POLE, Reginald, cardinal, and archbishop of Canterbury, a younger son of Sir Richard Pole, Lord Montague, was born at Stoverton Castle, in Staffordshire, in the year 1500. At seven years of age he was sent to a Carthusian monasteryat Shene, near Richmond, in Surrey; and thence, when he was about twelve years old, removed to Magdalen College, in Oxford, where, by the instruction of the celebrated Linacre and Latimer, he made considerable progress in learning. In 1515 he took the degree of bachelor of arts, and was admitted to deacon’s orders some time afterwards; in 1517, he was made prebendary of Salisbury, and in 1519 dean of Wimborne and dean of Exeter. We are not surprised at this young nobleman’s early preferments, when we consider him as the kinsman of Henry VIII. and that he was bred to the church by the king’s special command.

Being now about the age of nineteen, he was sent, according to the fashion of the times, to finish his studies at Padua, in Italy, where he resided some time in great splendour, having a handsome pension from the king. In 1525 he returned to England, where he was most graciously received at court, and universally admired for his talents and address; but preferring study and sequestration to the pleasures of a court, he retired to the Carthusian convent[7:18:247] at Shene, where he had continued about two years, when the pious king began to divulge his scruples of conscience concerning his maιτiage with Catharine of Spain. Pole foresaw that this affair would necessarily involve him in difficulties; he therefore determined to quit'the kingdom, and accordingly obtained leave to visit Paris. Having thus avoided the storm for the present, he returned once more to his convent at Shene; but his tranquillity was again interrupted by the king’s resolution to shake off the pope’s supremacy, of which Pole’s approbation was thought indispensably necessary. How he managed in this affair is not very clear. However, he obtained leave to revisit Italy, and his pension was continued for some time.

The king, having now divorced Queen Catharine, married Anne Boleyn; and being resolved to throw off the papal yoke, ordered Dr Richard Sampson to write a book in justification of his proceedings, which he sent to Pole for his opinion. To this Pole, secure in the pope’s protection, wrote a vehement answer, entitled Pro Unitate Ecclesiasi-cα, and sent it to the king, who was so much offended with the contents, that he withdrew his pension, stripped him of all his preferments, and procured an act of attainder to be passed against him. In the mean time, Pole was created a cardinal, and sent in quality of nuncio to different parts of Europe. Henry made several attempts to have him secured and brought to England, but all of them proved abortive. At length the pope fixed him as legate at Viterbo, where he continued till the year 1543, when he was appointed legate at the council of Trent, and was afterwards employed by the pope as his chief counsellor.

Pope Paul III. having died in 1540, Pole was twice elected his successor, and, we are told, twice refused the papal dignity; the first time, because the election was made in too great haste; and the second, because it was done in the night. Cardinal Maria de Monte obtained the triple crown; and Pole, having kissed his slipper, retired to the convent of Magazune, near Verona, where he continued till the death of Edward VI. in the year 1553. On the accession of Queen Mary, Pole was sent as legate to England, where he was received by her majesty with great veneration, and conducted to the archbishop’s palace at Lambeth, Thomas Cranmer being at that time prisoner in the Tower. He immediately appeared in the House of Lords, where he made a long speech; and this being reported to the Commons by their speaker, both these houses concurred in an humble supplication to be reconciled to the see of Rome. They presented it on their knees to her majesty, who interceded with the cardinal, and he graciously condescended to give them absolution. This business being ended, the legate made his public entry into London, and immediately set about the extirpation of heresy. The day after the execution of Cranmer, which he is falsely said to have advised, he was consecrated archbishop of Canterbury. In the same year, 1556, he was elected chancellor of the university of Oxford, and soon afterwards of Cambridge; both which he visited, by his commissioners. He died of a double quartan ague, in the year 1558, about sixteen hours after the death of the queen, and was buried in the cathedral of Canterbury.

As to his character, the Catholic writers ascribe to him every virtue under heaven; and even Bishop Burnet is lavish in his praise, attributing the cruelties of Mary’s reign to the advice of Gardiner. In this Mr Hume agrees with the bishop, and represents Pole as the advocate of toleration. By every impartial account, he seems to have been a man of mild manners and of real worth, though undoubtedly a zealous member of the church of Rome. He wrote, Pro Unitate Ecclesiastica, De Ejusdem Potestate, a Treatise on Justification, and various other tracts.

Pole, in Astronomy, that point in the heavens round which the whole sphere seems to turn. It is also used for a point directly perpendicular to the centre of the plane of any circle, and distant from it by the length of a radius.

PoiΛ>Axe, a sort of hatchet, nearly resembling a battleaxe, and which is principally employed in sea-fights, to cut away and destroy the rigging of any adversary who endeavours to board.