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( thus making John a great- grandson of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer).
His youth was blighted, in 1450, by the political fall and subsequent murder of his father, who had been a favourite of the king, Henry VI, but was increasingly distrusted by the rest of the nobility.
Although the first duke of Suffolk had made himself rich through trade and – particularly – royal grants, this source of income dried up on his death, so John de la Pole was among the poorest of English dukes on his accession to the title in 1463.
This was a circumstance which John felt acutely; on more than one occasion, he refused to come to London due to his impoverishment being such that he could not afford the costs of maintaining a retinue.
As a youth, John de la Pole married twice; his first marriage was annulled, but his second marriage, to Elizabeth of York, made him the brother- in- law of two kings, Edward IV and Richard III.
It brought him eleven children, the eldest of whom, John, would eventually be named heir to Richard III in 1484 and die in battle in the Yorkist cause.
John de la Pole, though, generally managed to steer clear of involvement in the tumultuous events of the Wars of the Roses.
Although he was politically aligned to the House of York, by virtue of his marriage, he avoided participating in the battles of the 1450s, not taking up arms until Edward IV had claimed the throne.
De la Pole appears to have spent much of this period, in fact, feuding with his East Anglian neighbours, the Paston family over an inheritance – even interfering in parliamentary elections, for example, in an attempt to gain the upper hand.
Suffolk did not receive major grants from Edward IV either, although de la Pole continued to support him in arms when necessary, and when Edward lost his throne in 1470, Suffolk was not trusted by the new Lancastrian regime.
Suffolk fought for Edward at the battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury but did not join Edward's inner circle during his second reign.
He seems to have acquiesced in the usurpation of Richard III in 1483, but, unlike his son, was not present for Richard III's defeat at the Battle of Bosworth two years later.
Henry VII does not seem to have held Suffolk's son's treason against the duke, and even seems to have protected him from the former's attainder.
John de la Pole died in 1492 and was buried at Wingfield Church, Suffolk.
Michael de la Pole, 3rd Earl of Suffolk
Michael de la Pole, 3rd Earl of Suffolk (139425 October 1415) was an English nobleman, the eldest son of Michael de la Pole, 2nd Earl of Suffolk and Katherine de Stafford.
He brought 20 men-at-arms and 60 archers to France in 1415, in company with his father, who died at the Siege of Harfleur.
Michael thus succeeded to his title, but enjoyed it only briefly as he was killed seven weeks later at the Battle of Agincourt, one of the few important English casualties of the battle.
Michael de la Pole married before November 1403 Elizabeth Mowbray, daughter of the 1st Duke of Norfolk, but left no sons, only daughters:
He was succeeded by his brother William de la Pole.
Tradition holds that Michael was buried at either Butley Priory in Suffolk of which he held the advowson, or the Church of St Mary the Virgin in Ewelme, Oxfordshire.
Richard West, 7th Baron De La Warr
Richard West, 7th Baron De La Warr and 4th Baron West (28 October 1430 – 10 March 1476) was the son of Reginald West, 6th Baron De La Warr, by his first wife, Margaret Thorley, daughter of Robert Thorley, esquire, of Tybeste, Cornwall, and his first wife, Anne de la Pole, widow of Sir Gerard de Lisle, and daughter of Michael de la Pole, 1st Earl of Suffolk.
He fought on the Lancastrian side in the Wars of the Roses, receiving an annuity of £40 for his services on 19 December 1459.
On 1 July 1463 he had licence to travel abroad for three years with a retinue of 12 servants.
He obtained a general pardon on 15 October 1471.
Michael de la Pole, 2nd Earl of Suffolk
Michael de la Pole, 2nd Earl of Suffolk
( 1367 – 17 September 1415) was an English nobleman who supported Henry IV( reigned 1399- 1413) against Richard II( reigned 1377- 1399) during the turmoils of the late 14th century.
He died during the Siege of Harfleur in 1415.
He was the eldest son of Michael de la Pole, 1st Earl of Suffolk and Katherine Wingfield, daughter of Sir John Wingfield.
His father fled abroad amid accusations of treason during the Merciless Parliament in 1388, forfeiting the title of Earl of Suffolk and the family estates.
Over the next decade the younger Michael de la Pole made vigorous attempts to recover these lands, and obtained most of them piecemeal between 1389 and 1392, following his father's death.
However, his close association with the Lords Appellant, particularly the Earl of Warwick and the Duke of Gloucester prejudiced Richard II against him.
He finally obtained the restoration of the earldom in January 1398.
While he obeyed the summons of the Duke of York to defend the kingdom against Henry Bolingbroke in July 1399, Suffolk did not object to the disbandment of York's army and consented to the deposition of Richard II in the summer of 1399.
