- Richard de la Pole
Infobox_pretender
English name =Richard de la Pole
birth_date = "unknown"
birthplace =England
death_date =24 February ,1525
deathplace =Pavia ,Duchy of Milan
regnal =
title =
throne = England
pretend from = the death ofEdmund de la Pole, 3rd Duke of Suffolk in 1513
year = 1485,Battle of Bosworth Field
king =Richard III of England
relationship = Richard III declared Richard de la Pole's older brotherJohn de la Pole, 1st Earl of Lincoln as his heir and head of the House of York
house =House of York
father =John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk
mother =Elizabeth of York, Duchess of Suffolk
spouse =
children =Marguerite de la Pole
predecessor =Edmund de la Pole, 3rd Duke of Suffolk
successor =Thomas Manners, 1st Earl of Rutland
footnotes =Richard de la Pole (died
February 24 ,1525 inPavia ,Duchy of Milan ) was a pretender to the English crown. Commonly nicknamed "White Rose", he was the last Head of theHouse of York to actively and openly seek the crown of England. He lived in exile after many of his relatives were executed; here he became allied withLouis XII of France in theWar of the League of Cambrai , who saw him as a more favourable ally and prospect for an English king thanHenry VIII .During 1514, the stage was set for a Yorkist reclaiming of England under Richard. He was in
Brittany with 12,000 mercenaries set for the invasion, leading his army toSt. Malo ; however France and England made peace just as they were about to embark and as thus it was called off. Later, withFrancis I of France as king, de la Pole struck up an alliance in 1523 and planned a Yorkist invasion and reclaiming of England once again. However this never came to light as Richard died fighting alongside Francis I at theBattle of Pavia two years later.Family
He was the fifth son of
John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk and his wife Elizabeth of York. His mother was the second surviving daughter ofRichard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York andCecily Neville . She was also a younger sister toEdward IV of England andEdmund, Earl of Rutland as well as an older sister toMargaret of York ,George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence andRichard III of England . His ancestor wasOwen de la Pole who was the last claimant to the throne ofPowys Wenwynwyn a 13th Century Welsh princely state.His paternal grandparents were
William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk and Alice Chaucer. Suffolk was an important English soldier and commander in theHundred Years' War , and laterLord Chamberlain of England. He also appears prominently inWilliam Shakespeare 's "Henry VI, part 1 " and "Henry VI, part 2 ".Alice Chaucer was a daughter of
Thomas Chaucer andMaud Burghersh . Thomas was theSpeaker of the British House of Commons on three occasions,Chief Butler of England for almost thirty years, attended fifteen parliaments and was Speaker of the House five times, a feat not surpassed until the 18th century.Thomas was a son of
Geoffrey Chaucer and his wifePhilippa (de) Roet . Geoffrey was an English author, poet,philosopher , bureaucrat (courtier), anddiplomat . He is sometimes called the father of English literature. Although he wrote many works, he is best remembered for his unfinished frame narrative "The Canterbury Tales ". He is also credited by some scholars with being the first author to demonstrate the artistic legitimacy of thevernacular English language, rather than French orLatin .Yorkist heir
His eldest brother
John de la Pole, 1st Earl of Lincoln (c. 1464-1487), is said to have been named heir to the throne by his maternal uncle, Richard III of England, who gave him a pension and the reversion of the estates ofLady Margaret Beaufort . However on the accession of Henry VII following theBattle of Bosworth Field , Lincoln took the oath of allegiance instead of claiming the throne for himself.In 1487, Lincoln joined the rebellion of
Lambert Simnel , and was killed at theBattle of Stoke . The second brother Edmund (c. 1472-1513), succeeded his father while still in his minority. His estates suffered under the attainder of his brother, and he was compelled to pay large sums to Henry VII for the recovery of part of the forfeited lands, and also to exchange his title of duke for that of earl. In 1501 he soughtMaximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor in Tyrol, and received from him a promise of substantial assistance in case of an attempt on the English crown.In consequence of these treasonable proceedings Henry seized his brother
William de la Pole , with four other Yorkist noblemen. Two of them, SirJames Tyrrell and SirJohn Wyndham , were executed, William de la Pole was imprisoned and Edmund de la Pole, 3rd Duke of Suffolk outlawed. Then in July 1502 Henry concluded a treaty with Maximilian by which the king bound himself not to countenance English rebels. Presently Suffolk fell into the hands ofPhilip I of Castile , who imprisoned him at Namur, and in 1506 surrendered him to Henry VII, on condition that his life was spared. He remained a prisoner until 1513, when he was beheaded at the time his brother Richard took up arms with the French king.Richard de la Pole joined Edmund abroad in 1504, and remained at
Aix-la-Chapelle as surety for his elder brothers debts. The creditors threatened to surrender him to Henry VII, but, more fortunate than his brother, he found a safe refuge atBuda with KingLadislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary . He was excepted from the general pardon proclaimed at the accession of Henry VIII, and whenLouis XII of France went to war with theKingdom of England in 1512 he recognized Edmund's pretensions to the English crown, and gave Richard a command in the French army. In 1513, after the execution of Edmund, he assumed the title ofEarl of Suffolk . In 1514 he was given 12,000 German mercenaries ostensibly for the defence ofBrittany , but really for an invasion of England. These he led toSt. Malo , but the conclusion of peace with England prevented their embarcation. Pole was required to leave France, and he established himself atMetz , in Lorraine, and built a palace at La Haute Pierre, nearSt. Simphorien .While at Metz, he was visited by
Pierre Alamire , the German-Netherlandish composer and music copyist, as a spy for Henry VIII. However de la Pole employed Alamire as a counter-spy against Henry, and Alamire, on being suspected of unreliability byCardinal Thomas Wolsey and Henry, never returned to England.He had numerous interviews with King
Francis I of France , and in 1523 he was permitted, in concert withJohn Stewart, 2nd Duke of Albany , the Scottishregent , to arrange an invasion of England, which was never carried out. He was with Francis I at theBattle of Pavia , where he was killed onFebruary 24 ,1525 .Children
Richard de la Pole was never known to have married, but he is known to have had a daughter by a mistress whose name is unknown :
*Marguerite de la Pole - lady of honour of theQueen of Navarre [Cite book
publisher = Genealogical Pub. Co.
isbn = 0806317590
pages = 269
last = Richardson
first = Douglas
others = Kimball G. Everingham (ed.)
title = Magna Carta Ancestry: a Study in Colonial and Medieval Families
location = Baltimore, MD
series = Royal ancestry series
date = 2005
oclc = 61286649
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=wHZcIRMhSEMC&pg=PA269&lpg=PA269&dq=%22richard+de+la+pole%22+married&source=web&ots=2Dx8uo0I2I&sig=nEJmJxuNtE5XWF_jRd0TVr30ikg&hl=en]Further reading
* Letters and Papers Illustrative of the Reigns of Richard III. and Henry VII., edited by
J. Gairdner (2 vols.,Rolls Series , 24, 1861)
* Calendar of Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII.; and Sir William Dugdale, The Baronage of England (London, 1675)References
*1911
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.