The de la Pole house went from wool to dukedom — and paid every time its king fell

The de la Poles began as merchants in Kingston upon Hull — wool exporters who financed Edward III's wars and were rewarded with knighthood, land and office. Michael de la Pole, the first of the family to reach the top, became Richard II's closest adviser: chancellor in 1383, Earl of Suffolk in 1385. Trade had become peerage in a single generation.

The climb made the house a target. The parliament of 1386 impeached Michael as chancellor — the first such attack on a chancellor — and he was convicted of misuse of funds. The Merciless Parliament of 1388 condemned him as a traitor; he fled to France and died in Paris in 1389, attainted. His descendants fought back into favour — the second earl died at Harfleur, the third at Agincourt — and the fourth, William, reached the dukedom and the direction of England under Henry VI.

The end repeated the pattern one size larger: in 1450 the Duke of Suffolk was impeached, banished, and murdered at sea by his own countrymen, and the family's estates were forfeited. The house that had risen on royal favour fell on royal disfavour, and the merchant capital that had bought it all bought nothing back.