Pole, John de la, 2nd duke of Suffolk

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Pole, John de la, 2nd duke of Suffolk (1442–92). Pole was originally married to his father's ward Margaret Beaufort, daughter and heir of John, duke of Somerset (d. 1444). The marriage was annulled and he married Richard of York's daughter Elizabeth. He was demoted to earl in the proscription of Yorkists in 1459, but earned reinstatement as duke by serving in Yorkist armies in 1461. His rewards from Edward IV, his brother-in-law, were insubstantial. He was apparently a political lightweight, never a royal councillor, loyal enough to support Edward against Warwick, but an embarrassment through his high-handed efforts to dominate East Anglia. Suffolk survived by acquiescing to the accessions of both Richard III and Henry VII, even having some favour from the latter after the rebellion of his son, the earl of Lincoln, in 1487.

R. L. Storey

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Pole, John de la, 2nd duke of Suffolk

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