HERBERT
family,
earls of Pembroke (second creation)
.
WILLIAM
HERBERT
(
c.
1501
-
1570
),
1st earl of Pembroke of the second creation
,
was the eldest son of
Sir
Richard
Herbert
(‘
Ddu
’)
of
Ewyas
, bastard of
William
Herbert
(d.
1469
),
earl of Pembroke of the first creation
(q.v.)
, his mother being the daughter of
Sir
Matthew
Cradock
(q.v.)
of
Swansea
,
Receiver of Glamorgan
. After a wild youth, in the course of which he fought in
France
and won the favour of the
French king
, he entered the service of
Sir
Charles
Somerset
, later
1st earl of Worcester
(q.v.)
, to whom most of the
Welsh
lands of the earldom of
Pembroke
had been transferred on his marriage to the
1st earl
's daughter, and through his patron's influence he obtained preferment at the court of
Henry
VIII
, which was accelerated after the
king
m.
Herbert
's sister-in-law
Catherine
Parr
(
1543
), when he was
knighted
and rapidly accumulated lands and offices in
South Wales
, including the lordships of
Usk
,
Trelleck
, and
Caerleon
, formerly part of the earldom of
March
, and one of the
king
's gifts to
Anne
Boleyn
. He was also given the lands of
Wilton monastery, Wilts.
, served in the
Boulogne campaign
of
1544
and in the defence of the
Isle of Wight
in
1545
, and was given the right to keep thirty liveried retainers. As an
executor
of
Henry
VIII
's will, he became a
governor
to the young
king
Edward
VI
,
chief gentleman of his privy chamber
, one of his twelve
privy councillors
(
Jan. 1547
),
Master of his Horse
(
1548-52
), and a
Knight of the Garter
(
Dec. 1548
). He
raised 2,000 Welsh to suppress the western rebellion
, but refused to use them to back up the
duke of Somerset
's protectorate against his rival
Warwick
(later
Northumberland
)
, who had interests on the
Welsh border
and a strong
Welsh
element (including a
Herbert
) in his household. (
L. & P. Henry VIII
, xv, 355, etc., Addenda, 415). He took part in
Somerset
's trial (
Dec. 1551
) and was rewarded with his
Wiltshire
estates. On
8 April 1550
, he was made
president of the Council
at
Ludlow
, and in
Oct. 1551
,
baron Herbert of Cardiff
and
earl of Pembroke
. He supported (perhaps initiated)
Northumberland
's plot for crowning
lady
Jane
Grey
(
July 1553
) but drew back in time, helped to proclaim
Mary
, and so won her complete confidence and retained his ascendancy, resigning only his presidency at
Ludlow
. He favoured the
Spanish
match, led the forces which put down
Wyatt
's rebellion (
1554
),
went on diplomatic missions
to
France
and the
Netherlands
(
1555
), was made
governor
of
Calais
(
22 Nov. 1556
), and successfully
commanded the British expedition
to
France
(
1557
). During his second
presidency
at
Ludlow
(
1555-8
), his duties accordingly had to be discharged by deputy, and in
Aug. 1558
, he resigned on the ground that disorder was growing in the absence of a strong resident head. He remained in favour under
Elizabeth
, who made him ‘
custos rotulorum
’ of
Glamorgan
(
1567
) and
lord steward
of her household (
1568
). He further increased his estates by purchasing the
Llantarnam
monastic lands (many of which he leased to
William
Morgan
, founder of the
Morgans
of
Llantarnam
) (qq.v.)
and the lordship of
Neath
(
1561
); but he lost favour through his support of the proposed marriage of the
duke of Norfolk
to
Mary
,
Queen of Scots
, (
1559
). He d. on
17 March 1570
, and was buried in
S. Paul's
. Though he was not, as sometimes alleged, illiterate, he wrote with difficulty, knew no European languages, and was more at home in
Welsh
than in
English
. In politics and religion he seems to have been a pure opportunist, but his love for
Wales
is attested in the dedication of
Gruffydd
Robert
's
Gramadeg
,
1567
, and by his patronage of that
pioneer of Welsh historiography and printing
,
Sir
John
Price
of
Brecon
(q.v.)
