Blessed Margaret Pole

Blessed Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, was an English noblewoman, a wife and the mother of five children, among them Cardinal Reginald Pole. Under Henry VIII, whose divorce she did not approve, she was condemned to death without trial and beheaded in the Tower of London. The Roman Martyrology commemorates her on May 28.

She was born on August 14, 1473, at Farleigh Castle near Bath. Her father was George, Duke of Clarence, the brother of Kings Edward IV and Richard III, and her mother was Isabel, daughter of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick. Her brother Edward, Earl of Warwick, was executed in 1499 under Henry VII.

Around 1491 Henry VII gave her in marriage to his kinsman, Sir Richard Pole. At his death she was left a widow with five children. Henry VIII, who reportedly said that he knew no holier woman in England, restored her family estates and gave her the title of Countess of Salisbury. He also entrusted to her the care of his daughter, Princess Mary.

When in 1533 the king married Anne Boleyn and wanted Mary to be regarded as an illegitimate child, Margaret was removed from the princess. She asked to be allowed to go on serving her at her own expense, but permission was refused. Her son Reginald, who was living abroad, wrote a work in defense of the unity of the Church, in which he condemned the king’s conduct. Unable to reach him, the king turned his anger against his family in England.

In November 1538 her sons Henry and Geoffrey were arrested, and soon afterward she herself. The Earl of Southampton and the Bishop of Ely questioned her for many hours but drew from her no admission of guilt. In January 1539 her eldest son, Henry, was executed. In May Parliament condemned her to death by a special act, without giving her any chance to defend herself. As evidence of treason a white garment embroidered with the Five Wounds of Christ, the emblem of the rising in the north of the country, was produced.

She spent almost two years in the Tower, suffering from the cold and from the lack of warm clothing. When another revolt broke out in Yorkshire in April 1541, it was decided to carry out the sentence. In the morning she was told that she would die that day. She replied that no crime had been charged against her, and walked calmly to the place of execution. She was sixty-seven years old. She commended her soul to God and asked those present to pray for the king and his family, especially for Princess Mary. She was buried in the Chapel of Saint Peter ad Vincula in the Tower.

Most historians date the execution to May 27, 1541; some early sources give May 28, and the Roman Martyrology follows that date. In 1886 Pope Leo XIII confirmed the cult of fifty-four English martyrs of the years 1535 to 1583, thus numbering them among the blessed. In the decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites her name stands immediately after those of John Fisher and Thomas More, with the note: Countess of Salisbury, mother of Cardinal Pole.