thumb|Garter-encircled Arms of Sir John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk, KG

John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk, KG (27 September 1442 – 14–21 May 1492), was a major magnate in 15th-century England. He was the son of William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk, and Alice Chaucer, the daughter of Thomas Chaucer (thus making John the great-grandson of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer). His youth was blighted, in 1450, by the political fall and subsequent murder of his father, who had been a favourite of king Henry VI but was increasingly distrusted by the rest of the nobility. Although the first duke of Suffolk had made himself rich through trade and – particularly – royal grants, this source of income dried up on his death, so John de la Pole was among the poorest of English dukes on his accession to the title in 1463. This was a circumstance which John felt acutely; on more than one occasion, he refused to come to London due to his impoverishment being such that he could not afford the costs of maintaining a retinue.

As a youth, John de la Pole married twice; his first marriage was annulled, but his second marriage, to Elizabeth of York, made him the brother-in-law of two kings, Edward IV and Richard III. It brought him eleven children, the eldest of whom, John, would eventually be named heir to Richard III in 1484 and die in battle in the Yorkist cause. John de la Pole, though, generally managed to steer clear of involvement in the tumultuous events of the Wars of the Roses. Although he was politically aligned to the House of York by virtue of his marriage, he avoided participating in the battles of the 1450s, not taking up arms until Edward IV had claimed the throne. De la Pole appears to have spent much of this period, in fact, feuding with his East Anglian neighbours, the Paston family over an inheritance – even interfering in parliamentary elections, for example, in an attempt to gain the upper hand.

Suffolk did not receive major grants from Edward IV either, although de la Pole continued to support him in arms when necessary, and when Edward lost his throne in 1470, Suffolk was not trusted by the new Lancastrian regime. Suffolk fought for Edward at the battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury but did not join Edward's inner circle during his second reign. He seems to have acquiesced in the accession of Richard III in 1483, but, unlike his son, was not present for Richard III's defeat at the Battle of Bosworth two years later. Henry VII does not seem to have held Suffolk's son's treason against the duke, and even seems to have protected him from the former's attainder. John de la Pole died in 1492 and was buried at Wingfield Church, Suffolk.

Youth

John de la Pole was born on 27 September 1442, only son and heir to William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk, and Alice Chaucer, the granddaughter of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer. John was therefore still only a child of seven when, on 7 February 1450, he was married to the six-year-old Lady Margaret Beaufort, though the Papal dispensation to marry was not signed until 18 August 1450.

The earldom of Suffolk, says historian Michael Hicks, was 'not particularly well-endowed,' probably only just scraping the £666 qualifying income for that rank. His mother, though, held substantial estates in her own right, from her father, Sir Thomas Chaucer. Furthermore, because this was Alice's third marriage, she held large dowers from both previous husbands, the second of whom had been Thomas Montagu, 4th Earl of Salisbury. Contemporaries claimed that the marriage to the daughter of John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset (cousin of the-then childless king), was intended to make John de la Pole an eventual heir to the crown; this is considered unlikely by modern historians, who have pointed at indications that the King supported William in these plans. It has been suggested that the marriage was the direct result of William's political difficulties during the 1450–1451 parliament.

Father's downfall

Any plans his father had for John were rudely upset in 1450 when Suffolk was impeached by parliament over the loss of Normandy in the Hundred Years' War. Suffolk was exiled, but never reached the continent as he was murdered by sailors in the Channel soon after his departure. On 30 April 1450, before he sailed from Ipswich, the disgraced duke wrote a letter to John in which he urged his son to "flee the company and council of proude men, of coveitows men and of fateryng men".

