William de la Pole

Sir William de la Pole (died 21 June 1366) was a wealthy wool merchant from Kingston upon Hull in Yorkshire, England, who became a royal moneylender and briefly served as Chief Baron of the Exchequer. He founded the de la Pole family, Earls of Lincoln, Earls of Suffolk and Dukes of Suffolk, which by his mercantile and financial prowess he raised from relative obscurity to one of the primary families of the realm in a single generation. At the end of the 14th century he was described in the 'Chronicle of Melsa' as "second to no other merchant of England" (nulli Angligenae mercatori postea secundus fuit). He was the founder of the Charterhouse Monastery, Kingston upon Hull. Origins William de la Pole is generally held to be the second eldest of three brothers; he had an elder brother and associate Richard de la Pole (died 1345) who was also a merchant, and a younger brother, John. His date of birth has been estimated from 1290 to 1295 or possibly earlier.His early life is obscure, the identity of his parents and of their names are not conclusively known. There is much confusion and differing opinion on William's parentage, though a father William, of either Ravenser or Hull, is referred to in a number of sources. Historical research may have been muddled by the presence of more than one William de la Pole in Hull in the first half of the 14th century, but a younger one was the son of William's brother Richard, therefore William's nephew. A.S. Harvey found no documentary evidence for a man named William de la Pole in either Hull or Ravenser prior to Richard and William, and on the two brothers he stated: "Neither their parentage nor place of origin seem to have been revealed by the brothers and these remain unsolved mysteries." Several Victorian era sources make the statement that his father was called William de la Pole, as do the 17th century historians William Dugdale and William Camden. notes that the description of the father's status is subject to contradiction by historians; in some sources he is described as a merchant, in others as a knight. A link to a William de la Pole, merchant of Totnes, has also been suggested but lacks evidence.A number of sources identify Elena as the mother of William and Richard, and as wife of William the father; Elena is said to have remarried to a John Rotenheryng, merchant of Hull, after the father's death.