Katherine de la Pole (1410/1411 – 1473) was the abbess of

Barking Abbey Barking Abbey is a former royal monastery located in Barking, in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. It has been described as having been "one of the most important nunneries in the country". Originally established in the 7th century, f ...

Life

La Pole was born in about 1410 and she was the oldest daughter of Michael de la Pole, 2nd Earl of Suffolk and Katherine de Stafford.Bush, Ruth
"Pole, Katherine de la"
''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'', 04 October 2012. Accessed 5 February 2019. She became abbess of

in January 1433. In this capacity, between 1437 and 1440, she took care of

Edmund Edmund is a masculine given name or surname in the English language. The name is derived from the Old English elements ''ēad'', meaning "prosperity" or "riches", and ''mund'', meaning "protector". Persons named Edmund include: People Kings and ...

and

Jasper Tudor Jasper Tudor, Duke of Bedford (November 143121/26 December 1495), was the uncle of King Henry VII of England and a leading architect of his nephew's successful accession to the throne in 1485. He was from the noble Tudor family of Penmynydd i ...

, the two eldest sons of

Catherine of Valois Catherine of Valois or Catherine of France (27 October 1401 – 3 January 1437) was Queen of England from 1420 until 1422. A daughter of Charles VI of France, she was married to Henry V of England and gave birth to his heir Henry VI of Englan ...

(widowed queen of King

Henry V of England Henry V (16 September 1386 – 31 August 1422), also called Henry of Monmouth, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1413 until his death in 1422. Despite his relatively short reign, Henry's outstanding military successes in the ...

) by her second husband

Owen Tudor Sir Owen Tudor (, 2 February 1461) was a Welsh courtier and the second husband of Queen Catherine of Valois (1401–1437), widow of King Henry V of England. He was the grandfather of Henry VII, founder of the Tudor dynasty. Background Owe ...

. Katherine persuaded King Henry VI to take an interest in the boys, who were his half-brothers. Henry later ennobled them, thereby instigating one of the important steps to Edmund's son Henry Tudor later claiming the English throne. Edmund's wife Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry Tudor, had been a ward of Katherine's brother,

William de la Pole William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

, steward of the royal household. There is a story about a slippery priest named Robert Colynson who managed to cheat her out of five pounds. He had offered to go to Rome and to say prayers for the nuns. He was paid five pounds in 1453 but he never went. Her abbey's water supply was ransomed by John Rigby of Cranbrook Manor in 1462. The water conduit to the abbey had broken and John Rigby had it repaired. He then decided that the abbey should pay an annual fee for its water supply. Katherine de la Pole was annoyed at this and instigated work to find an alternative and independent supply from their own spring. She died at Barking Abbey in 1473 and is presumed to have been buried there.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pole, Katherine de la 15th-century English nuns Daughters of British earls People from Barking, London English Roman Catholic abbesses