his end in the faith and for the faith of the Catholic Church, the kings good servant but Gods first. Even Mores Protestant enemies did not believe him a traitor; his death was almost universally held to be nothing less than martyrdom. The chronology defeated observers, as if her life stretched back into a fabulous era when dragons roamed. Credit: PjrWindows / Alamy Stock Photo. The reasons were various, but the most important was Katharines position as aunt to the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V. Charles would not let his aunt be cast aside (he was also considering the dynastic appeal of her daughter with Henry), and he pressured the pope to deny Henrys petition. That was the beginning of Thomas Mores public career, and it was a telling one. Margaret and Richard Pole had five children, born between about 1492 and 1504: four sons and the youngest a daughter. Margaret was not executed with her eldest son, but was held in the Tower for the last years of her life the king paying her bills, outfitting her as became a great lady in furred petticoats and a satin nightgown. There, she was surrounded by connections of the Boleyn queen. Reginald was the most interesting and talented of Margarets children, and the one to whom she was not close. It was the beginning of a fertile new line. Sir Thomas having continued a Prisoner in the Tower somewhere more than a Twelvemonth, for he was committed about the middle of April 1534, and was brought to his Trial on the 7th of May, 1535. he went into the Court leaning on his Staff, because he was much weakened by his Imprisonment, but appeared with a cheerful and composed Countenance. [2] As one of the few members of the House of Plantagenet to have survived the Wars of the Roses, she was executed in 1541 at the command of King Henry VIII, the second monarch of the House of Tudor, who was the son of her first cousin, Elizabeth of York. After bearing More three daughters (Margaret, Elizabeth, Cicely) and one son (John), Jane died in 1511. Mores letters indicate that he was not particularly keen to enter royal service. 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