Gender | Male | |||||||||||||
Born | Abt 1492 [1] | |||||||||||||
Residence | Henry Pole, 1st Baron Montagu, nobleman and convicted traitor, was the eldest son of Sir Richard Pole and his wife, Lady Margaret Pole, 8th Countess of Salisbury (nee Plantagenet). Family His maternal grandfather was George Plantagenet, George of York, Duke of Clarence, a brother to the Kings Edward IV and Richard III. His maternal grandmother Lady Isabel, Duchess of Clarence, was daughter to one of the most powerful men of the time, Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick - the Kingmaker of The War of the Roses. She was also elder sister to Anne Neville the Princess of Wales and Queen consort of England.Political Career On 25 September 1513 he was knighted at Tournai. By 1514 Pole had unofficially acquired the title of Lord Montagu. Before 1520 he married Jane, daughter of George Neville, third Baron Bergavenny. On 1 December 1529 he entered the House of Lords as Baron Montagu, and in 1530 signed the English nobility's letter to Clement VII asking him to grant Henry's divorce. Perhaps late in the same year he may have conveyed to the king the willingness of his brother Reginald Pole to compromise over the divorce; he was certainly involved in trying to control the damage after Reginald changed his mind in the early summer of 1531 and gave the king a written opinion opposing the divorce. Montagu's status as a noble who could be employed on important juries was reinforced by the trial of Anne Boleyn in May 1536. He may have helped to prepare the way for it by joining the court faction that wished to get rid of her, and certainly told Chapuys in March 1536 that Henry might want a new wife. On 15 May Pole served on the jury that convicted Anne, and perhaps through his mother quickly entered into Jane Seymour's good graces. In July Chapuys reported that Princess Mary would never marry an Englishman, save maybe Reginald Pole or Montagu's son Henry. Montagu attended the parliament of June–July, and his finances had improved enough to place him among the first to pay their subsidy assessments in full. A year later he uncovered the basin at Edward's baptism, and at Queen Jane's funeral he attended Princess Mary in her capacity as chief mourner. In early 1538, however, his family's economic fortunes may once more have declined, for he and his mother made several sales of land. Imprisonment and Execution In October 1538, with the arrest of his younger brother Sir Geoffrey, Montagu found himself in deep trouble, but it is difficult to reconcile many of the accusations against him with the public record of his loyalty. Nearly all the damaging testimony came from Sir Geoffrey and one of his former dependants. Exculpatory evidence, especially his mother's claim that he had advised her to tell her servants that her son Reginald was a traitor, was ignored. On 4th November 1538 Montague, his brother-in-law and various other relatives were arrested on a charge of treason by Henry VIII. Reginald was not amongst them as he was in exile due to his opposition of King Henry's divorce of Catherine of Aragon. Thomas Cromwell and previously written that "they had little offended save that he is of their kin". On 2 December 1538 he was found guilty of high treason, and on 9 January 1539 he was beheaded on Tower Hill. Ten days after Montagu's arrest, his mother was arrested and questioned by William Fitzwilliam, and Thomas Goodrich, Bishop of Ely. They reported to Thomas Cromwell that although they had "travailed with her" for many hours she would "nothing utter," and they were forced to conclude that either her sons had not included her in their plans for "treason," or she was "the most arrant traitress that ever lived." On 27 May 1541, the 67-year-old Lady Salisbury was beheaded in the Tower of London. Lord Montagu's son Henry was committed to the Tower at the same time as his father. It was expected that he would follow his grandmother to the block, but the king did not want to risk unfavorable public opinion and so he was deprived of a tutor and imprisoned in the Tower until his death, possibly from starvation, in 1542 or later. Montagu's name appeared in the giant bill of attainder (those convicted of a serious crime could lose their right to life, titles and property and also of the right to pass these to their heir) of 19 May 1539, in terms which again make it clear that his condemnation arose from Reginald Pole's resistance and hostility to the king. His own career has usually been construed as that of a man who was involved in opposition to Henry VIII from an early stage. But the evidence suggests that if he opposed the king at all he did so late and out of disappointment with Henry's treatment of the nobility (including, of course, his brother Reginald), and that it was the mischance of the possibly demented behaviour of his brother Geoffrey that was principally responsible for Montagu's destruction.Marriage & Family In or around May 1510 Montagu married Jane Neville, daughter of George Neville, 5th Baron Bergavenny, and Joan Arundel. They had two sons and three daughters. References This information was extracted and adapted from the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Additional information was pulled from Wikipedia. [2, 3] | |||||||||||||
Died | 9 Jan 1539 Tower of London [1]
Age |
~ 47 years | Siblings |
4 siblings | Person ID |
I307 Family Tree | Hastings Branch | Last Modified |
21 Feb 2017 | |
Father | Sir Richard Pole | |
Mother | Blessed Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, b. 14 Aug 1473, Farleigh, Hungerford Castle, Somerset, England , d. 27 May 1541, Tower of London (Age 67 years) | |
Family ID | F93 Group Sheet | Family Chart |
Spouse / Partner | Jane Neville | |
Married | May 1510 | |
Children | 5 children | |
Last Modified | 17 Feb 2017 | |
Family ID | F84 Group Sheet | Family Chart |
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Pin Legend | : Address : Location : City/Town : County/Shire : State/Province : Country : Not Set |
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