That was the beginning of Thomas Mores public career, and it was a telling one. Soon, young Edward, a potential York claimant to the throne, was moved to the Tower of London. In the end, he could not be persuaded. The story of Mores last days is terribly affecting. Henry wanted Reginald to come back to England and talk the matter over, but Reginald had the sense to keep his distance. She was married to James IV of Scotland from 1503-1513, which united the royal houses of England and Scotland. Here's how the cast of The Spanish Princess compares to their real-life counterparts, from Catherine to Margaret Pole. But it is difficult to detect in her conduct the heroic virtues assumed by Rome, and easier to see self-protective caution at work. (We should note, however, that More brilliant and perceptive was never especially comfortable in his kings good graces. After Henry VIII and then his son Edward VI had died, and Mary I was queen, with the intention to restore England to Roman authority, Reginald Pole was appointed papal legate to England by the Pope. 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 one potentially scandalous act of his life was his quick second marriage to a widow seven years his senior, Alice Middleton. He lived in relative poverty, for he held no office and relied solely upon the hundred pounds per annum he collected from a property rental. Margaret was perhaps guilty only by association, but at this distance it is impossible to tell. by Susan Higginbotham. 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. But that was years in the future. This conviction meant they lost their titles and their landsmostly in the South of England--conveniently located to assist any invasion. I don't think Henry had quite the chummy relationship with Sir Thomas More that was depicted in "The Tudors" or even in "A Man for All Seasons." The story goes that when More was executed, Henry rose scowling from a game of cards with Anne Boleyn and barked at her "You are the cause of his death!" Elizabeth Throckmorton. When Arthur died in 1502, the Poles lost that position. The governors of Lincoln admired him enough to appoint him lecturer on law for three consecutive years. Her father was the younger brother of Edward IV and Richard III. Family solidarity, the code of survival, did not mean much to Reginald, brought up under an alien roof; if he were to lose his earthly family, he said, he would still have the fellowship of the saints in paradise. The veteran plotter Gertrude Courtenay was treated with clemency; unlike Margaret, she was not a free agent but a married woman subject to her husband, and not a claimant to the throne in her own right. Geoffrey Pole, who had given the government what it needed, was pardoned. And More was more convinced than ever that he needed to leave royal service. Thomas More, Thomas Morus ou Toms Moro [1] (Londres, 7 de fevereiro de 1478 Londres, 6 de julho de 1535) foi filsofo, homem de estado, diplomata, escritor, advogado e homem de leis, ocupou vrios cargos pblicos, e em especial, de 1529 a 1532, o cargo de "Lord Chancellor" (Chanceler do Reino - o primeiro leigo em vrios sculos) de Henrique VIII da Inglaterra. Reginald Pole, (born March 3, 1500, Stourton Castle, Staffordshire, Eng.died Nov. 17, 1558, London), English prelate who broke with King Henry VIII over Henry's antipapal policies and later became a cardinal and a powerful figure in the government of the Roman Catholic queen Mary Tudor. Now he decided to seriously test his religious convictions. There are panel paintings of Pole in the following churches: There are stained glass windows of Pole in the following churches: On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. She was the Spanish princess, Katharine of Aragon, one of the daughters of the Catholic rulers of Spain. [9] Her youngest son, Geoffrey Pole, married well to Constance, daughter of Edmund Pakenham, and inherited the estate of Lordington in Sussex. The alleged plot between the earl and Warbeck was flimsy and perhaps government-sponsored, but both men were tried and executed. The sitter might as well be carved, for all she suggests flesh or circulating blood. Henry was able to play peacemaker. Margarets aunt, Anne Neville, thus became queen. He did not share his opinion with the king. Towards the block I shall not go! It is meant to contrast with the reality of European rule, divided by ideologies and greed and self-interest. Reginald Pole supported Henry VIII in 1529 trying to win support among theologians in Paris for Henrys divorce from Catherine of Aragon. And why such an obvious and clumsy admission? Henry VII also decided, about that time, to marry the 15-year-old Margaret to his half-cousin, Sir Richard Pole. Henry, the eldest son, though knighted and given the family title Lord Montagu, did not share the general admiration for the king. Henry VIII married Catherine of Aragon in 1509 and Margaret was again appointed as one of her ladies-in-waiting. Henry Courtenay och Margaret Pole och fngslades i Towern. After his marriage to Anne Boleyn and the birth of their daughter, Elizabeth, Mary was sent to join the household of the infant princess. * Walter Stafford (about 1539-after 1571 . Most governments with a sense of self-preservation would have regarded the family with justified wariness, and likely acted against them sooner. 