The Countess and the Tower

Katherine Pole was born into the most dangerous family in Tudor England. Her grandmother, Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, was a daughter of George, Duke of Clarence, ^[1] and one of the few surviving Plantagenets, the royal line that Henry VIII's father had displaced. ^[2]

In 1532 Katherine married Francis Hastings, heir to the Earl of Huntingdon. ^[3] Six years later her family fell. In November 1538 her father, Henry Pole, Lord Montagu, was arrested in what became known as the Exeter Conspiracy, and on 9 January 1539 he was beheaded. ^[4] Katherine's grandmother was arrested soon after. Questioned, she revealed nothing, and on 27 May 1541, at about sixty-seven, she was beheaded at the Tower of London. ^[4] Katherine's young brother Henry was held in the Tower and never came out. ^[4]

Katherine survived inside her husband's family. Francis became Earl of Huntingdon in 1544, carried St Edward's staff at Edward VI's coronation, and sat on the Privy Council. ^[3] In 1553 he backed Lady Jane Grey's claim to the throne. When Mary took it instead, he was sent to the Tower himself, and released by January 1554. ^[5] His wife's family connection to Cardinal Reginald Pole, her uncle, is said to have helped shield him. ^{[5] [6]}

Francis died in June 1560; his monument says 1561. ^[3] Katherine outlived him by sixteen years, dying on 23 September 1576, ^[3] the mother of eleven children. ^[5] Her eldest son, Henry, became the 3rd Earl. ^[3]

The tradition: compiled family trees make Katherine and Francis the grandparents of the mother of William Swyft of Sandwich, the Swift immigrant of the 1630s. ^[7] Where it breaks: no record names William Swyft's parents, and his English parentage is unknown. Their lives are documented history; the family connection is tradition only.