(Cover image – © Unknown Artist – The National Portrait Gallery)
On this day, August 14th 1473, one of the most influential and arguably powerful women in England of the Tudor period (despite not actually being a member of the Tudor family) was born; Lady Margaret Pole. You might find yourself asking what made her so influential and powerful despite being a woman born into a heavily patriarchal society, well… Let us tell you her story in the hopes that answers your question.
As the firstborn child to parents; George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, and Isabel Neville, Duchess of Clarence, it was well-known at the time that her birth was more than disappointing in the eyes of her parents—though her father reacted rather horridly in comparison to her mother. You see, although this was Isabel's firstborn child, it was in actuality her second pregnancy. Around three years prior and immediately following her marriage to George, she fell pregnant with what George hoped was a son. Naturally, any man of large standing would pray that their firstborn is a son who will inherit their estates (as there was plenty of time for girls later who would bring in political marriages to benefit their fathers further) but for George, it was considered one of his most important missions. But why was this?
The answer is simple; George was the younger brother of Edward IV, the King of England which made him a person of great importance. At the time of Isabel and George's marriage in 1469, George's brother Edward and his queen through a marriage of love, not politics, Elizabeth Woodville had no male heir, she had given birth to two sons by her former husband but had only provided Edward with three beautiful girls (one of them being the future Queen of England, Elizabeth of York) and that meant that Edward's rule could be challenged but only IF George had a male heir first. This was because of Isabel's father, Richard Neville, the Earl of Warwick, or as he is known to history 'The Kingmaker'. He had fought to make Edward king and he could most certainly dethrone him and place George on the throne instead, he was an exceedingly popular and politically acclaimed by many, even to this day.
But sadly, by the time of Margaret's birth, Elizabeth had given birth to a son, Edward in 1470, and another son would be born just three days after Margaret, further infuriating George. Though Isabel was disappointed, it is believed that she was a very loving and kind mother to Margaret, though she proved desperate to provide her husband with the son he desired, just like any other woman in England might have been during this time.
The reaction to Margaret's birth is not explicitly seen in The White Queen but it is mentioned heavily during scenes depicting Isabel's pregnancy with Margaret's younger brother and George's 'obsession', if you will, with proclaiming his Queen a witch and with being responsible for his misfortune. Whether this is historically accurate remains to be seen but the conspiracy theory that Elizabeth Woodville was a witch is one that is still being argued today—after all, why else would a handsome King like Edward cast off potential politically beneficial marriages in order to take a low-born woman like Elizabeth Woodville for his wife and Queen, there is just simply no explanation! (Sarcasm!)
Regardless of how disappointing it was for Margaret to be born a girl; Margaret most certainly benefited from being born into such a high-standing family. As the daughter of a Duke and a blood relation to the King, Margaret received an education that was worthy of a woman of important status, though many other women in England were not as fortunate as her. From a young age, Margaret was taught the traditional of how to run/manage a household and also became proficient in many things including reading, writing (you might be surprised by this as only high-standing women are thought to have been taught how to read and write), sewing and even playing musical instruments such as the virginals (a very difficult instrument to learn at such a tender age).
Another benefit for her (though more for her father) was that because she was the niece of the King, it meant that she was a particularly important woman and could be considered an eligible bride for a high-standing nobleman in the King's court or even a foreign prince, providing that he was not directly in line to the throne. We wouldn't want her having more power than any of Edward's own daughters might achieve through marrying foreign royalty, would we?
One of the common misrepresentations of Isabel Neville's death is that happened mere days after the birth of her son Edward but what many people do not know is that though Edward's birth was not an easy one for Isabel, she survived and actually conceived a second son quickly after. It was in 1476, following the birth of her second son Richard, Isabel Neville fell sick with what modern historians believe was either consumption or childbed fever and died on 22nd December of that same year. Isabel's death was not received well by many members of Margaret's immediate family; with her brothers too young to even have memories of their mother, Margaret would have had to immediately step up as a mother figure for her brothers at the age of 3 years old. Her aunt Anne Neville, the wife of future King Richard III, was devastated by the death of her older sister and immediately offered her support for her niece and nephews. King Edward and Queen Elizabeth were also shocked and saddened by Isabel's premature death considering she was only twenty-five when she died but no-one would have been more shocked by Isabel’s death acting as a benefit for George as he was now able to remarry for another political advantage once his mourning period had passed.
