Michael de la Pole, 1st Earl of Suffolk

Michael de la Pole was the son of the great Hull merchant, William de la Pole, and a chief financier of Edward III (r. 1327-1377). From 1355 Michael spent a good deal of his time at war, raping and pillaging, mostly in France and Scotland and getting himself captured three times in the process.

On 13 March 1383 Pole was appointed Chancellor of England. In 1366 he was made a lord and then an earl in 1385, with the king providing the financial endowment to enable him to uphold the rank. In 1386 the Wonderful Parliament charged him with various offences, mostly to do with mismanagement of the royal finances, which were in a terrible state. He was impeached but he remained close advisor to Richard II (1377-1399). In 1388 he was condemned to death by the Merciless Parliament, but the sentence was made in his absence since he fled to Paris.

At his peak, he was worth £20,000, about 0.71% of net national income of £2.8m. In 2010 that would be £7.88bn.