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. Edward IV died in 1483 when Margaret was ten. Was the family sincere in deploring his disloyalty? The boy, born in 1519, was welcome proof to Henry that he could father a son and that his lack of an heir was entirely Katharines fault. Margaret, wife of Sir William Harington. A painting in the National Portrait Gallery offers a grey-white face, long, guarded, medieval, remote: 'unknown woman, formerly known as Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury'. However, things suddenly change in May 1541 when a decision was made to execute her. Yet even as his legal future seemed assured, More was deeply conflicted about his future. But Reginald, it seemed, always got a tip-off. Her brothers royal blood, however, remained a danger. 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. The threat seemed even greater by 1538, when the two great powers, France and the emperor, signed a peace treaty which left them free to turn their attention to the pariah nation. Later, he would castigate her in the accents of a hurt child for what seemed to him abandonment, telling her that as she had given him up when he was so young, she should not interfere between him and his conscience. The pilgrimage was an effort to organize a march on London to install a conservative Catholic government instead of Henry's increasingly Protestant-leaning one. Hilary Mantelwasthe author of nine novels and three collections of short stories in addition to her prize-winning trilogy about Thomas Cromwell. Margaret and her son, Henry, pressed Arthur's widow to take a vow of perpetual chastity to preserve her inheritance for her Pole children. Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scots. Katheryn Howard was fortunate. 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. He was the child Margaret had been carrying when her brother Warwick was executed. When Henry began to poll the European universities about the legality of his annulment, he chose Reginald to visit the Sorbonne, and had no fault to find with the way he carried out his mission. Henry accepted Mores resignation. Thomas More (1478-1535), lawyer and moral philosopher, is still regarded by many Catholics as the quintessential good man. Then, in good faith, between your grace and me is but this, that I shall die today, and you tomorrow.. Christ in Thy Mercy, save Thou me! Henry married Margarets cousin, Elizabeth of York, and imprisoned Margarets brother as a potential threat to his kingship. Like other noble ladies the kings sister the Duchess of Suffolk, or the Duke of Norfolks wife Margaret was not comfortable at the court of Anne Boleyn. Birth City: London, England. He then disappeared into his private closet, and after an hour, came out as cheerful as before. 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. Get GCSE Macbeth Coursework, Essay & Homework assistance including assignments fully Marked by Teachers and Peers. Margaret Pole was a pretty tough and clinical woman. In 1512, Parliament, with Henrys assent, restored to her some of the lands that had been held by Henry VII for her brother while he was imprisoned, and then had been confiscated when he was executed. The following poem was found carved on the wall of her cell: For traitors on the block should die; At Bisham, where her forebears had founded a monastery, the remains of her executed brother lay with those of her grandfather the Kingmaker, slaughtered at the Battle of Barnet. But not your principles. "Sir Thomas More: Biography, Facts and Information" https://englishhistory.net/tudor/citizens/sir-thomas-more/, February 22, 2015, You are here: Home Tudor Citizens Sir Thomas More: Biography, Facts and Information, Copyright 1999-2023 All Rights Reserved.English HistoryOther Sites: Make A Website Hub, The Right to Display Public Domain Images, Author & Reference Information For Students, Sir Thomas More: Biography, Facts and Information, https://englishhistory.net/tudor/citizens/sir-thomas-more/, House Of Tudor Genealogy Chart & Family Tree, Mary, Queen of Scots: Biography, Facts, Portraits & Information, Catherine Howard: Facts, Biography, Portraits & Information, Queen Elizabeth I: Biography, Facts, Portraits & Information, Jane Seymour Facts, Biography, Information & Portraits, Charles Brandon, duke of Suffolk and Princess Mary Tudor, Anne Boleyn Facts & Biography Of Information, Katherine Parr Facts, Information, Biography & Portraits, King Henry VIII Facts, Information, Biography & Portraits, Thomas Cromwell Facts & Biography Information, Mary Boleyn: Biography, Portrait, Facts & Information, Thomas Wolsey: Biography, Portrait, Facts & Information, Sir Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury (1563 1612). She began to write for the. Soon he was acting as Henrys personal secretary and adviser, delivering official speeches, greeting foreign envoys, drafting treaties and other public documents, and composing the kings responses to Wolseys dispatches. Where is Hans Holbein when you need him? Of the many executions ordered by Henry VIII, surely the most horrifying was that of sixty-seven-year-old Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, hacked to pieces on the scaffold by a blundering headsman. More had already begun writing his History of King Richard III as well; it is considered the first masterpiece of English history and is wholly pro-Tudor. Her life, marked by stunning reversals of fortune, is an irresistible subject, but it presents a familiar difficulty for the historian. 