The feast day of Blessed Margaret Pole is 28 May, and she was beatified 1886 by Pope Leo VIII. In May 1515, More was sent to Bruges as part of a delegation arranged by Wolsey to revise an Anglo-Flemish commercial treaty. He collected books and rare objects, but he gave away his possessions freely as well. As a boy, More spent some time in the household of John Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury. The Editor You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site. Chapuys wrote that, "at first, when the sentence of death was made known to her, she found the thing very strange, not knowing of what crime she was accused, nor how she had been sentenced". She was, Pierce says, intelligent, unquestionably virtuous, traditionally pious, and possessed an easy familiarity with the convoluted etiquette of a royal court. And her gender did not necessarily disqualify her from becoming leader of the opposition if that was what she chose. Henry was able to play peacemaker. The two children were of use to him; their maternal family, the Nevilles, commanded allegiance in the north. Yesterday we travailed with the Lady of Salisbury all day before and after noon, till almost night. Sometimes the questioners were mild, sometimes roughly spoken, traitoring her and her sons to the ninth degree yet will she nothing utter. Margaret continued not uttering, or uttering no proof of treason. To help with her financial situation, she gave one of her sons, Reginald, to the church. Basically, they disliked and mistrusted one another. [23] Her remains were later uncovered when the chapel was renovated in 1876.[24][25]. Margaret's loyalty was to Katherine of Aragon and to her daughter Princess Mary to whom she was governess and godmother. She was sentenced to death, to be executed at the king's will. In an effort to force their co-operation, Henry separated his wife and child, and Margaret who was Marys godmother offered to serve the young girl at her own expense. But he himself did not sign the letter in which most of Englands nobles and prelates petitioned the pope to declare the marriage unlawful. Henry Tudor had the real Warwick in custody, and was able to produce him, so the rebellion came to nothing. The only people to escape the toxicity of the court were Lina (Stephanie Levi-John) and Oviedo (Aaron Cobham), who decided to seek a new life in the Ottoman Empire. The trial of Sir Thomas More for treason opened in Westminster Hall on July 1, 1535. He was a half-cousin of the first Tudor king, Henry VII; Richard Poles mother was a half-sister of, Reginald Pole, a cardinal and papal diplomat, last Roman Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury, Geoffrey Pole, who went into exile in Europe when accused of conspiracy by Henry VIII. Mores wife had been like most women of her time ill-educated, and during their brief marriage, he taught her Latin and other subjects. He did not share his opinion with the king. Pierces book is thorough and scholarly, and her work is acknowledged in Higginbothams biography, which is less detailed, but serious and judicious. One of her children, Reginald Pole, would go on to become a cardinal, and then . Margaret's only surviving sibling was Edward, Earl of Warwick. Get GCSE Macbeth Coursework, Essay & Homework assistance including assignments fully Marked by Teachers and Peers. When Catherine of Aragon gave birth to a daughter, Mary, Margaret Pole was asked to be one of the godmothers. Her brothers royal blood, however, remained a danger. Mortons tax philosophy was a marvel of inescapable logic: If the subject is seen to live frugally, tell him because he is clearly a money saver of great ability, he can afford to give generously to the King. More's trial took place on 1 July. Margaret was 12 years old when Henry VII defeated Richard III and claimed the crown of England by right of conquest. His eldest daughter Margaret married the lawyer William Roper in 1521, and More continued his practice of prayer and supervision of learning at his home. Elizabeth of York, who married John De la Pole was George's sister - making Margaret Pole, Elizabeth's aunt. More was a well-born academic and a sincere and committed Roman Catholic. As part of his 'Random Histo. 3. Stoke was a decisive victory. Back in 1521, there had been a wobble in the family fortunes when the Duke of Buckingham, into whose family Ursula Pole had married, was executed for treason: Margarets eldest son, Henry Lord Montagu, had been imprisoned briefly, and her duties in the princesss household were suspended. EXECUTED: 27 MAY 1541. He died on 8 August 1420. In 1520 Margaret was appointed governess to Henry's daughter Mary. Whether the countess was up to this is hard to say, but later the Imperial ambassador was to declare that Mary regarded her as a second mother. This was on 16 May 1532, the date on which the archdiocese of Canterbury, as head of the English clergy, sent a document to Henry VIII in which is promised to never legislate or even convene without royal assent, thus making the king a lay person head of the spiritual order in England. It was a small mercy. To that end, he spent the next three years in study and prayer, wearing a hair shirt next to his skin (a practice he never abandoned), and struggling to reconcile his genuine religious fervor with the demands of the outside world. After her husband's death, Margaret acted as regent for her son James V, from 1513-1515. But that was years in the future. (2020, August 26). Henry needed a son and heir. After several months, he was visited by Cromwell, but More refused to engage him in debate and merely declared himself a faithful subject of the king. In this first biography of a significant female figure in the male-dominated world of British Tudor politics, Hazel Pierce reconsiders the life and martyrdom of Catholic duchess Margaret Pole against the changing social and political landscape of her times. As a newly elected representative for London in Parliament and an undersheriff in the city, he was deeply involved in public life. The pope would not relent. But his older brother perished and the younger brother was crowned at 18 years old, and quickly wed his brothers widow. Warwick Cardinal Wolsey and the king needed no further reason to bring More into the kings service. 83 ratings9 reviews. Afterwards, More's head was displayed on a pike at London Bridge for a month. 28 Little Russell Street Margaret and Richard Pole had five children, born between about 1492 and 1504: four sons and the youngest a daughter. Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scots. Margaret was looked after well in the Tower, with Henry VIII paying for her food, clothing and a woman to attend her. Thomas More and Catherine herself were wise enough to steer clear of the nun. We do know that he tried in vain to support the kings position. Susan Higginbotham. He was a brilliant scholar of the Renaissance who died rather than betray the Catholic church. But time and impatience had made him emphatic in his righteousness. Lady Fitzwilliam would not stay in the house alone with the countess, and the Lord Admiral soon requested Cromwell to take his guest away, sending his complaints with a few Shelsea cockles for the ministers table: I beg you to rid me of her company, for she is both chargeable and troubles my mind. When Margaret was attainted in May 1539, Cromwell displayed a mute witness against her, a coat-armour found among her effects, painted with the royal arms and the emblems of the family, pansies for Pole, and marigolds for my Lady Mary, as one witness explained: Pole intended to have married my lady Mary, and betwixt them both should again arise the old doctrine of Christ.. When Catherine of Aragon gave birth to a daughter, Mary, Margaret Pole was asked to be one of the godmothers. She built herself a castle at Warblington, close to the sea on the Hampshire-Sussex border. [10], When Mary was declared a bastard in 1533, Margaret refused to give Mary's gold plate and jewels back to Henry. And More was more convinced than ever that he needed to leave royal service. If the great Sir Thomas More believed the kings marriage to be unlawful, why, it must be so! Margaret would have been too young to remember her mother, and it is likely that she was brought up within her fathers princely household, then after his execution lived with her cousins, the many daughters of Edward IV. More was not a man to be broken by prison, but he suffered physically. Sir Thomas Pole was a member of the aristocracy in England. We know her, as we know so many of her contemporaries, through her inventories, through legal documents and official letters. His work at Bruges and, later, Calais, as well as his continuing duties as undersheriff in London, were clear evidence of his skill and popularity. But eventually the break between the king and his chief minister could not be ignored. Elizabeth Darrell, later Thomas Wyatts mistress, refused the oath; Lady Hussey, wife of one of Marys household, was imprisoned because she would not accept Marys exclusion from the succession and insisted on addressing her as a princess. But the kings horoscope was looking nasty and, according to a Spanish commentator, he aged twenty years in two weeks. But for the rest of his reign Henry VII would be plagued by pretenders, persistently rising from the dead. (Along with Margaret her sister-in-law Eleanor Pole was also a lady-in-waiting to Katherine. It seems Margaret was questioned about her contacts with Barton, but she came to no harm as a result and, unlike Gertrude, she escaped without grovelling. His personal life remained placid and content. More later memorialized her as uxorcula Thomae Mori; her gentle personality is attested to by Erasmuss letters, as he was a frequent visitor to Mores home. It proved to be another happy marriage, though Mores friends remarked upon Alices sharp tongue and occasionally brusque ways. She was cousin to Henry VIII's mother, and well trusted by the king for years. Henry VII had Edward executed, leaving Margaret as the sole survivor of George of Clarence. [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. Perhaps the contrast with the quiet, gentle Jane was too striking. Mary's household was broken up at the end of the year, and Margaret asked to serve Mary at her own cost, but was not permitted. He could now only write to his wife and favorite daughter Margaret with a piece of coal or burnt stick on scraps of paper. The sitter might as well be carved, for all she suggests flesh or circulating blood. The hands are the standard-issue long-fingered type; a black ribbon, added later, may conceal damage to the paint. She was beatified by the Roman Catholic Church in 1886 as a martyr.Occupation:Lady-in-waiting to Catherine of Aragon, manager of her estates as Countess of Salisbury.Dates:August 14, 1473 May 27, 1541Also known as: Margaret of York, Margaret Plantagenet, Margaret de la Pole, Countess of Salisbury, Margaret Pole the Blessed. This was partly due to Mores intellectual prominence; he was perhaps the most famous Englishman on the continent, with a wide and varied correspondence. Margaret Pole was one of only two women in the 16th century to hold a peerage in her own right. She answered that no crime had been imputed to her. He worked eight years as undersheriff and proved himself an impartial judge and able administrator. One does not have to share his religious convictions to appreciate his inner strength and noble character. Among his guests, in fact, was the king himself. This is what Margaret is now, besides paper and ink, and the ruins of her palaces: pieces of breastbone and pelvis, a single finger bone and four vertebrae. He would arrive unbidden, to either eat with the family or walk in the garden with More, his arm slung casually about Mores shoulders. Was More surprised by this speech? It was a housekeeping matter, the French ambassador said; Henry, now with his fifth wife, Katherine Howard, wanted to make a progress north, and to empty the Tower before he set off, either by acts of mercy or the condemnation of detainees. A third account in Burke's Peerage, possibly apocryphal, described the appalling circumstances of the execution. From the start, Margaret's life had been marred by tragedy and violence: her father, George . Mr Buxton has returned to live quietly in Cranford following . And he was a father who insisted his three daughters have the same education as his son. [18][19][20][21][22] Margaret was buried in the chapel of St Peter ad Vincula within the Tower of London. 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. Reginalds brother Geoffrey was in correspondence with Reginald, and Henry had Geoffrey Pole, Margarets heir, arrested in 1538 along with their brother Henry Pole and others. ODNB, which argues that the restoration was a tacit admission of her brother's innocence; however, lands and titles had been restored to the heirs of guilty peers during the previous century. It states that Margaret refused to lay her head on the block, declaiming, "So should traitors do, and I am none". Please include name, address, and a telephone number. A pearl necklace is just a shadow now. When he later built his Great House in Chelsea, its rooms were specifically designed to encourage quiet study and prayer. 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