Pole, Reginald

Pole, Reginald
(1500-1558)
   English humanist, cardinal, and archbishop of Canterbury, a second cousin of King Henry VIII. The king supported Pole's education and early career. Destined from childhood for the clergy, he was educated at a Carthusian monastery and then at Magdalen College, Oxford (B.A. 1515), where his teach-ers included the humanists Thomas Linacre and William Latimer. He received valuable ecclesiastical benefices and in 1521 was sent at the king's expense for further study to the University of Padua. There Pole became a close friend of Pietro Bembo, Thomas Lupset, and the Belgian humanist Christophe de Longueil. In the king's service he secured a declaration by the University of Paris in favor of Henry's plan to divorce Queen Catherine of Aragon, but privately he advised the king to abandon the divorce. After returning to Padua in 1532, Pole became close to the reform-minded Italian "evangelical" move-ment and underwent a personal conversion to an evangelical Chris-tianity that emphasized the doctrine of justification by faith. He also established connections with the king's enemy Charles V, who was the nephew of Queen Catherine and strongly opposed Henry's plans.
   In 1536 Pole wrote a treatise defending Catholic unity under papal leadership, Pro ecclesiasticae unitatis defensione, which marked his open break with King Henry. Pope Paul III called him to Rome and soon made him a cardinal, and from then until he left Italy to help in the restoration of Catholicism in England, he was an influential per-sonage at the curia. Paul III appointed him to the reform commission that produced the Consilium de emendanda ecclesia, a candid survey of abuses in the church and proposals for drastic reform. Pole was governor of Viterbo in the Papal States in 1541 and one of the papal legates to the Council of Trent, where he was suspected of Lutheran heresy by conservatives. Despite these suspicions, he came within one vote of being elected pope in 1550. With the accession of the Catholic Queen Mary Tudor to the En-glish throne in 1553, the pope named Pole legate to England and made him archbishop of Canterbury. He worked closely with the queen in her effort to bring England back to the Catholic faith. He participated in the heresy trials of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer and other Protestant bishops, though he was not favorable to the queen's use of force to hunt and execute heretics among the general popula-tion. Pole's dismissal from his position as legate in 1555 by the new Pope Paul IV had less to do with Paul's distaste for the evangelical beliefs of Pole than with the pope's determination to weaken King Philip II of Spain, the husband of Queen Mary, because of conflicts between papal and Spanish interests in Italy. Pole died during an epi-demic in 1558, on the same day as the queen, leaving England in the hands of her Protestant half-sister Elizabeth I.

Historical Dictionary of Renaissance. . 2004.

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  • Pole, Reginald — (spr. pōl), Erzbischof von Canterbury und Kardinal, geb. im März 1500 in Staffordshire als Sohn der Margarete Plantagenet, Gräfin Salisbury, Nichte Eduards IV., gest. 18. Nov. 1558, unternahm nach Abschluß seiner Studien in Oxford längere Reisen… …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • Pole,Reginald — Pole, Reginald. 1500 1558. English prelate. The last Roman Catholic archbishop of Canterbury (1556), he was a leading figure in the Counter Reformation. * * * …   Universalium

  • Pole, Reginald — • English cardinal (1500 1558) Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006 …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • Pole, Reginald — born March 3, 1500, Stourton Castle, Staffordshire, Eng. died Nov. 17, 1558, London English Catholic prelate. A cousin of Henry VII, Pole was sent by Henry VIII to study in Italy (1521–27) and given minor offices in the church. Critical of Henry… …   Universalium

  • Pole, Reginald — (1500–58)    Cardinal and Archbishop.    Pole was the great nephew of King Edward IV of England. He was educated at the University of Oxford and for several years he corresponded with Thomas more and erasmus. He refused King Henry VIII’s… …   Who’s Who in Christianity

  • Pole, Reginald — (3 mar. 1500, Stourton Castle, Staffordshire, Inglaterra–17 nov. 1558, Londres). Prelado católico inglés. Primo de Enrique VII, fue enviado por Enrique VIII a estudiar a Italia (1521–27) y obtuvo cargos de menor rango en la iglesia. Crítico de la …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • POLE, REGINALD —    cardinal, archbishop of Canterbury, born at Stourton Castle, Staffordshire, of royal blood; studied at Oxford; took holy orders, and was appointed to various benefices by Henry VIII., who held him in high favour; but he opposed the project of… …   The Nuttall Encyclopaedia

  • Reginald Cardinal Pole —     Reginald Pole     † Catholic Encyclopedia ► Reginald Pole     Cardinal, b. at Stourton Castle, Staffordshire, England, in March, 1500; d. at Lambeth Palace, 17 Nov., 1558; third son of Sir Richard Pole, Knight of the Garter, and Margaret,… …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • Pole — /pohl/, n. a native or inhabitant of Poland. /pohl/, n. Reginald, 1500 58, English cardinal and last Roman Catholic archbishop of Canterbury. * * * (as used in expressions) bisj pole North Pole pole construction pole vault Pole Reginald South… …   Universalium

  • Reginald — /rej euh neuhld/, n. a male given name: from an Old English word meaning counsel and rule. * * * (as used in expressions) Bolton Guy Reginald Hall Sir Peter Reginald Frederick Reginald Carey Harrison Reginald Martinez Jackson Reginald Kenneth… …   Universalium

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