Earl of Pembroke
The Earl of Pembroke is a title in the Peerage of England, and it has been created from scratch ten times since King Stephen first granted it in the 12th century. It belongs to Pembroke in Pembrokeshire, in West Wales. Yet the title no longer carries Pembroke Castle, its original seat, because so many separate creations scattered it among different families. Why did a prize this valuable keep slipping back to the Crown? Who earned it, who lost it, and how did one family finally hold it for generations? And what do colleges, towns and parishes far from Wales have to do with a single earldom?
Arnulf de Montgomery may have been the earliest holder. In the late 11th century, William Rufus possibly rewarded him with the earldom for building Pembroke Castle. The first definite creation came decades later, in 1138. Two years before, Welsh forces had severely defeated Norman forces, and King Stephen answered in part by making Pembrokeshire a county palatine. He named Gilbert de Clare as earl. Gilbert already held the lordship of Striguil, which is modern Chepstow, and was married to Isabel de Beaumont, a former mistress of Henry I.
Gilbert's son Richard, known as Strongbow, had a harder road. He backed Stephen, so Henry II, the son of Stephen's rival Matilda, treated him with suspicion. After Gilbert died, Henry II seems to have refused to recognise Richard's claim to Pembroke. His claim to the lesser lordship of Striguil apparently went unchallenged. It was the first of several times Richard was effectively disinherited, and his debts were growing.
A chance to rebuild his fortunes arrived in 1168, when Richard was chosen to lead a Norman expedition to Ireland. The expedition supported Diarmait Mac Murchada, the deposed King of Leinster. Richard crossed over in person in 1170 and took both Waterford and Dublin. He married Diarmuid's daughter, Aoife MacMurrough, and after Diarmuid died in 1171 he claimed the kingship of Leinster. Henry II, wary of such power, stripped him of his new holdings that same year and invaded Ireland himself. Richard returned to favour in 1173, when he helped the king against his rebelling sons. He died in 1176 after years of bitter struggle with Irish magnates.
The succession then became tangled. Richard left a son, Gilbert, but the boy was a minor and was never formally invested with Pembroke or Striguil. It is unlikely his father could have passed the earldom on, since Richard never held it himself. When Gilbert died in 1185, his sister Isabel de Clare became Countess of Pembroke in her own right, and she kept the title until 1220. Counted strictly, she was the second countess, not the fourth. Her husband was the famous Sir William Marshal, son of John the Marshal and of Sibylle, sister of Patrick, Earl of Salisbury.
In August 1189, William Marshal, aged 43 and held by many to be the greatest knight in Christendom, was given the hand of Isabel de Clare. He had earlier served Henry II against the rebellions of Richard, yet Richard confirmed the old king's licence for the marriage to the heiress of Striguil and Pembroke. In 1199, King John created Marshal the 1st Earl of Pembroke. He served Richard and John loyally, and he defended John against the French and the English rebel barons in the First Barons' War.
Marshal was present at the signing of Magna Carta in 1215. When John died in 1216, the seventy-year-old earl was named Regent of the kingdom and protector of the young Henry III. He defeated the rebels and their French allies. To secure the peace, he reissued Magna Carta. Marshal fell ill early in 1219 and died on the 14th of May at his manor of Caversham, near Reading. Hubert de Burgh took over the regency, and Marshal's five sons held the earldom in turn.
The eldest, William, spent years fighting in Wales and Ireland, where he served as justiciar from 1224 to 1226, and he also served Henry III in France. His second wife was the king's sister Eleanor, who later married Simon de Montfort. William left no children.
His brother Richard, the 3rd earl, became the leader of the baronial party and the chief opponent of the foreign friends of Henry III. In August 1233, fearing treachery, he refused to visit the king at Gloucester, and Henry declared him a traitor. Richard crossed to Ireland, where Peter des Roches had stirred up enemies against him. In April 1234 he was overpowered and wounded, and he died a prisoner. Their brother Gilbert, the 4th earl, was a friend and ally of Richard, Earl of Cornwall.
Anselm, the 6th earl, died in December 1245, and with him the male line of the great Earl Marshal ended. The family lands were divided among Anselm's five sisters and their descendants, while the earldom itself reverted to the Crown.