, and other
Welsh
writers (
Wood
,
Ath. Ox.
, i, 216, 418).
HENRY
HERBERT
(
c.
1534
-
1601
),
2nd earl
,
eldest son of the
1st earl
, was educated at
Peterhouse
,
Cambridge
. He entered into his father's plans for
lady
Jane
Grey
, and was m. (
25 May 1553
) to her sister
Catherine
, but divorced her (
1554
) after the plot failed, was made a
K.B.
(
1553
) and a member of the suite of
king
Philip
(after whom he named his second son), and served with his father in
France
(
1557
). His succession to the earldom was followed by inheritance of the estates of his mother's brother
William
Parr
,
marquis of Northampton
(
1571
), leaving him one of the richest peers of the land; he was also given some of his father's
Welsh
offices (
April — May 1570
),
placed on the commission of the peace
for
Monmouthshire
and
Glamorgan
(
1576
), and decorated with the
Garter
(
2 April 1574
), and in the latter year he restored
Cardiff castle
, where he entertained lavishly. He took part in the trials of
Norfolk
(
1572
),
Mary
Queen of Scots
(
1586
), and
Arundel
(
1589
). In
March 1586
, he succeeded
Sir
Henry
Sidney
(whose daughter
Mary
was his third wife) as
president
at
Ludlow
, with the
vice-admiralty of South
Wales
. He
held regular court
, reforming many abuses, instilling into the
Welsh
gentry a sense of public duty, instituting a great drive against recusants and urging strongly the defence of
Milford Haven
against
Spanish
invasion (
1595
). But ill-health set in from
1590
and became almost chronic from
1595
, and his frequent absences led to intrigues within the Council against his authority, a return of many abuses, and a slackening of control over local administration. He d.
19 Jan. 1601
, and was buried in
Salisbury cathedral
. He was a
patron of industrial enterprise
, of the stage, and of
English
and
Welsh
literature, whilst his intimate knowledge of
Welsh
society and love of the language made him, in the words of
Thomas
Wiliems
of
Trefriw
(q.v.)
llygad holl Cymru
(the eye of all
Wales
).
WILLIAM
HERBERT
(
1580
-
1630
),
3rd earl
,
was educated at
New College
,
Oxford
(matriculated
8 March 1593
).
Cecil
, who wished him to succeed his father at
Ludlow
(having, it was alleged, been a paramour of the
3rd earl
's wife
Mary
Sidney
), was unable to overcome
Elizabeth
's prejudice against his morals, but
James
I
, who visited him at
Wilton
soon after his accession and twice later, named him
custos rotulorum
of
Glamorgan
(
July 1603
),
steward and constable of several Radnorshire lordships and castles
(
1616
), and a member of the
Council of Ludlow
by
1617
(
Cal. Wynn Papers
, 809). He became a
privy councillor
in
1611 (29 Sept.)
and
lord chamberlain
in
1615 (28 Dec.)
. He lived mainly in
London
and at
Wilton
, using his vast fortune in the patronage of
Shakespeare
and his circle (while dabbling in verse himself) and in the
promotion of colonial and industrial ventures
; but he also
developed his South Wales estates
(witness the ‘waterworks’ at
Trelleck, Mon.
) and cultivated the leaders of
Welsh
society (
Cal. Wynn Papers
, 598;
Clarendon
,
Hist.
, i, 175;
Hist. MSS. Com.
,
Cecil
, xvi, 190-1), thus wielding considerable electoral influence (especially in the shires and boroughs of
Monmouth
,
Glamorgan
,
Radnor
, and
Montgomery
) — whereby he was able to
organize a Welsh group of supporters for his Protestant parliamentary
, and anti-
Buckingham
policy at
Westminster
, with
Sir
William
Herbert
(later
1st baron Powys
, see
Powis, earls of
) as his recognized mouthpiece in the Commons.
