Yn the syght of all his men he was drawyn ought of the grete shippe yn to the bote ... and oon of the lewdeste of the shippe badde hym ley down his hedde, and he should be fair ferd wyth, and dye on a swerd; and toke a rusty swerd, and smotte of his hedde withyn halfe a doseyn strokes, and toke awey his gown of russet, and his dobelette of velvet mayled, and leyde his body on the sonds of Dover.

Although the first Duke of Suffolk suffered this ignominious death, the tide of fortune for his family still rose. John, his son, the second Duke, married the sister of King Edward IV.; and in the year 1484 their son John, Earl of Lincoln, was declared heir-presumptive to the throne of England.

Seal of Edmund de la Pole
Earl of Suffolk.

This is the high-water mark of the family fortunes. The battle of Bosworth, and the accession of King Henry VII. a year later, altered everything. The Earl of Lincoln took up arms against King Henry on behalf of the pretender, Lambert Simnel, and was killed at the battle of Stoke in 1487. His younger brother, Edmund de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, was considered a man too dangerous to be allowed to live and was beheaded by Henry VIII. in 1513; and his remaining brother, Sir Richard de la Pole, having fled to Italy, was killed in the battle of Pavia in 1525.

Sir WILLIAM DE LA POLE.
A merchant of Ravenserodd, who migrated to Hull.
┌──────────────┴──────────────┐
Sir Richard de la Pole. A merchant of Hull; d. 1346.
│		Sir William de la Pole. A merchant of Hull, founder of the Hull Charterhouse and first Mayor of Hull (1332–5); d. 1366.
│
Michael de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk. Mayor of Hull 1376, and Admiral of the King’s Fleets in the Northern Parts; Italian Ambassador and Lord Chancellor of England; d. 1389 in exile at Paris.
││
Richard, Duke of Buckingham and Chandos. d. 1889.Michael, Earl of Suffolk. Fought at Harfleur, and died of dysentery, Sept. 18, 1415.
┌────────────────┬──────┘
Michael, Earl of Suffolk. Slain at Agincourt, Oct. 25, 1415.William, Earl of Suffolk. Commander of the English army in France; became Marquis, and later Duke, of Suffolk; was accused of various crimes, exiled, and murdered at sea, 1450.
│
John, Duke of Suffolk. Married Elizabeth, sister of Edward IV. and of Richard III.; d. 1491.
┌─────────────────┬────────┴─────┐
John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln. Declared heir-presumptive to the English throne 1484; Commander-in-Chief in Lambert Simnel’s rebellion; killed at Stoke 1487.Edmund de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk. Beheaded by Henry VIII., 1513.Sir Richard de la Pole. Fled to Italy, and was killed at Pavia, 1525.

PEDIGREE OF THE DE LA POLES.

In all English history there is no stranger family history than that of the De la Poles. For had there been no battle of Bosworth, the great-great-great-great-grandson of a Hull merchant would, in all probability, have become King John II. Such, however, was not to be, and there is now living no descendant of the first William de la Pole in the male line. A few years ago the female line was represented in the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, who was lineally descended from Richard de la Pole, the elder partner in the ‘great Hull Firm of De la Pole Brothers.’