Welsh Journals

THE KING'S COUSIN: THE LIFE, CAREER AND WELSH CONNECTION OF SIR RICHARD POLE, 1458-1504 'few KINGS have had so few relatives at their accession as Henry VII', announced Ralph Griffiths and Roger Thomas in their 1985 book, The Making of the Tudor Dynasty. Indeed, with the example of Richard II and Edward IV before his eyes, Henry VII, they maintained, appreci- ated this isolation and 'took no significant steps to include more distant relatives within the royal family'. They acknowledge Henry's reliance upon his uncle Jasper Tudor, half-uncle John, Viscount Welles, step- father Lord Stanley; and note the prosperity enjoyed by his illegitimate half-uncle David Owen; but that, as far as they were concerned, was the limit of the king's extended family. S. B. Chrimes stressed the import- ance that Henry attached to his uncle Jasper Tudor and those men who had supported him in exile. While accepting that John Welles's marriage was a result of his relationship to the king, Chrimes did not mention the significant role of Henry's other relatives in his regime.2 These mis- conceptions and oversights need to be addressed, for although Henry did indeed lack a substantial immediate family, he was surrounded by a large circle of half-blood kin. Not of the blood royal, they posed no dynastic threat to the king and he consequently felt more confident about trusting them. Thus, several of these relatives were men upon whom Henry came to rely to a substantial degree, and who occupied important offices in central and local administration. In addition, they were used by the king in his dynastic diplomacy and contracted notable marriages as a result of their royal connection. This article will look at the careers of some of these relatives, in particular that of Sir Richard Pole. A man who has been virtually ignored by historians, having I R. A. Griffiths and R. S. Thomas, The Making of the Tudor Dynasty (Gloucester, 1985), pp.179-81, 191. 2 S. B. Chrimes, Henry VII (London, 1972), pp.54, 35 n. 2.