While the first Parliament of Henry IV technically upheld the forfeitures of the Merciless Parliament, Henry IV immediately restored de la Pole's estates and title in recognition of his support.
However, he would spend the remainder of his life trying to obtain possession of the remaining estates which had not been restored.
He played a relatively small role in national politics, although he regularly attended Parliament.
He took part in the campaign in Scotland in 1400, in naval operations around 1405, and served as the senior English diplomat at the Council of Pisa( 1409).
Suffolk also acted as a lieutenant of the Duke of Clarence during his campaign of 1412 – 1413.
However, he devoted most of his energies to re-establishing de la Pole influence in East Anglia.
He took the role of a justice of the peace in Norfolk and Suffolk from 1399, and assembled a considerable following among the local gentry.
He completed his father's building plans at Wingfield, Suffolk and enlarged the local church.
Suffolk brought 40 men-at- arms and 120 archers with him on the 1415 campaign of Henry V in France.
He died of dysentery at Harfleur, and was succeeded by his eldest son Michael, who later died at Agincourt.
William de la Pole (1478–1539)
Sir William de la Pole( 1478 – sometime between October and November 1539), was an English nobleman, and Knight of Wingfield Castle in Wingfield, Suffolk.
He was the son of John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk( 1442 – 1492) and Elizabeth Plantagenet( Elizabeth of York, Duchess of Suffolk)( 1444 – 1504).
Around 1497, he married Katherine Stourton, 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, Edmund de la Pole, 3rd Duke of Suffolk and Richard de la Pole.
As nephews of Edward IV 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.
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 for 37 years till his death, longer than anyone else in the Tower's history, for allegedly plotting against King Henry VII with his brothers Edmund and Richard, who fled the country in 1501, after their conspiracy was detected.
The fact that William did not flee with them might have been seen as evidence that he was innocent, but the King was clearly taking no chances.
Michael de la Pole, 1st Earl of Suffolk
Michael de la Pole, 1st Baron de la Pole, later 1st Earl of Suffolk( c. 13305 September 1389) was an English financier and Lord Chancellor of England.
Edmund de la Pole (Captain of Calais)
Sir Edmund de la Pole( died 1419) was an English knight and Captain of Calais.
He was the second son of Sir William de la Pole of Hull and younger brother of Michael de la Pole, 1st Earl of Suffolk.
He was Captain of Calais castle and controller of the town from 1384 to 1388.
He served as High Sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire for 1389 and a JP from 1390.
He was knight of the shire( MP) for Buckinghamshire in 1376 and 1383 and Cambridgeshire in 1395.
By his first wife Elizabeth de Haudlo, daughter of Richard de Haudlo and sister of Edmund de Haudlo of Boarstall, Buckinghamshire, and of Hadlow, Kent, he had Elizabeth de la Pole( 14 July 1362 – 14 December 1403), who married Sir Ingram Bruyn of South Ockendon, Essex( Titchfield, Hampshire, 6 December 1353 – 12 August 1400, buried South Ockendon, Essex), grandson of Maurice le Brun, 1st Baron Brun.
His second wife was Maud, daughter of John Lovett, with whom he had a son, Walter, who became Constable of Ireland.
He died on 3 August 1419 at his seat at Boarstall, Buckinghamshire.
Katherine de Stafford
Katherine de Stafford, Countess of Suffolk (born around 1376 – 8 April 1419) was a daughter of Hugh de Stafford, 2nd Earl of Stafford and his wife Philippa de Beauchamp.
By her marriage to Michael de la Pole, 2nd Earl of Suffolk, she became known as the Countess of Suffolk.
Katherine de la Pole
Katherine de la Pole (1410/11 – 1473) was the oldest daughter of Michael de la Pole, 2nd Earl of Suffolk and Katherine de Stafford.
She became abbess of Barking Abbey in January 1433.
In this capacity, between 1437 and 1440, she took care of Edmund and Jasper Tudor, the two eldest sons of Catherine of Valois (widowed queen of King Henry V of England) by her second husband Owen Tudor.
Katherine persuaded King Henry VI to take an interest in the boys, who were his half-brothers.
Henry later ennobled them, thereby taking one of the important steps that would later enable Edmund's son Henry Tudor to claim the English throne.
Edmund's wife Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry Tudor, had been a ward of Katherine's brother, William de la Pole, steward of the royal household.
Edmund de la Pole, 3rd Duke of Suffolk
Edmund de la Pole, 3rd Duke of Suffolk, 6th Earl of Suffolk,( c. 147130 April 1513), Duke of Suffolk, was a son of John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk and his wife Elizabeth of York.

Question: Who is the maternal grandmother of Michael De La Pole, 3Rd Earl Of Suffolk?