Yes, you read that correctly. Though saddened and horrified by his wife's death, this only acted as the crumbling point of George's sanity and loyalty to the Crown. He began acting erratically; believing that his wife's death was not as a result of her giving birth but a plot to ruin his family either by the Queen (who, as I have already mentioned, it is said he proclaimed to be a witch) or by someone loyal to her. There is even a rumour that he began harassing one of his wife's ladies-in-waiting, claiming that she had been poisoning Isabel in order to make her sick on the orders of the Queen. This being said, George began to rebel against the King (which was not his first time, by the way, but as the King's brother, he was forgiven many times) and this left Margaret and her brothers in the dust. George became obsessed with trying to get his brother to arrange politically advantageous marriages for him, with either foreign princesses or even Edward's own daughters. No marriages were planned nor was their future even taken into consideration by their father, it was only when her father committed treasonous acts against the Crown and executed on the order of the King in 1478 that her future was becoming more of a priority.
Fun fact, it is said that George was executed in quite a curious way; through drowning a butt of Malmsey wine. One of the common beliefs for this rumour is that George had done this to 'spite' the King and Queen by denying them a proper execution through beheading; many believed that he had been executed for questioning Edward's legitimacy. For many years, Edward's legitimacy had been questioned and whether George should have been put on the throne, it could have been possible that George had used these politically started rumours as a legitimate reason for why he was acting out. Another possible belief is that he had done angered the Queen many times by bringing up Edward's many bastards or mistresses or the fact that it is said he had actually secretly married another woman before Elizabeth and that she was the legitimate Queen of England, not Elizabeth.
Whatever the rumours, it is possible that this curious way of executing George was just fabricated rumours spread because George's death was deemed to be done through a 'private execution', meaning that only Edward or one of his closest advisors would have witnessed the execution, rather than it being a public spectacle.
BUT—let us get back to Margaret!
. . .
With George's death, Margaret and her younger brother were now orphans with no means to feed and care for themselves. But luckily for them, despite being the children of a traitor to the Crown, they were niece and nephew to the King who immediately made them wards of the crown. Evidence shows that Edward granted funds for Margaret's (and her brother also as Richard had died a year before their father had) upkeep but as she was the elder sibling, she would have looked after them both, though it can be assumed that a governess was assigned to them or that Elizabeth Woodville had some influence over their care. She wasn't heartless after all, these were children without a mother to care for them and considering how close Margaret was to Elizabeth's daughter, Elizabeth of York, it can be assumed that meant that Elizabeth Woodville also had a positive relationship with Margaret.
Being the eldest of the two, Margaret formed quite close and loving relationships with her brothers, Edward, who was given the nickname 'Teddy'. Teddy was a legitimate heir to the throne of England, and this meant that he received a similar but more extravagant education to his sister, with his sister taking care of him and acting more of a mother than a sister. In The White Queen, their relationship is shown as a loving one, with Margaret helping Teddy with day-to-day life with the accepted representation of him being mentally disabled matching multiple historians believing that Teddy suffered from mental and learning difficulties that could have been autism or ADHD. Because of this, Teddy was known to be quite a sensitive and vulnerable person who relied on his older sister in order to get through each and every day, but despite their fortunes becoming slightly better during the reign of Edward, their lives during the reigns of both Richard III and Henry Tudor would prove to be brutal and fatal for both of them…
No one expected Edward to die suddenly in 1483 or that his two legitimate male heirs and sons would be murdered in the Tower of London—supposedly by Richard III, who ironically became the next King of England. And he was determined to keep his throne, from anyone and everyone, even Margaret's brother, Teddy. As Teddy was a legitimate heir to the throne (just like Richard was but he had supposedly killed his nephews to attain it), he posed a threat to Richard (as well as Henry Tudor when he succeeded Richard) so he attempted to lower their importance to society by claiming that since they were the children of a traitor, they had no claim to the throne (this being because traitors or their kin no longer possessed their lands or wealth or claims to estates or titles after being deemed a traitor to the crown). This did extraordinarily little though, as many were already beginning to show support to Richard's successor, Henry Tudor.
During the reign of Richard III, Margaret and her brother had been placed in the castle of Sheriff Hutton which housed other important children of the realm (which possibly included some of Edward's bastard children and Richard's own illegitimate children who all died young) but soon after Henry Tudor succeeded to the throne after killing Richard at the Battle of Bosworth (which we will be doing a post on later this month), they would be moved again and Teddy's cruel fate would become known.
Soon, under the advice of Henry's mother Margaret Beaufort, Margaret and Teddy were moved into her care and placed remarkably close to the King since Teddy was a threat and it was always best to keep your enemies close to you, so you knew what they were up to at all times. And it was on Margaret Beaufort’s advice that Henry Tudor also had Teddy confined to the Tower and began taking action of removing his estate from him as Margaret viewed him as too much of a threat to Henry’s rule, with no estate or assets, Teddy would lose power and significance, making it harder for him to challenge Henry if he wished. Margaret was of course, distraught about her brother being locked in the Tower, as her cousin Elizabeth of York’s own brothers had died there years before, and Margaret Beaufort sought to control Margaret also, by making her a member of Elizabeth of York’s household, now that she was to become Henry’s wife and his queen. This was why she was present at both the christening of Henry Tudor’s heir, Prince Arthur, as well as Elizabeth of York’s coronation as Queen in November 1487. If Margaret could be controlled, perhaps she could control Teddy and prevent him from challenging Henry’s rule. But for now, he was to stay in the Tower.
