The correspondence of Reginald Pole.: (Biographical companion : the British Isles) - Vol. 4,

Reginald Pole (1500-1558), cardinal and archbishop of Canterbury, was at the centre of reform controversies in the mid 16th century ? antagonist of Henry VIII, a leader of the reform group in the Roman Church, and nearly elected pope (Julius III was elected in his stead).

His voluminous correspondence - more than 2500 items, including letters to him ? forms a major source for historians not only of England, but of Catholic Europe and the early Reformation as a whole.

In addition to the insight they provide on political history, both secular and ecclesiastical, and on the spiritual motives of reform, they also constitute a great resource for our understanding of humanist learning and cultural patronage in the Renaissance.