17
November 1558 A.D. Reginald
Pole Croaks—70th of 105 Archbishops of Canterbury; Persecutorial Anglo-Italian and Royalist
Agent of the Bishop of Italy Operating on English Soil
Bevans,
G. M. “Reginald Pole (1500-1558).”
Brittania.com. N.d.
http://www.britannia.com/bios/abofc/rpole.html. Accessed 31 May 2014.
Bevans,
Portraits of the Archbishops of
Canterbury. Toronto, ONT: University
of Toronto Libraries, 2011. Available here: http://www.amazon.com/Portraits-Archbishops-Canterbury-Gladys-Bevan/dp/B005HI57FS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1399493248&sr=8-1&keywords=bevans+portraits+of+archbishops+of+canterbury
Reginald Pole
(1500-1558)
Archbishop of Canterbury
Born: 3rd March 1500 at Stourton Castle, Stourbridge, Staffordshire
Died: 17th November 1558 at Lambeth Palace, Lambeth, Surrey
(1500-1558)
Archbishop of Canterbury
Born: 3rd March 1500 at Stourton Castle, Stourbridge, Staffordshire
Died: 17th November 1558 at Lambeth Palace, Lambeth, Surrey
Reginald Pole was the son of Sir Richard Pole and
Princess Margaret, Countess of Sailsbury, niece of both Edward IV and Richard
III. He was born in Staffordshire in 1500 and educated at the school of the
Charterhouse of Sheen and the house of the Carmelite Friars in Oxford. He
matriculated it Magdalen College and became Dean of Wimborne Minster and,
afterwards, Dean of Exeter. He studied in Italy and France and, as he was known
to be opposed to the King's divorce and to his anti-papal policy, he deemed it
wiser to remain abroad. In 1536, he was summoned to Rome by Pope Paul III, who
insisted that he should take Deacon's Orders and be made a Cardinal. In the
following year, he was appointed Legate. He was present at the opening of the
Council of Trent and he was employed by the Pope in missions to the King of
France and other princes with the view of forcibly restoring the Papal
authority in England. Failure attended his efforts. His mother was brought to
the block and his own attainder soon followed.
The accession of Queen Mary, in 1553, changed the
aspect of affairs however. Pole returned to England and became Primate in 1556.
But his long services to the Papacy were not destined to be crowned with any
lasting success. His friend, Paul III, had died in 1549 and Paul IV regarded
him with dislike and suspicion. Having plunged into a war with Spain, he
withdrew his Legates from all parts of Philip's dominions and, though Pole was
desirous of remaining neutral, he found himself suspected of heresy and
deprived of his legatine office at a time when he had special need of the
authority which it conferred upon him. In consequence of his remonstrance, the
Pope appears to have eventually yielded so far as to allow him to retain his
position as legate.
Pole was spared the mortification of witnessing
the final overthrow of the Papal domination in England, which followed the
death of Queen Mary, for he survived the Queen but a few hours, dying of double
quartan ague on 17th November 1558.
Edited from G.M. Bevan's
"Portraits of the Archbishops of Canterbury" (1908).
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