And Margaret would show her support for the Tudors, by marrying one.
Margaret’s marriage was to be to Sir Richard Pole, a member of the gentry and a half-cousin to King Henry through his maternal side, meaning that he was someone Henry trusted and a Tudor supporter. Her marriage to him would show any supporters of the Plantagnet line that Margaret was a Tudor now and that she supported Henry Tudor—just like Elizabeth of York’s marriage to Henry had done. Despite the fact that Sir Richard owned two manors and had an income of £50 per annum (quite a lot back in the day) which made him quite a rich man, there was one small problem that could have caused some tension within the marriage; Margaret was fourteen at the time of their marriage in 1487 whilst Richard… was twenty-eight!
Luckily, however, this seems not to have caused any problems in Margaret’s marriage to her new husband as their marriage was believed to have been a happy one and their secluded home in the countryside (Bockmer in Medmnham and Stourton Castle in Staffordshire) brought her away from the confines and dramas of the royal court and allowed her some peace and prosperity to be alone with her husband. Though Richard would have to leave often to attend to his duties in Wales, the couple lived a happy life together and Margaret was able to have some of her own happiness by giving birth to a total of five children, all of which survived into adulthood; Henry, Arthur, Reginald, Geoffrey and Ursula (who went onto have fourteen children! Let us know in the comments below if you’d like us to do a post on her!)
It seemed like Margaret’s life was finally becoming a happy one, with her brother still in the Tower being seen as a sign that Henry was being merciful, as he surely could have had him killed as a threat to his rule.
Sadly, Margaret’s assumption that Teddy would be saved was not to last, as King Henry had a special part for Teddy to play in the future of his dynasty, a very cruel part to play.
Several years following the marriage of Margaret to Richard, King Henry and Queen Elizabeth began making negotiations for the marriage of their eldest son and heir Prince Arthur to the daughter of the rulers of arguably the most powerful nation in the world at that time (with England in second, perhaps); Spain. More specifically, Catalina of Aragon (Catherine in the English tongue), the daughter of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain around 1489. This marriage would unite the two most powerful nations in the world, and it would make them allies, but Spain was more devout than England was and because of this, they saw a problem with finalising the agreement.
This problem—the risks to Henry’s throne.
Ferdinand and Isabella did not want their prize daughter to marry into a kingdom that could soon be overthrown; Teddy was not the only one who could challenge Henry Tudor for the throne, there was one other; the pretender Perkin Warbeck. As we have mentioned before, Elizabeth’s two brothers Edward and Richard were supposedly murdered by their uncle Richard III in the Tower many years before but there were rumours that one had escaped; Edward, and this meant that these rumours could be used for pretenders to try and claim the throne for the house of Plantagnet once more. And Perkin Warbeck claimed to be the long-lost York Prince, coming back to claim his rightful throne. His appearance had made it impossible for Henry to secure a marriage alliance for his son, and it also made it impossible for Teddy to live on also, for his claim to the throne was also too strong for him to continue living.
To say that Margaret and her cousin Elizabeth of York fought strongly and endlessly for Teddy to be released was an understatement, but Henry would not change his mind and ultimately, Elizabeth wanted her son to marry Spain’s heir and make England stronger. And so, in late 1499, both Perkin Warbeck and Edward Plantagnet were executed privately in the Tower, by beheading. It is even said that they share a coffin, but this is likely rumours also.
. . .
Teddy’s death and the reactions of all those involved are documented quite accurately in The White Princess and I think it shows how tense and stressful the whole period of time was. For Margaret, she had now lost her baby brother and the only member of her immediate family that she had left in the world at the hands of her cousin and her husband, the King. In the show, you see how difficult it is for her to suffer the loss of her brother and how much hatred she holds for the King and the Queen, her cousin, how she openly speaks to Elizabeth about how she detests her and will never forgive her—but also how she curses the Tudors yet serves them still. Nevertheless, she has no choice, if she opposes the Crown, she might also have been executed, like her brother. As for Henry, the show presents us with the burdensome choice of whether to let Teddy live and lose the alliance or kill Teddy and give his son a worthy bride and an alliance that will strength England for as long as he may reign. It was Elizabeth’s reaction that rather shocked me; in the show, it shows her witnessing the deaths of both Perkin Warbeck and Teddy, and it shows her crying out in agony once they are placed in the coffin, how she whispers how she felt pushed to kill them, more specifically Perkin (who in the show is truly her brother, but she doesn’t reveal it until Henry has to kill him). The show beautifully represents what agony, torment and guilt these three important figures must have felt towards Teddy’s death and what anger and resentment Margaret must have held for the Tudors all the while serving them, which brings us onto what happened after her beloved brother’s death.
