Reginald Pole--cousin of Henry VIII, cardinal, archbishop of Canterbury, cultural conduit, and nearly successful candidate for pope--was one of the most important international figures of the mid sixteenth century. As the first well-known anti-Machiavellian, he has also come to play a large part in the history of political thought. Pole's role as Maecenas to a generation of both English and Italian writers, his hand in directing the creation of a saintly Thomas More, as well as his own large literary and especially biographical output (almost all of it in Latin) have contributed to increasing his importance as symbol and creator of symbols beyond even his exalted standing during his lifetime. It is not too much to say that virtually the whole European historiography of the English Reformation has depended on his views.

As the grandson of George, Duke of Clarence (brother of Edward IV), Pole might well have...