Wingfield, Suffolk
Church of St Andrew, Monument to Michael second earl of Suffolk (d.1415) and Lady Katherine de la Pole, Wood
The statues have been set on a splendidly decorated tomb chest under the last southern chancel arch. The chancel was transformed into the family chapel by William de la Pole, the earl’s second son (from 1446 first duke of Suffolk), following the deaths of his father and elder brother at Harfleur and Agincourt in 1415. The upper wall was transformed by new windows (restored in the nineteenth century) and the chancel arches celebrated the de la Poles’ family connections: wings, for Wingfield, leopard heads for the de la Poles and knots for the Staffords, the family of duke William’s mother. To the east and south the tomb chest is decorated with canopied twin niches, now empty, while there is a triple sedilia in the chancel, for the priests from Wingfield College. The detail of the carving, Lady Katherine’s flowing robes, the earl’s gloves and the contrast between his simple helmet and that decorated with a Saracen’s head make it difficult to realise that this was carved from wood. Saracens’ head were frequently associated with knights even when, as with the de la Poles, they had only fought the French. Like the rest of the paint work, his swarthy colour has long since vanished, while the turban and features are standard, his formidable hooked nose is more usually associated with Jews, who had been expelled from England in 1290.
His father the first earl, had inherited Wingfield through his marriage to Sir John Wingfield’s daughter and heiress. The second earl also lived at Wingfield Castle with his wife, Katherine Stafford, daughter of the second earl of Stafford, and continued work on the college and church. His career was shaped by his father’s impeachment in 1386. A powerful and successful politician the first earl of Suffolk’s career at court had been glittering. He had become one of Richard II's closest advisers and chancellor of England from 1383 to 1386, when he was forced to forfeit the title of earl of Suffolk, together with the de la Pole family estates. As a result his son’s principal occupation over the next decade lay in seeking to reverse the effects of this judgment, but it was not until January 1398 that Michael de la Pole regained the earldom of Suffolk. Wingfield remained the centre of de la Pole influence in the region, he continued his father's ambitious building plans, augmenting the endowment of the family chantry college and considerably enlarging the church of Wingfield.
The second earl served in Henry V's expedition to France in 1415, dying of dysentery on during the siege of Harfleur. His body was shipped home to England and buried, as he had requested in his will, at Wingfield. His eldest son, another Michael de la Pole, third earl of Suffolk (c.1395–1415), served with his father in France in 1415, but was one of the few notable English fatalities at the battle of Agincourt.
Simon Walker, ‘Pole, Michael de la, second earl of Suffolk (1367/8–1415)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Sept 2012 [www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/22453, accessed 30 April 2014]
Wingfield, Suffolk
Church of St Andrew, Monument to Michael second earl of Suffolk (d.1415) and Lady Katherine de la Pole, Wood
The statues have been set on a splendidly decorated tomb chest under the last southern chancel arch. The chancel was transformed into the family chapel by William de la Pole, the earl’s second son (from 1446 first duke of Suffolk), following the deaths of his father and elder brother at Harfleur and Agincourt in 1415. The upper wall was transformed by new windows (restored in the nineteenth century) and the chancel arches celebrated the de la Poles’ family connections: wings, for Wingfield, leopard heads for the de la Poles and knots for the Staffords, the family of duke William’s mother. To the east and south the tomb chest is decorated with canopied twin niches, now empty, while there is a triple sedilia in the chancel, for the priests from Wingfield College. The detail of the carving, Lady Katherine’s flowing robes, the earl’s gloves and the contrast between his simple helmet and that decorated with a Saracen’s head make it difficult to realise that this was carved from wood. Saracens’ head were frequently associated with knights even when, as with the de la Poles, they had only fought the French. Like the rest of the paint work, his swarthy colour has long since vanished, while the turban and features are standard, his formidable hooked nose is more usually associated with Jews, who had been expelled from England in 1290.
His father the first earl, had inherited Wingfield through his marriage to Sir John Wingfield’s daughter and heiress. The second earl also lived at Wingfield Castle with his wife, Katherine Stafford, daughter of the second earl of Stafford, and continued work on the college and church. His career was shaped by his father’s impeachment in 1386. A powerful and successful politician the first earl of Suffolk’s career at court had been glittering. He had become one of Richard II's closest advisers and chancellor of England from 1383 to 1386, when he was forced to forfeit the title of earl of Suffolk, together with the de la Pole family estates. As a result his son’s principal occupation over the next decade lay in seeking to reverse the effects of this judgment, but it was not until January 1398 that Michael de la Pole regained the earldom of Suffolk. Wingfield remained the centre of de la Pole influence in the region, he continued his father's ambitious building plans, augmenting the endowment of the family chantry college and considerably enlarging the church of Wingfield.
The second earl served in Henry V's expedition to France in 1415, dying of dysentery on during the siege of Harfleur. His body was shipped home to England and buried, as he had requested in his will, at Wingfield. His eldest son, another Michael de la Pole, third earl of Suffolk (c.1395–1415), served with his father in France in 1415, but was one of the few notable English fatalities at the battle of Agincourt.
Simon Walker, ‘Pole, Michael de la, second earl of Suffolk (1367/8–1415)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Sept 2012 [www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/22453, accessed 30 April 2014]