Today in 1538 Geoffrey Pole was interrogated in the Tower. Geoffrey Pole was the fourth son of Sir Richard Pole and Margaret Pole, the Countess of Salisbury. She was the daughter of the Duke of Clarence, and Edward IV’s niece, and as such the family found themselves at the center of plots, and rallying in favor of the Catholic church when Henry was setting up the Church of England with himself as the head.
Geoffrey was the brother of Cardinal Reginald Pole, who was one of the final Plantagenets who had a claim to the throne, and in the 1530’s they all got caught up in plots involving overthrowing Henry and the new church. He fell out of favor after the Pilgrimage of Grace, and when he was interrogated it was about a series of letters his family had received regarding the possibility of an invasion fleet landing on their lands. His answers helped to seal the fate of his mother, who would be gruesomely executed.
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 where there is an episode about Margaret Pole and the Pole family.
Suggested links:
Episode 081: Tudor Times on Margaret Pole
Halloween Episodes!
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Heather Teysko is the creator, writer, and producer of The Renaissance English History Podcast,  the original Tudor history podcast, started in 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. In 2019 she created Tudorcon, which is now a yearly event, in addition to writing books, and running TudorFair.com - a whimsical Tudor Merch shop.
She has been passionate about Tudor England since she first read Alison Weir's The Six Wives of Henry VIII 30 years ago, and subsequently moved to London after college to spend her time immersed in Tudor history (how exciting when she got to interview Alison for the first time!). In addition to history, she is passionate about travel, and has lived in 3 countries and 4 states (not counting her perpetual state of confusion), and her family (who help her host her YouTube channel occasionally).