(Rebecca Benson in The White Princess - © Entertainment Weekly)
After Teddy’s death, Margaret was still a member in Elizabeth of York’s household but with her husband being the Chamberlain for Prince Arthur, it meant that she was close with the young prince. Perhaps this was the reason she was selected to be a member of Catherine of Aragon’s household after she arrived in England in 1501. Her relationship with Catherine was said to be a friendly one, with there possibly being some resentment from Margaret towards Catherine as her arrival in England was only brought about by the death of her brother. Nonetheless, Margaret was a loyal servant and friend to Catherine, even after her service ending due to Prince Arthur’s death. Catherine and Margaret had always supported one another, with Catherine emotionally supporting Margaret through the tragic death of her husband in 1505 (shortly after the birth of their daughter, Ursula) whilst Margaret emotionally supported Catherine through her own financial struggles and how to keep her in power in England, now her husband was dead. Soon, drastic measures needed to be taken as Margaret’s income had been reduced to the point where she could not afford to feed her own children. This led to her placing her son Reginald in the church where he flourished brightly, leading to King Henry paying a hefty fee for his education in Italy—almost as if he were doing this out of guilt for being the source of her misfortunes.
Her luck had not run out though, and her fortune would rise once more at the support of her dear friend Catherine of Aragon; when she married Arthur’s brother, Henry, when he became the new King of England, Henry VIII, in 1509, following his father’s death, Catherine brought Margaret into court as a member of the Queen’s household. Furthermore, Catherine’s influence over the King meant that he restored her the earldom of Salisbury, which made her one of the most influential and powerful women of her time. Now, you want the answer as to why; well, she was the only woman (with the exception of Anne Boleyn as the Marquess of Pembroke) to own an earldom in her own right, as this title was usually bestowed upon a man and was one of the highest honours that could be bestowed upon a loyal subject. Although Margaret did have to pay King Henry VIII five thousand marks in order for her earldom to be restored, this was significantly cheaper than what other nobles might have had to pay and Catherine’s friendship and support towards Margaret was the reason for this. It is also believed that King Henry did this to show his guilt in her brother, his second cousin through his mother, being executed in order for his wife to come to England (originally for his brother, but she was now his Queen, and therefore, he shared a part in the guilt).
With her newfound wealth and status, Margaret wasted no time in securing stable futures for all of her children; Reginald, as we have already mentioned, went off to study in Italy and was to become a Cardinal, Henry married into the Neville family though he would eventually be executed by Henry VIII for treason, Geoffrey was also suspected of treachery though he lived in exile, Arthur became Lord of the Manor and married well, and finally, Ursula Pole who would marry Henry Stafford and have fourteen children! Fourteen, yes!
In the eyes of Margaret, she was now assured that nothing bad would come to her ever again, especially since she was made the governess to Princess Mary shortly following her birth in 1516 though she left the position in 1521, only to be reappointed in 1525 after Princess Mary, now the Princess of Wales, was moved to Ludlow, like her uncle before her. It was there that Margaret remained until 1533, when Henry VIII made the most shocking decision of his entire life—to marry Anne Boleyn, after publicly humiliating his wife Catherine and after she tragically died alone in a secluded palace.
The Spanish Princess perfectly details this period in Margaret’s life, showing how tragically was her fall from grace following her husband’s death as well as how she cared for Princess Mary and the friendship she had with Catherine, though it might have been exaggerated or changed for dramatic purposes (as all good historical tv shows do). The one thing that I do not agree with is the fact that Margaret turned against Catherine over the matter of her virginity; whilst I have every confidence that the real Margaret Pole would have done everything she could to keep Catherine in power, especially since Catherine had restored her to power, I do not believe that she would have used the matter of Catherine’s virginity to get herself ahead in the eyes of the King. There is no real evidence that Margaret had anything to do with Catherine’s marital relations with Arthur nor would she have wanted to mess with the royal marriage or with the King since he had now restored her earldom and her children (well, most of them) were flourishing. It seems unlikely, but I won’t discount it.
(Laura Carmichael playing Maggie during the end of Henry VII’s reign and the beginning of Henry VIII’s reign in ‘The Spanish Princess’ - © Entertainment Weekly)
. . .
You’re probably wondering, ‘hey, that cannot be the end of the story, you’ve only told us half the story’ and by saying that you’d be one hundred percent correct. The story of Margaret Pole has only just begun...
Join us in May on the anniversary of Maggie’s death where we will continue the rest of the story and what became of Margaret following the death of her beloved Queen and friend, Catherine, and the rise of Anne Boleyn.
- Have a ‘Tudor-fic’ week!
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