POLE, MARGARET, blessed. – English martyr, born at Castle Farley, near Bath, on 14 August 1473, to Giorgio Plantageneto, duke of Clarence; died in London on 27 May 1541.
In 1491 she married Sir Richard P., nephew of Enrico VIII, by whom she had five children. Having been widowed and awarded the title of countess of Salisbury, she became a lady-in-waiting to Queen Caterina d'Aragona and governess to Princess Maria. Her son Cardinal Reginaldo’s outspoken writing Pro ecclesiasticae unitatis defensione and his two legations aroused the King’s anger against her, and in 1539 he had her imprisoned. For her fidelity to Rome, she languished for two years in the prisons of the Tower and, without trial or defense, was beheaded on 27 May 1541. Leone XIII declared her blessed (2 February 1886).