Editing Reginald Pole (section)

== Pole and Henry VIII ==
Pole had most probably arrived back in England in 1527, but whatever political influence he had acquired was not documented until November 1528.<ref name=":0" /> By the following October, his being sent to Paris had been expressly to liberate from the university doctors an agreeable opinion on Henry VIII’s annulment.<ref name=":0" /> It is possible that Pole started learning Hebrew from Robert Wakefield after he returned home from France, which would suggest that Henry might have wanted to deploy Pole in the annulment project.<ref name=":0" /> Henry offered him the [[Archbishopric of York]] or the [[Diocese of Winchester]] if he would support the annulment of his marriage to [[Catherine of Aragon]]. It is likely that in May or June 1531 Pole furnished Henry with an analysis of the political difficulties with regard to a divorce, particularly the dangers this would bring to the succession.<ref name=":0" /> Pole withheld his support and went into self-imposed exile in France and Italy in 1532, where he continued his studies in Padua and [[University of Paris|Paris]]. After his return, he held the [[benefice]] of [[vicar]] of [[Piddletown]], Dorset, between 20 December 1532 and sometime around January 1536.<ref>{{cite book |first=Alfred Brotherston |last=Emden |title=A biographical register of the University of Oxford, A.D. 1501 to 1540 |year=1974 |location=Oxford |publisher=Clarendon Press |page=453 |isbn=0199510083 }}</ref>

In May 1536, Reginald Pole finally and decisively broke with the King. Five years earlier, he had warned of the dangers of the Boleyn marriage; he had returned to Padua in 1532 and received a last English benefice that December. [[Eustace Chapuys]], the imperial [[List of Holy Roman Empire ambassadors to England|ambassador to England]], had suggested to [[Emperor Charles V]] that Pole marry Henry's daughter [[Mary I of England|Mary]] and combine their dynastic claims; Chapuys also communicated with Reginald through his brother [[Geoffrey Pole|Geoffrey]]. At this time Pole was not definitively in Holy Orders.

The final break between Pole and Henry followed upon [[Thomas Cromwell]], [[Cuthbert Tunstall]], [[Thomas Starkey]] and others addressing questions to Pole on behalf of Henry. He answered by sending the King a copy of his published [[treatise]] ''Pro ecclesiasticae unitatis defensione'', which, besides being a theological reply to the questions, was a strong denunciation of the King's policies, refuting Henry's position on marrying his brother [[Arthur, Prince of Wales|Arthur]]'s widow and denying the royal supremacy. Pole also urged the princes of Europe to depose Henry immediately. Henry wrote to Pole's mother, the [[Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury|Countess of Salisbury]], who in turn sent her son a letter reproving him for his "folly".<ref>ODNB, "Reginald Pole"; "Geoffrey Pole". Pole and his hagiographers gave several later accounts of Pole's activities after Henry met Anne Boleyn. These are not consistent; and if&nbsp;– as he claimed at one point&nbsp;– Pole rejected the annulment in 1526 and refused the Oath of Supremacy in 1531, he received benefits from Henry for a course of action for which others were sentenced to death.</ref>