Pole, Reginald (1500-1558), a Roman Catholic cardinal, became archbishop of Canterbury in 1556. Pole’s cousin King Henry VIII offered to make him archbishop of York in 1530, in return for supporting the king’s divorce from Catherine of Aragon. Pole refused and left England in 1532. Pope Paul III made Pole a cardinal in 1536. In Pole’s absence, a bill of attainder was passed against him, depriving him of all rights and disgracing him and his family. After Mary I, a Roman Catholic, became queen, Pole returned to England. Pole was born on March 3, 1500, at Stourton Castle, in Staffordshire, England. He died in London on Nov. 18, 1558.
