Pole, DE LA, a family descended from William de la Pole, a Hull merchant, whose son Michael in 1383 became chancellor under Richard II., in 1385 was made Earl of Suffolk, and in 1389 died an exile in France. His grandson William (1396–1450) was the year before his death raised from Earl to be Duke of Suffolk, having since 1445 been practically prime-minister. His administration was a disastrous one; and he was on his way to a five years' banishment in Flanders, when he was captured by a ship sent after him, and beheaded. John de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk (died 1491), married Elizabeth, sister to Edward IV. and Richard III.; and from this marriage sprang John, Earl of Lincoln (died 1487), Edmund, Earl of Suffolk (executed by Henry VIII., 1513), two churchmen, four daughters, and
Richard, on whose death at the battle of Pavia in 1525 the line became extinct.