_The Father of Cardinal Pole_ (Vol. v., p. 105.).--I. J. H. H. does not
state by what authority Sir Richard Pole is styled "a Welsh knight:" and
the surmise that this name was a corruption of Powell is clearly
unfounded. The not uncommon names of De la Pole, Atte Pole, and Poole,
are of English origin; belonging to the _minor_ class of local
cognomina, like Brook, Gate, Wood, &c. The family from which the
cardinal sprang was wholly distinct from the De la Poles, earls and
dukes of Suffolk, and can only be traced for three generations: but the
series of "Pedigrees of Noble Families related to the Blood Royal,"
made, it is believed, by Wriothesley Garter, and printed in the first
volume of the _Collectanea Topogr. et Genealogica_, throws some light
upon it. It appears that Sir Richard Pole and Alianor, who was married
to Ralph Verney, Esq., and had issue, were the children of _Geoffrey
Pole of Buckinghamshire_ by Edith, daughter of Sir Oliver St. John, and
half-sister to Margaret, Countess of Richmond, the mother of King Henry
VII. Sir Harris Nicolas, who edited the pedigrees in question, remarks
upon this alliance:
"It has been a subject of surprise that Sir Richard Pole, of whom,
or of whose family, little was known, should have married Margaret
Countess of Salisbury, the last descendant of the Plantagenets.
One of these pedigrees proves that Sir Richard Pole was nearly
related to the king, which accounts for the fact."
Sir Harris Nicolas further remarks, that where, in another page of the
same manuscript, the arms of Sir Geoffrey Pole (for he was, it seems, a
knight) ought to have been inserted, the shield is _left blank_; and
that the coat which is engraved on the garter-plate of Sir Richard Pole
at Windsor, being Party per pale argent and sable, a saltire engrailed
counterchanged, appears as if it may have been formed upon the saltire
of the Nevilles, in allusion to the great inheritance of his wife, the
Lady Margaret of Clarence.