In today's "on this day in Tudor history" video, I mark the anniversary of the execution of Edmund de la Pole by sharing some information about him and his brother, Richard, and what led to Edmund's demise on the scaffold at Tower Hill.
What led to Edmund finally being beheaded after nine years of imprisonment and what happened to Richard de la Pole?
Also on this day in history:
- 1471 – Death of Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales and only son of Henry VI, at the Battle of Tewkesbury.
- 1535 – Executions of three Carthusian monks, a Bridgettine monk and a parish priest at Tyburn for rejecting the royal supremacy.
- 1536 – Arrests of Sir Francis Weston and Sir William Brereton during the fall of Anne Boleyn. They were both taken to the Tower of London.
- 1608 – Funeral of Elizabeth Talbot (Bess of Hardwick), Countess of Shrewsbury, in All Hallows, Derby. At the time of her death, she was one of the richest people in England.
Edmund de la Pole was the real heir to the throne and after the death of John, Earl of Lincoln in 1487 at East Stoke because the family were the heirs of Richard iii. Edmund was put in the Tower after being lurred back under Henry Tudor but the King had sense not to execute him. It was typical that it was Henry Viii who executed Edmund in 1513 but he was now dangerous because his brother was mounting a challenge on the continent. Henry was off to fight the French and possibly reasoned leaving a rival alive in the Tower, although probably secure wasn’t a good idea while he was out of the country.
Richard de la Pole the last White Rose had a heroic death fighting for the French King at Pavia in 1525 and did get the applet Richard iv or v by some of his supporters. The Last White Rose. The Secret Wars of the Tudors Desmond Seward looks at the two claims of the De la Pole Suffolk line and the even more regal Pole line from George, Duke of Clarence. The Poles probably were not actually interested in the crown, but the de la Poles remained a perceived threat at least in the imagination. Well, that’s the Tudors, absolutely crazy.