Perhaps more than any other courtier of Henrys reign, More embodied the searching, troubled spirit of the early 16th century. He was sentenced to a traitors death to be drawn, hanged, and quartered but the king changed it to beheading. The sons of Edward IV, 11 and 13 years old, had been held in the Tower by their uncle Richard III, and last been seen by Londoners in the summer of 1483. Where is Hans Holbein when you need him? Anne was the anointed queen. Her brothers royal blood, however, remained a danger. In practice, pre-nuptial agreements, trusts and the legally sanctioned breach of entails created some flexibility. After Richard was killed, Margaret came to court under the new regime, and in September 1486 she attended the christening of Arthur, the first Tudor prince. A tradition has grown up that George was drowned in a vat a malmsey, an expensive sweet wine. It is unlikely she had seen him for many years, but in any case, mourning for a traitor was inadvisable. Despite widespread belief, even amongst Protestants, that Rich was lying, his statement was enough for a fresh inquiry to begin. Birth Country: United Kingdom. Nothing worked. Thomas More (1478-1535), lawyer and moral philosopher, is still regarded by many Catholics as the quintessential good man. Inventories paint the picture: tableware of silver and gold, Venetian glass, mother-of-pearl, tapestries portraying the journeys of Ulysses and the discovery of Newfoundland; the countess herself, tall, stately, wears ermine, tawny damask, black satin and black velvet. By Caroline Hallemann Published: Nov 24, 2020 He read anything and everything he could find on the subject. [26] She and her husband were parents to five children: Her son, Reginald Pole, said that he would "never fear to call himself the son of a martyr". However, we should not assume that Mortons politics had any profound impact upon More. Here is where it gets complicated. Her father was Shakespeares false, fleeting, perjured Clarence, who died in the Tower of London at the age of 29, attainted for treason and supposedly drowned in a butt of malmsey. He had been shut up for most of his life and, one later chronicler said, could not discern a goose from a capon. It was children who caused him a problem. On the scaffold, Margaret prayed for the royal family all except Anne Boleyns daughter, Elizabeth, whom she regarded as illegitimate. He badgered Katharine ceaselessly. He did not share his opinion with the king. More importantly, he developed a personal relationship with Henry VIII, and because known as the kings intellectual courtier. Edward was then brought out and displayed briefly to the public. The next year, when her sons were mixed up with Buckingham, she was removed from that appointment, but later restored to it by 1525. And so he was imprisoned in the Tower of London on 17 April 1534. In 1509, when Henry VIII came to the throne after his fathers death, he married his brothers widow, Catherine of Aragon. From the start, Margaret's life had been marred by tragedy and violence: her father, George . It took the inexperience executioner a grand total of 11 swings to finally sever her head at the neck . She was attended by servants and received an extensive grant of clothing in March 1541. She held a noble title in her own right, and controlled great wealth, after she was restored to favor during the reign of Henry VIII but she became embroiled in the religious controversy over his split with Rome and was executed on Henrys orders. Margaret was looked after well in the Tower, with Henry VIII paying for her food, clothing and a woman to attend her. This was an obvious lie; More had never said anything of the sort to any other visitor, why Rich? Wolsey, for all his brilliance and cunning, could not compete with that influence. He was a brilliant scholar of the Renaissance who died rather than betray the Catholic church. [18][19][20][21][22] Margaret was buried in the chapel of St Peter ad Vincula within the Tower of London. His father, Sir Richard Pole, was a cousin of King Henry VII, and his mother, Margaret, countess of . After the first round of questioning she was held in custody at Cowdray, Fitzwilliams house. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/margaret-pole-tudor-matriarch-and-martyr-3530618. Their old friendship was past; the kings new advisors were anti-Catholic and pro-Protestant, most notably among them was Thomas Cromwell. Margaret's only surviving sibling was Edward, Earl of Warwick. When Arthur married Catherine of Aragon, she became a lady-in-waiting to the princess. And "Look," we say, "look, I'm anchored! According to some stories, which are not accepted by many historians, she refused to lay her head on the block, and guards had to force her to kneel. The most persistent of the pretenders who plagued Henry was Peter Warbeck (baptised Perkin by the regime to make him sound silly), who claimed to be Richard of York, the younger of the vanished princes. The new memorial that has been erected in front of the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula on Tower Green marks the spot 'identified' in the Victorian period as being the . The trial of Sir Thomas More for treason opened in Westminster Hall on July 1, 1535. 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. She was the niece of Edward IV and Richard III of England by way of their brother George Plantagenet, 1 st Duke of Clarence. Her fiction is stiff and chary, as if she is too constrained by her knowledge of the pitfalls to turn her characters loose in their own lives. His position at court meant that he was to be the kings advocate before parliament. There are only glimpses of her in these years: my lady Margaret of Clarence. Looking to her last end, Margaret commissioned a chantry at Christchurch Priory. Margaret Pole was one of only two women in the 16 th century to hold a peerage in her own right. Ten years on, her situation was more difficult to negotiate. Basically, they disliked and mistrusted one another. Biography. Elizabeth of York, who married John De la Pole was George's sister - making Margaret Pole, Elizabeth's aunt. But he knew what was coming. When she reached her