Since Suffolk had never been formally convicted, he was not attainted, but the royal grants which had given John de la Pole such good prospects were now resumed to the crown. Sometime before February 1458, in a match arranged, it appears by his mother, John married Elizabeth, the second surviving daughter of Richard of York and Cecily, née Neville. The marriage took place at a politically turbulent time. The First Battle of St Albans had taken place less than three years earlier, and the king was attempting make a peace between York and his allies (who had won the battle) and the families of those lords who had died there. York after all had been a bitter enemy of John's father—indeed, it had been mainly thanks to York that impeachment proceedings were brought against Suffolk in 1450. With her, Elizabeth brought a marriage portion of about £1533. This was not to make Suffolk rich. Not only was it not that much compared to other dowries of the period, but York, whose wages from his various offices were almost permanently in arrears, often could not keep up the instalments. Both of them were involved in a severe feud with the Paston family as a result of conflicting interests in the Fastolf inheritance. and in any case, as he was still strictly a minor, and not in official receipt of any of his titles, it may not have been true. Or, if it did happen, it may well have been on the grounds of his fiscal inability to uphold the status of a duke. a year, although this was only during the life of his wife, the king's sister. Suffolk himself regained his father's Wallingford and Chiltern Hundreds offices, with a £40 per annum salary for it. In 1467, he acted as feoffee for his sister-in-law (the King's sister), Anne, Duchess of Exeter. He was also the King's Lieutenant of Ireland (in later centuries the post came to be known as the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland) between March and July 1478 in a "stunning alabaster monument".

Under Richard III and Henry VII

Edward IV died suddenly in April 1483, leaving his young son, Edward his heir and the Duke of Gloucester Lord Protector of the new king and the country. Although he had been summoned to the parliament of January 1483, it is unlikely that Suffolk was in attendance at court at the time. Nor did he attend the dead king's funeral or interment. in the college he founded at Wingfield in Suffolk in a 'splendid' tomb which belied the "discreet obscurity" in which he had spent his final years. His head rests on a helm surmounted by the Saracen head crest of the de la Pole family which appears "with wavy hair bound with a jewelled fillet and ear ring in the right ear". Elizabeth, who died later, was buried next to him wearing a widow's barbe. depicts him in effigy wearing a ducal robe and coronet. Historians have noted the difference between Suffolk's effigy and surviving effigies of some of his contemporaries (such as the Earl of Salisbury, for example, who is depicted on his tomb as merely a knight). It has been suggested that the nobility in general—and Suffolk in particular—were increasingly anxious "to set themselves apart from their social inferiors", even at burial. The tomb also bears what has been described by one antiquary as one of the "most beautiful representations" of both the Order and mantle of the Garter worn by fifteenth-century noblemen. It was complete with funeral armour, line of cresting, and his and his wife's faces were both done as portraits, and has been described elsewhere as "one of the finest examples" of the figure of a robed Knight of the Garter with his Lady. was the eldest and his heir. Eventually, due to King Richard III losing his own son, he became heir to his maternal uncle's throne. Following Richard's death at Bosworth Field, Lincoln rebelled against the new king Henry VII, and was killed at the Battle of Stoke.

  • Geoffrey, born circa 1464, but died young.
  • Edward (1466–1485) joined the church and became Archdeacon of Richmond.
  • Elizabeth (c. 1468–1489), married Henry Lovel, 8th Baron Morley (1466–1489), and had no issue.
  • Edmund (1471–30 April 1513), eventually inherited his father's dukedom, and had to bargain energetically with the king and pay a substantial amount before it was granted.
  • Dorothy, born in 1472, died young,
  • Sir William de la Pole (1478–1539)
  • Richard de la Pole (1480–1525)

John de la Pole's two youngest sons, William and Richard, both seem to have been involved in a plot against Henry VII that was discovered in 1501. Sir William, of Wingfield Castle, was imprisoned in the Tower of London for thirty-seven years. Before this he had married Katherine Stourton; she was twenty years older than he was, and they had no issue. The youngest son, Richard, managed to escape to France on the discovery of the 1501 plot. Taking part in France's campaigns during the Italian Wars, he was killed at the Battle of Pavia, 24 February 1525.

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