Among the Teutonic names that had been infused into the Norman French was that of Poole. The family is of Norman ancestry and an early form of the name was De La Pole. These families settled in Devon, England, in the Parish of Tiverton, the seat of the Poles/Pooles about the time of the Norman conquest. The name was Anglicized into Poole, following the arrival of the first of the family, who is said to have entered England with William the Conqueror in 1066.
We have not established any connection between our earliest known Poole ancestor and the Plantagenets that ruled England during the 14th and 15th centuries but the possibility exists. A summary of the history of these early Pooles follows:
Margaret Plantagenet the daughter of George, Duke of Clarence, was married to Sir Richard Pole ca. 1494. It should be noted here that, though English history uses the name Pole, we know that the name was spelled Poole as evidenced by the inscriptions left in the Tower of London by the family. Margaret who became the Countess of Salisbury was called the "BLESSED PRINCESS MARGARET, THE LAST OF THE PLANTAGENETS". Her father's brother was Edward IV, King of England 1441-1483. All were descendants of Edward III, King of England 1312-1377.
After Henry VII's victory on Bosworth Field in 1485 he imprisoned in the Tower Margaret's brother, Edward Duke of Warwick, who had by birth a better claim to the throne than Henry. Young Edward was only 10 years old when put in the Tower and then was about 15 when beheaded in 1499. Margaret and her husband, Sir Richard Poole (Pole) had five children (four of whom were sons) before he died about 1505. Henry, Lord Montagu, the eldest son was beheaded at the Tower in 1539. Arthur, the second son had two daughters. Sir Geoffrey Poole, the third son, had five sons and six daughters, and it is probable that numerous descendants of his still exist, but the author of "The Plantagenet Roll of the Blood Royal" was unable to trace them further than the beginning of the 18th century. Reginald, the youngest son, was the famous Cardinal Pole. (From: "The Plantagenet Roll of the Blood Royal" : being a complete table of all the descendants now living of Edward III, King of England / by the Marquis of Ruvigny and Raineval.)
In addition to Margaret the Countess of Salisbury being a threat to the new Tudor dynasty; her son the Cardinal condemned King Henry VIII for his divorces and breaking with the Church of Rome. Henry was enraged and privately told the French ambassador that he intended to destroy the whole family. Margaret was imprisoned in the Tower in 1539 and two years later was beheaded on Tower Hill. (Tradition has it that she stubbornly refused to put her head on the block so the executioner had to chase her around Tower Hill to hack off her head.)
There are at least six inscriptitions left in the Beauchamp Tower and elsewhere in the Tower of London that were made by the Poole brothers, sons of Sir Geoffrey and grandsons of the Countess of Salisbury. In these etchings the name is always spelled Poole and not Pole. The names Edmonde Poole and Geffrye Poole are there along with the following inscription by Arthur Poole:
"Deo servire, penitentiam, inire, fato obedire, regnare est. A. Poole 1564" (To serve God, to endure penance, to obey fate, is to reign).
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