Edmund de la Pole, 3rd Duke of Suffolk

Arms of the 3rd Duke of Suffolk

Edmund de la Pole, 3rd Duke of Suffolk, 6th Earl of Suffolk (1471/1472 - 1513), Duke of Suffolk was a son of John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk and his wife Elizabeth of York.

His mother was the second surviving daughter of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York and Cecily Neville. She was also a younger sister to Edward IV of England and Edmund, Earl of Rutland as well as an older sister to Margaret of York, George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence and Richard III of England.

His eldest brother John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln (c. 1464–1487), is said to have been named heir to the throne by his maternal uncle, Richard III of England, who gave him a pension and the reversion of the estates of Lady Margaret Beaufort. However on the accession of Henry VII following the Battle of Bosworth Field, Lincoln took the oath of allegiance instead of claiming the throne for himself. In 1487, Lincoln joined the rebellion of Lambert Simnel, and was killed at the Battle of Stoke.

Following the death of his older brother at the Battle of Stoke, Edmund became the leading Yorkist claimant to the throne. Nevertheless, Henry spared his life and allowed him to succeed to his father's title of Duke of Suffolk in 1491. He married Margaret, daughter of Sir Richard Scrope. The headstrong Edmund did not have his elder brother's pragmatism, and a title was not enough for him. He left the Kingdom of England in 1501. This time seeking the help of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor where he drew others such as Sir James Tyrrell into his intrigue. He himself escaped punishment until the reign of King Henry VIII of England, and was executed in 1513.

His younger brother Richard de la Pole declared himself Earl of Suffolk and was the leading Yorkist pretender until his death at the Battle of Pavia on February 24, 1525.

Ewelme - The fall of the de la Pole family: [1]