Charles
I
put him on the
Committee on Foreign Affairs
(
9 April 1625
) and the
Council of War
(
3 May 1626
) and made him
vice-admiral of South Wales
(
1625
) and
lord steward
(
3 Aug. 1626
), but generally ignored his statesmanlike counsels, which
Pembroke
lacked strength of will to pursue. His affability made him ‘the most universally belov'd and esteem'd of any man of that age’ (
Clarendon
);
Rhys
Prichard
(q.v.)
called him
colofn y deyrnas
(the pillar of the realm). He d. of
apoplexy
on
10 April 1630
, ‘after a full and chearful Supper.’
PHILIP
HERBERT
(
1584
-
1650
),
4th earl
,
was the younger brother of the
3rd earl
, educated with him at
New College
and sharing his literary tastes (witness the joint dedication of the
Shakespeare
folio,
1623
) and his
interest in colonial and industrial enterprise
, including the glass monopoly (with works at
Milford Haven
and in the North) in which he became
partner
in
1615
but sold out his share soon afterwards to
Sir
Robert
Mansel
(q.v.)
. His
passion for field sports, pageantry, and building
(which he carried on extensively at
Wilton
), together with his handsome person, won him the favour of
James
I
, which he retained ‘in the Second place’ (as
Clarendon
puts it) after he had been supplanted as prime favourite by
Carr
. He was promptly admitted to the
Privy Chamber
(
May 1603
) and the
Order of the Bath
(
28 July
), given extensive grants of land (including the lordship of
Denbigh
) in
1604
(
Cecil
, xvi, 439), and next year made
earl of Montgomery
(
4 May
) and granted the
castle of Montgomery
, claimed (in virtue of a century's occupancy by his family) by
Edward
, future
lord Herbert of Cherbury
(q.v.)
, to whose wife (daughter of
Sir
William
Herbert
of
S. Julians
, d.
1593
(q.v.)
)
Philip
had been an unsuccessful suitor — whence a feud not healed till
lord Herbert
bought the castle back in
1617
. In the same year (
16 June 1605
) he was appointed
chancellor
and
chamberlain
of
Anglesey
,
Caernarvon
, and
Merioneth
, and by
1617
was on the
Council of Wales
. Until his elevation to the peerage he sat for
Glamorgan
in
James
's first parliament. He remained in favour under
Charles
I
, who visited him annually at
Wilton
, gave him his brother's offices of
lord chamberlain
(
3 Aug. 1626
) and
vice-admiral of South Wales
(
23 April 1631
), and restored to him in
1633
the family stewardships in
Radnorshire
which had been temporarily alienated to the
1st lord Powis
(
see
Powis, earls of
) (
Cal. S.P. Dom.
,
1629-31
, 530;
1631-3
, 94), and decorated him with the
Garter
(
23 April 1638
); but his dealings with the
Scots
in the
Bishops’ Wars
(on which he accompanied the
king
) and his conduct in the
Long Parliament
lost him his
chamberlainship
(
17 April 1641
), after which he became more deeply committed to the opposition than he ever meant, failing after repeated efforts to bring about a negotiated settlement during the war and ending up on the first
Commonwealth Council of State
(
14 Feb. 1649
). As
chancellor
of
Oxford University
(
4 Aug. 1647
) he presided over the
Puritan ‘purge’
there but intervened to prevent the deprivation at
Christ Church
of
Philip
Henry
(q.v.)
.
Parliament
named him
lord lieutenant
of
Monmouthshire
,
Glamorgan
, and
Brecknock
(
29 July 1642
) and of
Cardigan
(
4 Dec. 1646
), but he showed less energy there than he had done as
lord lieutenant
of
Kent
(
1642
), where he also had lands. Indeed, although in his youth he was known as ‘the Welsh lord’ and twitted with the need for an interpreter (
Cecil
. xvi 439), and despite his
Welsh chaplains
,
tutors
and
servants
— including
George
Herbert
(q.v.)
,
Griffith
Williams
(later
bishop of Ossory
) (q.v.)
, and
Evan Lloyd
Jeffrey
of
Palé
(
herald
,
bard
, and
genealogist
) — his direct contacts with
Wales
were much slighter than those of his predecessors. The
Civil War
revealed that the
Pembroke
influence in
South Wales
could no longer compete with that of
Catholic
and
Royalist
Raglan
. He d.
