De la Pole, Father and Son
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John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk (1442–1492) was a major magnate in fifteenth-century England. His youth was overshadowed 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. His second marriage, to Elizabeth of York, the sixth child and third daughter of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, made him the brother-in-law of two kings, Edward IV and Richard III. The second eldest of his thirteen children from the marriage, also John, would eventually be named heir to Richard III in 1484 and die in battle in the Yorkist cause. The father would outlive the son.
Part of the fascination in this dual biography is the relationship between these two powerful figures and their differing involvement in the Wars of the Roses. Did the elder John approve of his son’s rebellion and close involvement in the Lambert Simnel conspiracy? How much did he support his claim to the throne? The differences between the political decisions of the Duke of Suffolk and the Earl of Lincoln are profound, despite the ties of blood. By focussing on these two overlapping lives, Michèle Schindler provides a new perspective on the tumultuous events of fifteenth-century England and the birth of the modern nation-state.
Michèle Schindler studied at Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, reading English Studies and history with a focus on mediaeval studies. At the same time she worked as a language teacher, teaching English and German as a second language. In addition to English and German, she is fluent in French, and reads Latin. She is the author of 'Lovell Our Dogge' and 'Alice Chaucer' for Amberley.