Reginald Pole

Timeline

1. 1500–1532Padua · VenetoPole was the son of Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, and was related by blood to the families of Henry VII and Edward IV. Henry VIII funded his humanist education at Oxford and Padua, at one point hinting at high office such as Archbishop of York in exchange for his support of the divorce. Unwilling to endorse the divorce, Pole left England in 1532 under the pretext of further study.
2. 1532–1541Rome · Papal StatesAfter the executions of Thomas More and John Fisher, Pole completed and sent to Henry VIII in 1536 the lengthy treatise 'De unitate', attacking royal supremacy. On 22 December of that year, Pope Paul III, despite Pole's own modest refusal, made him cardinal and assigned him to help draft the 'Consilium de emendanda ecclesia'. The English government regarded him as a traitor, and his mother and brother were subsequently executed.
3. 1541–1545Viterbo · LazioAfter the failure of the Regensburg talks, Pole was appointed legate to the Patrimony of Saint Peter, residing at Viterbo. There he gathered the 'spirituali' of the Contarini circle, discussing justification by faith and internal church reform, making it a center of Italian evangelical humanism. This circle later fell under suspicion from the Roman Inquisition because of its language resembling Luther's.
4. 1545–1550Trent · Prince-Bishopric of TrentPaul III appointed Pole one of the three cardinal legates presiding over the Council of Trent. In the opening phase he argued against condemning positions on the grounds that 'Luther said it, so it must be wrong', and wrote 'De Concilio'. Because of his health and his moderate stance on justification, he did not preside throughout. In the 1549–1550 conclave after Paul III's death, Pole came within a few votes of election but ultimately lost due to the 'hidden Lutheran' accusations and factional balancing.