23 Jan. 1650
. His younger son
WILLIAM
sat for
Monmouthshire
in the
Long Parliament
and fought for the
king
.
After him the
Welsh
connection grew more tenuous still. His son,
PHILIP
HERBERT
(
1619
-
1669
),
5th earl
, sat as
lord Herbert
for
Glamorgan
in the
Long Parliament
, following his father's politics and becoming
parliamentary nominee
for the
lord lieutenancies
of
Monmouthshire
,
Glamorgan
and
Brecknock
(where he was soon superseded by his father), and presiding over the
Commonwealth Council of State
in
1652
. After the
Restoration
he was
custos rotulorum
for
Glamorgan
and
Pembrokeshire
and a member of the
Committee for Trade and Navigation
, and as
hereditary Visitor of Jesus College
,
Oxford
, was called on (but declined) to pronounce on the disputed
Fellowship
of
Michael
Roberts
(d.
1679
) (q.v.)
(see
Cal. Wynn Papers
, 2660, wrongly indexed as
7th earl
). His heir was
M.P.
for
Glamorgan
from
1661-9
and his successors continued to hold
Crown offices
in
South Wales
till
1733
, but their real interests were in
Wiltshire
, and they began to dispose of their
South Wales
lands soon after the
Restoration
. What was left passed to
Thomas
,
1st viscount Windsor
(second son of the
1st earl of Plymouth
) on his marriage (
1703
) with
Charlotte
, daughter of the
7th earl
(
Philip
Herbert
,
1653
-
1680
, a
homicidal dipsomaniac
) and widow of
John
,
2nd baron Jeffreys
(q.v.)
.
Windsor
sold the lordships of
Caerleon
,
Usk
and
Trelleck
(
1722
); the
Glamorgan
lands were conveyed (
1766
) through his granddaughter
Charlotte Jane
to her husband
John
Stuart
(heir of
George
III
's
prime minister
, the
earl of Bute
), who was created
baron Cardiff of Cardiff castle
(
20 May 1776
), succeeded to the
earldom
in
1792
and became
earl of Windsor
and
marquis of Bute
in
1796
; hence the territorial, political and industrial influence in the area of succeeding
marquises
(see the article
Bute
). But the immediate successors to the primacy in
Glamorgan
of the
earls of Pembroke
were the
earls of Plymouth
, elder branch of the
Windsor
family: the
4th earl
was
lord lieutenant
in
1754
and was succeeded therein by the
5th earl
, who was also
colonel of the local militia
and
vice-president
of the
London Welsh Charity
; and when in
1905
the
earldom of Plymouth
was revived, after sixty-two years’ dormancy, in favour of
Robert
George
,
14th baron Windsor
, he became also
viscount Windsor of S. Fagans
and
lord lieutenant
of
Glamorgan
.
Bibliography:
-
Dictionary of National Biography
, xxvi, 189-90, 208-12, 217, 220-3, xliii, 368 and sources therein cited;
-
Doyle
,
The Official Baronage of England, showing the succession, dignities, and offices of
every peer from 1066 to 1885
, London, 1885
, iii, 19ff, 47ff;
-
Burke's…Peerage, Baronetage, and KnightageBurke's
Landed Gentry
, 1938; , 1952
,
1949
, 311-12, 1569-71, 1596-7;
-
Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII.
Record Publication, 1864 ff
, v, vii, viii, xi-xv;
-
Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series
. Record Publication, 1856 ff. Many references to S.P. Dom.,
Charles II, Entry Book 38A, include records of licences to preach (1672–3) given to Nonconformists under the terms of
the ‘Declaration of Indulgence’ (1672)
,
1547-80
, 20, 25, 88, 106, 255, 272, 349;
-
Acts of the Privy Council
. Record Commission, 1834–7; Record Publications, 1890 ff
,
1542-1604
;
-
Calendar of Wynn (of Gwydir) Papers, 1515–1690, in the National Library of Wales and elsewhere
,
1926
;
-
Clenennau Letters and Papers in the Brogyntyn CollectionNational Library of Wales Journal
. Part I. Supplement to
, Series IV, No. 1, 1947
;
-
Letters and Memorials of State, in the reigns of Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth,
King James, King Charles the First, part of the reign of King Charles the Second, and Oliver's usurpation. Written
and collected by Sir Henry Sydney … Sir Philip Sydney, and his brother Sir Robert Sydney … Robert, the
second Earl of Leicester … Philip, Lord Viscount Lisle … and of his brother Colonel Algernon Sydney
… Together with letters of the other ministers of state, with whom they held a correspondence …
, (ed.): ,
London, 1746
, (ed.
