Sir William de la Pole (1478 – sometime between October and November 1539),Weir, Alison. ''Britain's Royal Family: A Complete Genealogy'' London, U.K.: The Bodley Head, 1999. p. 135 was an English nobleman, and

Knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

of Wingfield Castle in

Wingfield, Suffolk Wingfield is a village in the English county of Suffolk. It is found east of Diss, signposted off B1118, near Eye. It’s likely the name originates from Anglo-Saxon. The Old English word "winga" means a turn, corner or bend in the land and "f ...

. He was the son of

John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk, KG (27 September 1442 – 14–21 May 1492), was a major magnate in 15th-century England. He was the son of William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk, and Alice Chaucer, the daughter of Thomas Chaucer (t ...

(1442–1492) and Elizabeth Plantagenet (Elizabeth of York, Duchess of Suffolk) (1444–1504), a sister of

Edward IV Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483) was King of England from 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470, then again from 11 April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in England ...

and

Richard III Richard III (2 October 1452 – 22 August 1485) was King of England from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the Plantagenet dynasty and its cadet branch the House of York. His defeat and death at the Battle of Boswor ...

. Through his mother, he was clearly in the line of succession to the

English Crown This list of kings and reigning queens of the Kingdom of England begins with Alfred the Great, who initially ruled Wessex, one of the seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms which later made up modern England. Alfred styled himself king of the Anglo-Sax ...

, with ultimately disastrous consequences for himself. Around 1497, he married

Katherine Stourton Katherine Stourton, Baroness Grey of Codnor (c. 1455 – 1521) was an English noblewoman. Her life reflects the turbulence of English political life in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries; her first husband was attainted for treason, ...

, daughter of William Stourton, 2nd Baron Stourton and Margaret Chidiocke, but they had no issue. Katherine, twice widowed and aged about 42, was more than 20 years older than William, so the motive for the marriage was probably financial (her second husband, Henry, Lord Grey of Codnor, had left her much of his property). He was brother to

John de la Pole, 1st Earl of Lincoln John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

Edmund de la Pole, 3rd Duke of Suffolk Edmund de la Pole, 3rd Duke of Suffolk, 6th Earl of Suffolk, Order of the Garter, KG (c. 147130 April 1513), Earl of Suffolk, Duke of Suffolk, was an English nobleman and soldier. The son of John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk and his wife Eliz ...

and

Richard de la Pole Richard de la Pole (died 24 February 1525) was a pretender to the English crown. Commonly nicknamed "White Rose", he was the last Yorkist claimant to actively and openly seek the crown of England. He lived in exile after many of his relativ ...

. As nephews of

the de la Pole family had a much stronger hereditary claim to the throne than Henry VII, who was descended through his mother from an illegitimate son of

John of Gaunt 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 surviving) of King Edward III of England, and the father of King Henry IV. Because ...

. Even if William, unlike his brothers, had no personal ambition to seize the throne, his ancestry would have made it impossible for Henry to trust him. The discovery of a plot involving the de la Pole brothers in 1501 sealed William's fate. He was held prisoner in the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic citadel and castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamle ...

for 37 years till his death, longer than anyone else in the Tower's history, for allegedly plotting against

King Henry VII Henry VII (28 January 1457 – 21 April 1509), also known as Henry Tudor, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizure of the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death in 1509. He was the first monarch of the House of Tudor. Henry ...

with his brothers Edmund and Richard, who fled the country in 1501, after their

conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, ploy, or scheme, is a secret plan or agreement between people (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder, treason, or corruption, especially with a political motivat ...

was detected. The fact that William did not flee with them might have been seen as evidence that he was innocent, but the King did not trust this loyalty.Chrimes, p. 93

Ancestors

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:De La Pole, William 1478 births 1539 deaths 15th-century English nobility 16th-century English nobility

William William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...

People from Mid Suffolk District 16th-century English knights Younger sons of dukes