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Lincoln, John de la Pole, 1st earl of

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Lincoln, John de la Pole, 1st earl of (c.1462–87). Pole's mother was Edward IV's sister Elizabeth: his father, John de la Pole, 2nd duke of Suffolk. He was given a peerage in his own right at the age of 5 and married a niece of the king. Under Richard III he was in high favour. Though there is no evidence that Richard recognized him as heir after the death of the prince of Wales in 1484, he was next in line if his young cousin Warwick's claim was disregarded on the grounds that his father Clarence had been attainted. He served Richard as president of the Council of the North and fought for him at Bosworth. Lincoln and his father submitted to Henry VII but, with Warwick in the Tower and a boy of 10, he was the strongest Yorkist claimant. In 1487 he suddenly fled the country and returned with an invading force supporting Lambert Simnel's claim to be Warwick. Lincoln's motives can only be conjectured, but presumably, had the rising succeeded, Simnel would have been pushed aside and Lincoln enthroned. As it was, he was killed at the battle of Stoke.

J. A. Cannon

The Oxford Companion to British History

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Lincoln, John de la Pole, 1st earl of

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