Michael de la Pole, 1st Earl of Suffolk, 1st Baron de la Pole, (c. 13305 September 1389) of Wingfield Castle in Suffolk, was an English

financier An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital most of the time the investor purchases some species of property. Type ...

and

Lord Chancellor The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. Th ...

of England. His contemporary Froissart portrays de la Pole as a devious and ineffectual counsellor who dissuaded King Richard II from pursuing a certain victory against French and Scottish forces in Cumberland and fomented undue suspicion of that king's uncle

John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster (6 March 1340 – 3 February 1399) was an English royal prince, military leader, and statesman. He was the fourth son (third to survive infancy as William of Hatfield died shortly after birth) of King Edward ...

Origins

He was the eldest son of Sir

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 ...

(died 1366),

Chief Baron of the Exchequer The Chief Baron of the Exchequer was the first "baron" (meaning judge) of the English Exchequer of Pleas. "In the absence of both the Treasurer of the Exchequer or First Lord of the Treasury, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, it was he who pre ...

, a wool merchant from

Kingston upon Hull Kingston upon Hull, usually abbreviated to Hull, is a port city and unitary authority in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Estuary, inland from the North Sea and south-ea ...

who after the collapse of the Florentine banker families of Bardi and

Peruzzi The Peruzzi were bankers of Florence, among the leading families of the city in the 14th century, before the rise to prominence of the Medici. Their modest antecedents stretched back to the mid 11th century, according to the family's genealogist ...

emerged as the chief financier of King Edward III. His younger brother was Edmund de la Pole.

Career

Michael enjoyed even greater popularity at court than his father, becoming one of the most trusted and intimate friends of Edward's successor, Richard II. He was appointed Chancellor in 1383, Powicke, F. Maurice and E. B. Fryde ''Handbook of British Chronology'' 2nd ed. London: Royal Historical Society 1961 p. 85 and created

Earl of Suffolk Earl of Suffolk is a title which has been created four times in the Peerage of England. The first creation, in tandem with the creation of the title of Earl of Norfolk, came before 1069 in favour of Ralph the Staller; but the title was forfe ...

in 1385, the first of his family to hold any such title (the earldom had become extinct in 1382 on the death of William de Ufford). However, in the late 1380s his fortunes radically altered, in step with those of the king. During the Wonderful Parliament of 1386 he was impeached on charges of embezzlement and negligence, a victim of increasing tensions between Parliament and Richard. He was the first official in English history to be removed from office by the process of impeachment. Even after this disgrace, he remained in royal favour, although soon fell foul of the

Lords Appellant The Lords Appellant were a group of nobles in the reign of King Richard II, who, in 1388, sought to impeach some five of the King's favourites in order to restrain what was seen as tyrannical and capricious rule. The word ''appellant'' — still ...

. He was one of a number of Richard's associates accused of

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

by the Appellants in November 1387.

Exile and death

After the Appellants' victory at Radcot Bridge (December 1387) and before the

Merciless Parliament The Merciless Parliament was an English parliamentary session lasting from 3 February to 4 June 1388, at which many members of King Richard II's court were convicted of treason. The session was preceded by a period in which Richard's power was r ...

met in February 1388, de la Pole shrewdly fled to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, thus escaping the fate of Sir Nicholas Brembre and Chief Justice Robert Tresilian. He remained in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

for the remainder of his life. Sentenced in his absence, his title and estates were stripped from him.

Marriage and children

He married Katherine Wingfield (1340–1386) daughter and heiress of Sir John de Wingfield (d. circa 1361) of Wingfield Castle in Suffolk, chief administrator to Edward the

Black Prince Edward of Woodstock, known to history as the Black Prince (15 June 1330 – 8 June 1376), was the eldest son of King Edward III of England, and the heir apparent to the English throne. He died before his father and so his son, Richard II, suc ...

(father of King Richard II), by whom he had eight children: * Michael de la Pole, 2nd Earl of Suffolk (1361–1415), a supporter of Henry IV and opponent of Richard. He regained his father's title on Henry's accession in 1399, and died at the

Siege of Harfleur The siege of Harfleur (18 August – 22 September 1415) was conducted by the English army of King Henry V in Normandy, France, during the Hundred Years' War. The defenders of Harfleur surrendered to the English on terms and were treated as pr ...

. *Thomas de la Pole (1363–1415), *William de la Pole (born 1365), *Richard de la Pole (c. 13671402), ancestor of Cardinal Reginald Pole (1500–1558), *John de la Pole (c. 13691415), *Anne de la Pole (born c. 1373), widow of Sir Gerard de Lisle. Anne married secondly Robert Thorley, Esq. and their daughter, Margaret Thorley, married

Reginald West, 6th Baron De La Warr Reginald West, 6th Baron De La Warr and 3rd Baron West (5 or 7 September 1395 – 27 August 1450) was an English nobleman and politician. Life Reginald was the second son of Thomas West, 1st Baron West (d. 19 April 1405) and Joan La Warre (d. ...

. Thus, De la Pole was ancestor to Richard West, 7th Baron De La Warr who fought on the Lancastrian side in the

Wars of the Roses The Wars of the Roses (1455–1487), known at the time and for more than a century after as the Civil Wars, were a series of civil wars fought over control of the English throne in the mid-to-late fifteenth century. These wars were fought bet ...

and his son Thomas West, 8th Baron De La Warr (c. 145711 October 1525), a courtier and military commander during the reigns of Henry VII and Henry VIII. *Elizabeth de la Pole (born c. 1377) *Margaret de la Pole (born c. 1386)

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