Reginald Pole
Reginald Pole (1500 – November 17, 1558) Archbishop of Canterbury, Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, was a son of Sir Richard Pole and Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury. His maternal grandparents were George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence and Isabella Neville, Duchess of Clarence.
The last Roman Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury, Cardinal Pole was born in Staffordshire, England in March 1500.
He was a member of Magdalen College, Oxford from about 1512 until about 1519. He was taught by William Latimer and Thomas Linacre, and admitted BA on 27 June 1515. In February 1518 Henry granted him the deanery of Wimborne Minster, Dorset.
In 1521, Pole went to Padua, where he met such leading Renaissance figures as Pietro Bembo, Gianmatteo Giberti (formerly Leo X's datary and chief minister), Jacopo Sadoleto, Gianpietro Carafa (the future Paul IV), Rodolfo Pio, Otto Truchsess, Stanislaus Hosius, Cristoforo Madruzzo, Giovanni Morone, Pier Paolo Vergerio the younger, Pietro Martire Vermigli (Peter Martyr), and Vettor Soranzo, the last three of whom were eventually condemned as heretics.
His studies were partly financed by his election as a fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, on 14 February 1523, which allowed him to study abroad for three years.
Pole returned home in July 1526, when he went to France, escorted by Thomas Lupset. Henry VIII offered him the archbishopric of York or the diocese of Winchester if he would support his divorce from Catherine of Aragon. Pole withheld his support and went into self-imposed exile in France and Italy in 1532, continuing his studies in Padua and Paris.
Pole was made cardinal under Pope Paul III in 1536 over Pole's own objections. In 1542 he was appointed as one of the three legates to preside over the Council of Trent, and after the death of Pope Paul III in 1549 Pole missed being elected pope by only one vote.
The death of Edward VI on 6 July 1553 and the accession of Mary Tudor to the throne of England hastened Pole's return from exile, first as a papal legate; however Mary and Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, deliberately delayed him until 20 November 1554. Under Mary I's rule, Pole was finally ordained as a priest on 20 March 1557 and raised as Archbishop of Canterbury, an office he would hold until his death in London on 17 November 1558, a few hours after Queen Mary.
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| Preceded by: Thomas Cranmer |
Archbishop of Canterbury | Followed by: Matthew Parker |