Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury (14 August 1473 – 27 May 1541) was an English peeress. In 1541, she was executed after her son, Cardinal Reginald Pole, encouraged the "Pilgrimage of Grace" uprising.
Biography[]
Margaret Pole was born in Farleigh Hungerford Castle, Somerset, England on 14 August 1473, the daughter of the Duke of Clarence and Isabel Neville. Many of her family members were executed due to their ties to the House of York, which was defeated by the Tudors during the Wars of the Roses. In 1504, her husband, Sir Richard Pole, died, and King Henry VII of England paid for Pole's funeral. Margaret lived at Syon Abbey until Henry VIII became King in 1509, upon which she returned to favor. Margaret was made a lady-in-waiting of Queen Catherine of Aragon, and she became Countess of Salisbury. By 1538, she was the fifth richest peer in England, and she served as governess to the King's daughter, the future Queen Mary I of England. In May 1536, her son Reginald Pole finally and definitively broke with the King, and, as a cardinal, he arranged the Pilgrimage of Grace uprising. Reginald's actions led to Margaret, her son Henry, and one of her grandsons being imprisoned, and ther were beheaded for treason in 1541. In 1886, Pope Leo XIII beatified Margaret as a martyr of the Catholic Church.