Today in 1536 Cardinal Reginald Pole sent a letter to Henry VIII blasting his divorce and leaving the church – this letter, called De Unitate, was then made public, which caused a lot of trouble for Cardinal Pole’s family in England, who were immediately under suspicion for plotting with their relative against Henry.
Cardinal Pole was related to Henry VIII by way of his mother, Margaret Pole, who was the nephew of Edward IV (Henry’s grandfather). So Cardinal Pole and Henry VIII were cousins, sharing a great grandfather in the Duke of York who began the Wars of the Roses. Henry had taken care of his cousins, paying for Reginald’s education. Reginald repaid this by plotting from afar while his family were still in England.
And five years later, on May 27 1541, Pole’s mother Margaret was executed brutally by an inexperienced executioner. It was seen by most people as a very sad miscarriage of justice. Meanwhile, Reginald Pole kept plotting.
That’s your Tudor Minute for today. Remember you can dive deeper into life in 16th century England through the Renaissance English History Podcast at englandcast.com.
Suggested link:
Episode 081: Tudor Times on Margaret Pole
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Heather Teysko is the creator, writer, and producer of The Renaissance English History Podcast, one of the longest running indie history podcasts, going since 2009. She's been writing about history online for over 25 years, since her first site on Colonial American history became number one in history on Yahoo in 1998. She writes books, created the original Tudor Planner (a yearly diary filled with Tudor history) and in 2019 created the world's first Tudorcon (you can "attend" online this year!). She has been passionate about Tudor England since she first read Alison Weir's The Six Wives of Henry VIII 20 years ago, and subsequently moved to London after college to spend her time immersed in Tudor history.