Reginald Pole (12 March 1500 – 17 November 1558) was an English cardinal and the last Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury, holding the office from 1556 to 1558 during the Counter-Reformation.

It was here that he met leading Renaissance figures, including Pietro Bembo, Gianmatteo Giberti (formerly Pope Leo X's datary and chief minister), Jacopo Sadoleto, Gianpietro Carafa (the future Pope Paul IV), Rodolfo Pio, Otto Truchsess, Stanislaus Hosius, Cristoforo Madruzzo, Giovanni Morone, Pier Paolo Vergerio the younger, Peter Martyr Vermigli and Vettor Soranzo.

Pole's studies in Padua were partly financed by his election as a fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford.

While in Padua, Reginald's brother, Henry Pole, 1st Baron Montagu, presented to him the living of South Harting, Sussex on 10 April 1526.

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.

[4] Pole withheld his support and went into self-imposed exile in France and Italy in 1532, where he continued his studies in Padua and Paris.

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.

Henry wrote to Pole's mother, the Countess of Salisbury, who in turn sent her son a letter reproving him for his "folly".

Pope Paul III put him in charge of organising assistance for the Pilgrimage of Grace (and related movements), an effort to organise a march on London to demand Henry replace his ‘reformist’ advisers with more traditional, Catholic minds; neither Francis I of France nor the Emperor supported this effort, and the English government tried to have Pole assassinated.

Under interrogation, Sir Geoffrey admitted that Henry Pole, 1st Baron Montagu, and Exeter had both been parties to his correspondence with Reginald.

Montagu, Exeter, and Lady Salisbury were arrested in November 1538, together with Henry Pole and other family members, on charges of treason.

In May 1539, Montagu, Exeter, Lady Salisbury, and others were also attainted, as her father had been; this meant that they lost their lands – mostly in the South of England, conveniently located (alleged the crown) to assist any invasion – and titles.

Margaret was finally executed in 1541, protesting her innocence until the last – a highly publicised case considered a grave miscarriage of justice both at the time and later.

[7] His personal belief in justification by faith alone over works had caused him problems at Trent and accusations of heretical crypto-Lutheranism at the conclave.

Pole opened his papal commission and presented his legatine credentials before Philip & Mary and the assembled members of Parliament at the Palace of Whitehall on November 27, 1554, delivering a notable oration before them.

Many former enemies, including Cranmer, signed recantations affirming their religious belief in transubstantiation and papal supremacy.

[27] In 1555, Queen Mary began permitting the burning of Protestants for heresy, and some 220 men and 60 women were executed before her death in 1558.

In the view of some historians, these so-called Marian persecutions contributed to the ultimate victory of the English Reformation,[28] though Pole's involvement in these heresy trials is disputed.

[29] Pole was in failing health during the worst period of persecution, and there is some evidence that he favoured a more lenient approach: "Three condemned heretics from Bonner's diocese were pardoned on an appeal to him; he merely enjoined a penance and gave them absolution.

[31][32] Writings such as John Foxe's 1568 Book of Martyrs, which emphasised the sufferings of the reformers under Mary, helped shape popular opinion against Catholicism in England for generations.

[34] Pole died in London, during an influenza epidemic, on 17 November 1558, at about 7:00 pm, nearly 12 hours after Queen Mary's death.

He was also the author of many important letters, full of interest for the history of the time, edited by Angelo Maria Quirini.

In Season 3 of Showtime's series The Tudors, Cardinal Pole is portrayed by Canadian actor Mark Hildreth.

Reginald Pole, along with his brothers, sister, and mother, are the central family in Philippa Gregory's historical novel The King's Curse.