Everything about Margaret Pole Countess Of Salisbury totally explained
Margaret Pole (
14 August 1473 –
27 May 1541),
Countess of Salisbury, was the daughter of
George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence and
Isabella Neville. Her father was a brother of both Kings
Edward IV and
Richard III of
England. She was the last member of the
Plantagenet dynasty, executed in 1541 at the command of the then-king
Henry VIII, who was her cousin's son.
Life
Born at
Farleigh Castle in the
English county of
Somerset, on
14 August 1473, she was the daughter of
George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence and
Isabella Neville.
Her mother was the elder daughter of the 'Kingmaker'
Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick and
Anne Neville, 16th Countess of Warwick.
Margaret's brother was
Edward, Earl of Warwick, who as the last male representative of the
Yorkist line, was seen as a danger to the new Tudor dynasty and was executed on the orders of
King Henry VII on
28 November 1499. Around
1491,
Henry VII had given Margaret in marriage to Sir
Richard Pole, whose mother was the half-sister of the king's mother,
Lady Margaret Beaufort. At her husband's death in
1505, Margaret was left with five children, of whom the fourth,
Reginald Pole, was to become Cardinal and
Archbishop of Canterbury.
The family fortunes were various. On his accession,
King Henry VIII reversed her brother's attainder; and, in 1513, made her
Countess of Salisbury in her own right. An Act of Restitution was also passed by which she came into possession of her ancestral domains. Her chief residence was
Warblington Castle in
Hampshire. After the birth of Princess Mary, later
Queen Mary I, Margaret became her godmother and sponsor in confirmation and was afterwards appointed Governess of the Princess and her Household. As the years passed there was talk of a marriage between the Princess and the countess's son (Reginald), who was still a layman. However, when the matter of the king's divorce from
Catherine of Aragon began to be talked of,
Reginald Pole boldly spoke out his mind in the affair and shortly afterwards withdrew from England. The Princess was still in the Countess's charge when Henry married
Anne Boleyn, but when he was opposed in his efforts to have his daughter treated as illegitimate, he removed the Countess from her post, though she begged to be allowed to follow and serve Mary at her own charge. She returned to Court after the fall of Anne, but in
1530 Reginald Pole sent Henry a copy of his published treatise
Pro ecclesiasticae unitatis defensione, in answer to questions put to him on the king's behalf by
Thomas Cromwell,
Cuthbert Tunstall,
Thomas Starkey, and others. Besides being a theological reply to the questions, the book was a denunciation of the King's policies. Henry was enraged, and though the Countess and her eldest son had written to Reginald in reproof of his attitude and action, determined that the family should pay for the insult.
In November, 1538, her eldest son, Henry Pole, Baron Montagu, another son and other relatives were arrested on a charge of treason, though
Thomas Cromwell had previously written that they'd "little offended save that he [theCardinal] is of their kin", they were committed to the Tower, and in January, with the exception of Geoffrey Pole, they were executed. Ten days after the arrest of her sons, Margaret herself, despite her age, was arrested and examined by
William FitzWilliam, Earl of Southampton, and
Thomas Goodrich,
Bishop of Ely, but these reported to
Thomas Cromwell that although they'd "travailed with her" for many hours she'd "nothing utter", and they were forced to conclude that either her sons hadn't made her a sharer in their "treason", or else she was "the most arrant traitress that ever lived". In Southampton's custody, she was committed to
Cowdray Park, near
Midhurst, and there subjected to all manner of indignity. In May Cromwell introduced against her a
Bill of Attainder, the readings of which were hurriedly got over, and at the third reading Cromwell produced a white silk tunic found in one of her coffers, which was embroidered on the back with the
Five Wounds, and for this, which was held to connect her with the Northern Uprising, she was "attainted to die by Act of Parliament" and also lost her titles. The other charges against her, to which she was never permitted to reply, had to do with the escape from England of her chaplain and the conveying of messages abroad. After the passage of the Act, she was removed to the Tower and there, for nearly two years, she was "tormented by the severity of the weather and insufficient clothing". In April, 1541, there was another insurrection in Yorkshire, and it was then determined to enforce without any further procedure the Act of Attainder passed in 1539. In some sense her execution was the continuation by
Henry VIII of his father's programme of eliminating possible contenders for the throne.
Execution
She refused to the end to acknowledge that she was a traitor. A popular ballad at the time reads:
» For traitors on the block should die,
I am no traitor, no, not I! » My faithfulness stands fast and so,
Towards the block I shan't go! » Nor make on step, as you'll see,
Christ in Thy Mercy, save Thou me!
On the morning of
May 27,
1541 Margaret was told she was to die within the hour. She answered that no crime had been imputed to her; nevertheless she was taken from her cell to the place within the precincts of the
Tower of London, where a low wooden block had been prepared. As Margaret was of noble birth, she wasn't executed before the populace, though there were about 150 witnesses.
According to some accounts, the countess, who was 67 years old, frail and ill, was dragged to the block, but refused to lay her head on it, having to be forced down. As she struggled, the inexperienced
executioner's first blow made a gash in her shoulder rather than her neck. Several additional blows were required to complete the execution. A less reputable account states that Margaret leapt from the block after the first clumsy blow and ran, pursued by the executioner, being struck eleven times before she died.
Legacy
Her son,
Reginald Cardinal Pole said that he'd "...never fear to call himself the son of a martyr". She was later regarded by Catholics as such and was
beatified in
1886 by
Pope Leo XIII.
Issue
She and her husband were parents to five children:
- Henry Pole, 1st Baron Montagu (c. 1492 - January 9 1539). Most famous as one of the peers in the trial of Anne Boleyn. Married Jane Neville, daughter of George Neville, Lord Abergavenny and Margaret Fenne.
- Reginald Cardinal Pole (c. 1500 - November 17 1558). Papal legate in various regions, including England, and finally Archbishop of Canterbury.
- Sir Geoffrey Pole (c. 1501 - 1558). Suspected for treason by Henry VIII and accused of conspiring with Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. Lived in exile in Europe. He was married to Constance Pakenham, daughter and heiress of Sir John Pakenham.
- Sir Arthur Pole (c. 1502 - 1535). Lord of the Manor of Broadhurst, Sussex. Married Jane Lewknor, daughter of Sir Roger Lewknor and Eleanor Touchet. Eleanor was daughter of James Tuchet, 6th Baron Audley and Anne Echingham. James was son of James Tuchet, 5th Baron Audley and Margaret de Ros.
- Ursula Pole, Baroness Stafford (c. 1504 - August 12 1570). Married Henry Stafford, 1st Baron Stafford.
Fictional portrayals
The character of
Lady Salisbury, played by
Kate O'Toole in the
Showtime series
The Tudors is loosely inspired by Margaret Pole.
Further Information
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