Collins
),
1746
;
-
Stradling Correspondence, a series of letters [addressed to Sir E. S.]
written in the reign of Queen Elizabeth: with notices of the family of Stradling of St. Donat's Castle, Co.
Glamorgan
, London, 1840
(ed.
J.M. Traherne
),
1840
;
-
Aubrey
,
Brief Lives: a selection based upon existing comtemporary portraits
, 1949
,
1949
ed., 27, 30-38;
-
Athenae Oxonienses
(ed. ): , 1813–20. Sometimes cited
in the first (1691-2) edn
, ii, 482-8;
-
Reports on
Manuscripts in the Welsh LanguageReports of the ‘Historical Manuscripts Commission,’ including , 1898–1910 (see ), and also reports on family collections, e.g.
Portland, Cecil, Ormond, Rutland, Salisbury etc
,
Reports on
Manuscripts in the Welsh LanguageReports of the ‘Historical Manuscripts Commission,’ including , 1898–1910 (see ), and also reports on family collections, e.g.
Portland, Cecil, Ormond, Rutland, Salisbury etc
, i, vii-xi, xiii-xvii, 13
th
R., iv, 247, 335-6;
-
C. A. J. Skeel
,
The Council in the Marches of Wales: a study in local government during
the sixteenth and seventeenth centurie
, Cambridge, 1904
, 82-4, and chap. iv;
-
William Valentine Lloyd
,
The Sheriffs of Montgomeryshire, with their armorial bearings, and notices,
genealogical & biographical, of their families, from 1540 to 1639. (Catalogue of the Sheriffs, authenticated by
reference to, and illustrated by extracts from, the Public Records.
, London, 1876
, 93-6;
-
D. Mathew
,
The Celtic Peoples and Renaissance Europe. A study of the Celtic
and Spanish influences on Elizabethan history
, 1933
, 30, 422-3;
-
A History of Monmouthshire
, four volumes, in eleven parts, 11 rhan,
1904–33
,
i, 464, ii, 132, iii, 194-7;
-
Williams
,
Monmouthshire
, 271-97 and Appendix, 10-11, 144-7;
-
Cartae et Alia Munimenta quae ad Dominium de Glamorgan pertinent
. Second ed.,
1910
, vi, 2232;
-
Y Greal: sef Cylchgrawn Misol at wasanaeth y BedyddwyrTyst.
Apost.
, 1852–1918. (See )
,
1805
, 61-7;
-
English Historical Review
, 1886 ff
, i, 242-36;
-
The Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion
, 1901-2 (117), 1940 (101-14), 1942 (69-71), 1945 (49), 1946-7 (60-1, 65-6, 74, 86, 89, 94-5), 1948 (10-11, 17-18, 27, 30, 35, 41, 43, 48, 51-2, 63, 405);
-
The National Library of Wales Journal
, vi, 29, 41;
-
N.L.W,
Penrice and Margam Manuscripts at the National Library of Wales
, L, 301-4, 313, 320 (cf Birch,
A Descriptive Catalogue of the Penrice and Margam Abbey Manuscripts in the
possession of Miss Talbot of Margam
, London, 1893-1905
, ii, 680, 1002, iv, 2537
et passim
),
Penlle'rgaer MSS. at the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth
, B, parcel 6, no. 26,
Peniarth Manuscript in the National Library of Wales
121, folios 119-25.
Author:
Emeritus Professor Arthur Herbert Dodd, M.A., (1891-1975), Bangor.