teens, a marriage was arranged with Richard Pole, a modest landowner with solid Tudor connections, who had been rewarded for loyalty by being made constable of several Welsh castles. However, things suddenly change in May 1541 when a decision was made to execute her. If Margaret played any part in the downfall of Henrys second queen, her role was so far behind the scenes that it has left no trace. One of her children, Reginald Pole, would go on to become a cardinal, and then . Managed all schedules for company and . Or was there, as she claimed, nothing worth burning? Biography of Anne Neville, Wife and Queen of Richard III of England, Biography of Elizabeth Woodville, Queen of England, Biography of Margaret of Anjou, Henry VI's Queen, Famous Mothers in History: Ancient Through Modern, M.Div., Meadville/Lombard Theological School, Father: George, Duke of Clarence, brother of king Edward IV and of Richard, Duke of Gloucester (later Richard III), Note: Cecily Neville, Margarets paternal grandmother, was a paternal aunt of Margarets maternal grandfather, Richard Neville. The hands are the standard-issue long-fingered type; a black ribbon, added later, may conceal damage to the paint. And his patron Morton was infamous as the architect of that kings very successful and subsequently very unpopular tax policy. In some cases, they conspired against the crown while claiming, if it went badly, that their weak female brains had been addled by male influence, and that fragility and brittleness allowed their trust to be easily abused. She was a devout and learned young woman, and though we primarily know her as the older wife who could not bear Henry his desired son and heir, she was once young and pretty and well-liked. Her life, marked by stunning reversals of fortune, is an irresistible subject, but it presents a familiar difficulty for the historian. [27] She is commemorated in the dedication of the Church of Our Lady Queen of Peace & Blessed Margaret Pole in Southbourne, Bournemouth.[28]. Robert Bolt, A Man for All Seasons: A Play in Two Acts. by Susan Higginbotham. . After bearing More three daughters (Margaret, Elizabeth, Cicely) and one son (John), Jane died in 1511. The bridegroom Arthur was dead within months. Margaret Plantagenet, the daughter of George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence and of his wife, Isabel Neville, was born on 14th August 1473 at Farleigh Castle, near Bath. I am no traitor, no, not I! In January 1539 Geoffrey was pardoned, but Margaret's son, Henry, Baron Montagu (and cousin Exeter), were later executed for treason after trial. If my head should win him a castle in France, he told his son-in-law in 1525, it should not fail to go.). Henry accepted Mores resignation. His natural piety was at odds with other courtiers, all of whom jockeyed ceaselessly for the kings favor. At this point, Reginald delivered him a nasty surprise, in the shape of a letter denouncing him as a schismatic, heretic and disgrace to Christendom: a Nero, a wild beast. On 14 November 1538, Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, was arrested. . It was Gertrude Courtenay, Marchioness of Exeter, who claimed to be brittle and fragile; one of the most persistent of the aristocratic plotters against Henry, she was in trouble in 1533 for her contacts with Elizabeth Barton, the Nun of Kent, whose florid line in prophecy was discomfiting to the regime. She is the daughter of a duke and the niece of two kings, Edward IV and Richard III. 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. Because she was a girl Margaret did not represent the same threat. Joan (Margaret) Pole ca 1333-Married toThomas Chaworth ca 1331-1373 Paternal grand-parents, uncles and aunts. Perhaps his earlier justification for the annulment had been a matter of self-interest, a selective interpretation of opaque text. "Margaret Pole, Tudor Matriarch and Martyr." Get the best results here. 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. 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. Thick as thieves, More and the king continued to establish a close relationship, with More rising up in the ranks. The Imperial Ambassador, Eustace Chapuys, suggested two years later that Mary be handed over to Margaret, but Henry refused, calling her "a fool, of no experience". Mores only communication with Barton had been to warn her against meddling in affairs of state. The alleged plot between the earl and Warbeck was flimsy and perhaps government-sponsored, but both men were tried and executed. Although a jury of twelve men would have . We do know that he tried in vain to support the kings position. After Richard III seized the throne, he sent Margaret to Yorkshire with her brother. The two men had first met in 1497 and remained close friends until Mores death. As a boy, More spent some time in the household of John Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury. It was unlawful before man and God and thus void. Margarets husband Richard died in 1504, leaving her with five young children and very little land or money. Her son Arthur joined them, dying young, probably in the sweating sickness epidemic of 1528. In 1539, Reginald was sent to the Emperor to organize an embargo against Englandthe sort of countermeasure he had himself warned Henry was possible.[14]. Katheryn Howard was fortunate. London Review of Books at, Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March (conflation of, This page was last edited on 21 February 2023, at 21:21. Most aristocratic women outlived their husbands, and once a woman was widowed she was able to assert her independence and have a say in her family affairs, while cultivating the trope of the defenceless widow in any dealings with the authorities. In 1539 Henry VIII allowed (or ordered) Thomas Cromwell to throw Lady Salisbury into the . That was clear to Cromwell almost from the first, and perhaps to More, too. He later studied at . [15][16], On the morning of 28 May 1541, Margaret was told she was to die within the hour. Then, in good faith, between your grace and me is but this, that I shall die today, and you tomorrow.. 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