Henry Pole, 1st Baron Montagu

Henry Pole, 1st Baron Montagu (c. 1492 – January 9, 1539) was most famous as one of the peers in the trial of Anne Boleyn. He was the oldest son of Margaret, Countess of Salisbury (godmother to Lady Mary Tudor) and Sir Richard Pole. His brother, Reginald Cardinal Pole, became the last Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury under Queen Mary I.

In May of 1510, Henry married Lady Jane Neville, daughter of George Nevill, 4th Baron Bergavenny and Margaret Fenne. They had the following children:

*Catherine Pole (born before 1520 – 23 September, 1576) married Francis Hastings, 2nd Earl of Huntingdon.
*Thomas Pole (d. 1526), married Elizabeth Wingfield.
*Henry Pole (1521-1542), married Margaret Neville.
*Winifred Pole (b.1525), married firstly Thomas Hastings, son of George Hastings, 1st Earl of Huntingdon, and secondly, Thomas Barrington of Barrington Hall. By Thomas Winifred had the following children: Catherine married 1584 to William Bourchier{great-grandson of John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners} Ironically a son of Catherine and William was Sir John Bourchier a regicide of King Charles I of England}; Sir Francis Barrington; John Barrington.

In November, 1538, Henry along with his wife and other relatives were arrested on a charge of treason by King Henry VIII, though Thomas Cromwell had previously written that they had "little offended save that he is of their kin." Reginald Pole was not among them, as he was in exile at the time, due to his opposition of King Henry's divorce from Catherine of Aragon. They were committed to the Tower of London, and on January 9, 1539 with the exception of Geoffrey Pole, Henry's brother, they were beheaded. Ten days after Henry's arrest, his mother, the Countess Margaret of Salisbury, was also arrested and questioned by William Fitzwilliam, Earl of Southampton, 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 made her a sharer in their "treason", or else she was "the most arrant traitress that ever lived." She was not to live long. On May 27, 1541, she too was beheaded in the Tower of London.

References

* [http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/Bios/HenryPole(1BMontagu).htm tudorplace.com.ar] Retrieved November 25, 2007
* [http://www.medievalgenealogy.org.uk/cp/p_montagu.shtml#p96 medievalgenealogy.org.uk] Retrieved November 26, 2007
* [http://thepeerage.com/p99.htm#i985 thePeerage.com] Retrieved 6 July 2008