Reginald Pole: Henry VIII's Exiled Cardinal: Faith, Treason and England's Last Catholic Restoration (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798172236471)

He was raised through Henry VIII's favour. He became one of the king's most dangerous enemies.

Reginald Pole was born into a family whose royal blood had already proved deadly. The son of Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, and grandson of George, Duke of Clarence, he grew up close to the Tudor monarchy and received an education supported by Henry VIII himself.

Then came the King's Great Matter.

When Henry demanded support for his divorce from Catherine of Aragon and ultimately his break with Rome, Pole chose conscience over royal obedience. His opposition drove him into exile, made him a cardinal and papal legate, and transformed a former royal protégé into one of Henry's most formidable English critics.

The consequences were devastating. While Pole built an international career in Catholic Europe, Henry's government turned against the family he had left behind. His brother was executed, his mother imprisoned and eventually beheaded, and Pole himself became the target of surveillance and threats.

Yet exile was only half his story.

With the accession of Mary I, Pole returned to England after nearly twenty years abroad. As papal legate and Archbishop of Canterbury, he helped reconcile England with Rome and became a central architect of the final Catholic restoration of Tudor England. His programme of reform unfolded alongside the persecution of Protestants that would permanently darken the reputation of Mary's reign.

Reginald Pole: Henry VIII's Exiled Cardinal follows an extraordinary life through Plantagenet blood, Renaissance humanism, Tudor treason, the Council of Trent, religious persecution and the struggle between England and Rome.

It is the story of a man caught between conscience and obedience, reform and coercion, loyalty to England and loyalty to the Church.