A unique collaboration between New College, Oxford, Lambeth Palace Library and the Venerable English College, Rome.
Born in 1500 into the highest circles of the English aristocracy, becoming both cardinal and England’s last Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury, Reginald Pole steered a perilous course through the storm of the European Reformation. A brilliant scholarly career in Italy took him to Rome, from where he launched an audacious campaign against Henry VIII’s regime and its anti-papal policies. His intellectual leadership of the Church mirrored his position in a circle of close spiritual friends, which included the artist Michelangelo. Returning to England after the accession of the Catholic Queen Mary, Pole reconciled the English Church to Rome and did much to re-establish Catholicism before his premature death at Lambeth in 1558. This exhibition brings together books from Oxford, London, and Rome to tell the story of this complex, charismatic individual.

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Lambeth Palace Library
15 Lambeth Palace Road, London, Greater London, SE1 7JT
020 7898 1400
Opening times
Library exhibitions open free to the general public: Mon – Fri, 10am – 5pm. Reading room open to pre-booked readers: Mon, Weds, Fri, 10am – 5pm, Tues, 11am – 5pm, Thu, 10am – 7.15pm
From 4 March 2023, we will be open one Saturday a month - check our website for the dates.
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