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. Both Sir Thomas More and Margaret Pole were devout Catholics, dedicated to their faith and their country. He had been shut up for most of his life and, one later chronicler said, could not discern a goose from a capon. Reginald studied in Italy in 1521 through 1526, financed in part by Henry VIII, then returned and was offered by Henry the choice of several high offices in the church if he would support Henrys divorce from Catherine. It was More's execution - far more than those of Anne Boleyn or Thomas Cromwell or Margaret Pole - which established the king's reputation for capricious cruelty. Ten years on, her situation was more difficult to negotiate. But Margaret herself was an ornament to Henry. Margaret Pole was one of only two women in the 16 th century to hold a peerage in her own right. Find out more about the London Review of Books app. Only when Fitzwilliam called Reginald a whoreson did she object, saying with a wonderful sorrowful countenance that he was no whoreson, for she was both a good woman and true. When Reginald, lying abroad, heard of her death, he announced to his secretary that he was now the son of a martyr. As a newly elected representative for London in Parliament and an undersheriff in the city, he was deeply involved in public life. He was not prepared, as he saw it, to imperil his immortal soul by taking the oath that Henry required of all his people, and he died for his belief.. Episode 081 of the Renaissance English History Podcast is an interview with Melita Thomas on Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury. The resulting trial was mere show; despite his impassioned and brilliant defense, no one ever expected More to be found anything other than guilty. It was granted, and the wealthy widow became stepmother to his four children, and More stepfather to her daughter and son. Margaret's own favour at Court varied. Henry VIII helped provide good marriages or religious offices for Margarets sons, and a good marriage for her daughter as well. She was pregnant at the time of her bereavement, and soon she would join the entourage of the Spanish bride. It was the beginning of a fertile new line. She served later as a governess to Mary. Read More. An Exclusive First Look at Laura Carmichael as Maggie Pole in the Series Finale of The Spanish Princess Watch as she confronts Sir Thomas More. Birth date: February 7, 1478. After Katherina of Aragon's death, Princess Mary turned toward Margaret Pole as a second mother, and now her father was going to take away this beloved maternal figure from her as well. It is unlikely she had seen him for many years, but in any case, mourning for a traitor was inadvisable. He was made knight of the Garter, and appointed chamberlain to the young Prince of Wales. Mores only communication with Barton had been to warn her against meddling in affairs of state. 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. Thomas More: A very brief history June 29, 2017; Henry VIII's Westminster Tournament 1511 June 5, 2017; Or was there, as she claimed, nothing worth burning? And the king was now newly enamored of a young noblewoman called Anne Boleyn. Here is an excerpt from Chapter 7, "Unheard-Of Cruelty", describing the trial and execution of Sir Thomas More. It was his great popularity that saved him. . London, WC1A 2HN St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church in Bridge Gate, Derby, Our Lady and the English Martyrs' church in Cambridge. In 1512, an Act of Parliament restored to Margaret the Earldom of Salisbury and some of her brother's land which had belonged to it, for which she paid 5000 marks (2666.13s.4d), equivalent to 2,164,602 in 2021. Jone Johnson Lewis is a women's history writer who has been involved with the women's movement since the late 1960s. The next year, when her sons were mixed up with Buckingham, she was removed from that appointment, but later restored to it by 1525. In 1504, More was elected to Parliament and one of his first acts was to oppose Henry VIIs request of a grant of three-fifteenths. Cardinal Wolsey and the king needed no further reason to bring More into the kings service. Mores adolescent years were spent under the reign of Henry VII, the first Tudor king. He later studied at . She managed her lands quite well, and became one of the five or six wealthiest peers in England. Lewis, Jone Johnson. It took the inexperience executioner a grand total of 11 swings to finally sever her head at the neck . As Countess of Salisbury, Margaret managed her lands well and by 1538 she was the fifth richest peer in England. 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. His brother came to the throne in 1509 as Henry VIII, married the widowed Catherine, and in a first flush of goodwill began to repair the damage to Margarets fortunes. Reginald replied to books Henry sent him with his own pamphlet, pro ecclesiasticae unitatis defensione, or de unitate, which denied Henry's position on the marriage of a brother's wife and denied royal supremacy. Reginald also urged the princes of Europe to depose Henry immediately. He is an English lawyer, eventually promoted to Chancellor and assistant to the King after Wolsey 's death. It was sumptuously furnished and built of brick a modern material but moated, crenellated, archaic in form. She lived one of the more turbulent lives of the 16th century, starting off as the niece of the King, and ending up nearly 70 years later penniless in the Tower, executed by an inexperienced executioner. His father, Sir Richard Pole, was a cousin of King Henry VII, and his mother, Margaret, countess of . As widows, or as deputies to living husbands, they handled complex legal and financial affairs with aplomb, while assenting outwardly at least to their status as irrational and inferior beings. Here & # x27 ; s death Richard III the London Review of Books app knight of the bride. A fertile new line moated, crenellated, archaic in form moved to throne! 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