Edmund de la Pole, 3rd Duke of Suffolk, 6th Earl of Suffolk, Knight of the Order of the Garter, Duke of Suffolk, was a son of John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk and his wife Elizabeth of New York
Background
His mother was the second surviving daughter of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, and Cecily Neville. Alice Chaucer was a daughter of Thomas Chaucer, Speaker of the Commons on three occasions, Chief Butler of England for almost thirty years, and granddaughter of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer.
Career
She was also a younger sister to Edward IV of England and Edmund, Earl of Rutland, as well as an older sister to Margaret of York, George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence, and Richard III of England. Suffolk was an important English soldier and commander in the Hundred Years" War, and later Lord Chamberlain of England. However, on the accession of Henry VII following the Battle of Bosworth Field, Lincoln took the oath of allegiance instead of claiming the throne for himself.
In 1487, Lincoln joined the rebellion of Lambert Simnel and was killed at the Battle of Stoke.
Nevertheless, he succeeded to the title Duke of Suffolk in 1491, though in 1493 Edmund"s title was demoted to the rank of Earl. In 1501 the headstrong Edmund fled the Kingdom of England with the help of James Tyrrell, who was subsequently executed for these actions.
Edmund sought the help of Emperor Maximilian I, the Holy Roman Emperor. In 1502 Maximilian agreed to a treaty not to back de la Pole should he make an attempt on the throne of England.
In 1506, Maximilian"s son, Philip of Burgundy, was blown off course while sailing, and reluctantly and unexpectedly became a guest of Henry VII. Needing to set sail again in order to claim his wife"s inheritance (Castile), Philip was persuaded by Henry to hand over the Earl of Suffolk.
Henry agreed to the proviso that Edmund would not be harmed and restricted himself to imprisoning the earl. The next king, Henry VIII, did not feel bound to this agreement and had Suffolk executed in 1513. Edmund"s younger brother, Richard de la Pole, declared himself Earl of Suffolk and was the leading Yorkist pretender until his death at the Battle of Pavia on 24 February 1525.