| +-------------------------+----------+---------+ | | | =John de la Pole, =Edmund de la Pole, =Sir Richard Earl of Lincoln.= Earl of Suffolk.= de la Pole.= Declared heir-presumptive Beheaded by Fled to Italy, to the English throne Henry VIII., 1513. and was killed 1484; Commander-in-Chief at Pavia, 1525. in Lambert Simnel’s rebellion; killed at Stoke 1487. PEDIGREE OF THE DE LA POLES. In all English history there is no stranger family history than that of the De la Poles. For had there been no battle of Bosworth, the great-great-great-great-grandson of a Hull merchant would, in all probability, have become King John II. Such, however, was not to be, and there is now living no descendant of the first William de la Pole in the male line. A few years ago the female line was represented in the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, who was lineally descended from Richard de la Pole, the elder partner in the ‘great Hull Firm of De la Pole Brothers.’ XIV. MONKS, NUNS, AND FRIARS. [Illustration: ARMS OF BRIDLINGTON PRIORY.] Scattered over some of the pleasantest parts of Yorkshire are to be found the ruined homes of men and women who centuries ago formed a very distinct class among the people of our country. These men and women were the monks, friars, and nuns of mediæval England, and their homes were known as monasteries and friaries. The foundation of monasteries was due to the growth of an idea that men and women could serve God better by withdrawing entirely from worldly affairs, and by giving themselves up to a life of continual prayer and worship. Many were established in England during the tenth and eleventh centuries, but the great period of their foundation was that from 1066 to 1216. During these years no fewer than 556 monasteries were founded in our country, and 65 of these were in Yorkshire. [Illustration: A CISTERCIAN MONK.] According to whether a monastery was independent of all others or not, it ranked as an Abbey or a Priory; and according to the particular code of rules under which its inmates lived, it was inhabited by BENEDICTINES, CISTERCIANS, or CARTHUSIANS. The monks of the Order of St. Benedict were popularly known as _Black Monks_, and their three Abbeys in Yorkshire were at Whitby, Selby and York. They had no House in the East Riding, but there were Benedictine nunneries at Nunburnholme, Nunkeeling, Wilberfoss and Yedingham.