In 1247, William de Valence crossed from France to England with two of his brothers. He was a younger son of Hugh de Lusignan, count of La Marche, and of Isabella of Angoulême, the widow of King John. That made him a half-brother of Henry III. The king married him to Joan de Munchensi, a granddaughter and heiress of William Marshal, and gave him custody of the lands and the earldom of Pembroke. His sudden wealth made him unpopular. He backed the king and Prince Edward in the Second Barons' War against rebels led by Simon de Montfort. After the rebels' final defeat at the Battle of Evesham in 1265, he went on serving Henry III and then Edward I until his death in 1296.
His son Aymer, born around 1275, inherited the estates but was not formally recognised as earl until after the death of his mother Joan in 1307. In 1306 he was appointed guardian of Scotland. Under Edward II, the rise of Piers Gaveston eroded his influence, and he joined the discontented nobles. In 1312 the Earl of Warwick betrayed him by executing the captured Gaveston, so Aymer left the allied lords and rejoined the king. He fought at Bannockburn in 1314 and later helped Edward defeat Thomas of Lancaster. By his death in 1324 he was again pushed aside at court and in financial trouble.
In 1339, Laurence Hastings, a great-grandson of William de Valence, was created or recognised as earl. He had inherited part of the Valence estates through the female line. His son John married Margaret, a daughter of Edward III. When John's own son died without issue in 1389, the earldom went back to the Crown.
In 1414, Humphrey, the fourth son of Henry IV, was made Duke of Gloucester and Earl of Pembroke for life. The grants later became hereditary, with the earldom passing to William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, if Humphrey had no heirs. Humphrey died in 1447 without legitimate issue, and de la Pole took the title. He was beheaded in 1450, and his titles were forfeited.
In 1452, Jasper Tudor, half-brother of Henry VI, became earl. As a Lancastrian, he lost the title in 1461 and recovered it only in 1485, after 24 years of Yorkist dominance. Meanwhile, Sir William Herbert, a zealous Yorkist, had been raised to the peerage as Baron Herbert by Edward IV. Herbert captured Jasper Tudor during the civil war, and for that service he was created Earl of Pembroke in 1468. His successor, perhaps mindful of the earlier Tudor holder, surrendered the title in 1479 and received the earldom of Huntingdon instead.
In that same year, Edward IV gave the title to his son Edward, Prince of Wales. When the boy became Edward V, the earldom merged with the crown in 1483. After the defeat of the House of York, the earldom passed back to the Tudors with the accession of Henry VII.
On the 1st of September 1532, a few months before her marriage, Henry VIII made Anne Boleyn Marquess of Pembroke. The honour recognised the king's great-uncle Jasper Tudor and the king's father, Henry VII, who was born at Pembroke Castle in January 1457. Anne was found guilty of treason and executed in May 1536. Having no male children, she left the marquessate forfeit or extinct. The earldom then lay unused until 1551, when it went to a man who had married the sister of Henry VIII's sixth wife.
In 1551, Sir William Herbert became Earl of Pembroke in the tenth creation. His father, Richard, was an illegitimate son of the first Herbert earl. His wife was Anne Parr, sister of Catherine Parr. From him the title has descended without interruption to the present day.
Herbert was an executor of Henry VIII's will and received valuable land grants. During the reign of Edward VI, both the protector Somerset and his rival John Dudley, later Duke of Northumberland, sought his support. He sided with Dudley, and after Somerset's fall he gained some of Somerset's Wiltshire lands and a peerage. It has been claimed that he devised the plan to settle the crown on Lady Jane Grey. He advised her during her brief reign, but he declared for Mary once Jane's cause looked lost. Mary and her friends sometimes doubted his loyalty. Even so, he served as governor of Calais and as president of Wales, and he enjoyed some confidence from Philip II of Spain. Under Elizabeth he kept his place at court until 1569, when he fell under suspicion of favouring a marriage between Mary, Queen of Scots, and the Duke of Norfolk. Among the monastic lands granted to him was the estate of Wilton, near Salisbury.
In 1577, Mary Sidney, the third daughter of Sir Henry Sidney and Mary Dudley, married Henry Herbert. He was William's elder son, born around 1534, and from 1586 until his death in 1601 he was president of Wales. She is remembered as the famous Countess of Pembroke. Her eldest brother was Sir Philip Sidney, to whom she stayed deeply attached all her life.
Sir Philip spent the summer of 1580 with her at Wilton, or at Ivychurch, a favourite retreat of hers nearby. There, at her request, he began the Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia, which was meant for her pleasure alone and not for publication. The two also worked on a metrical edition of the Psalms. After his death she became his literary executor and corrected the unauthorized editions of the Arcadia and of his poems that appeared in 1590 and 1591.
She also took under her wing the poets who had looked to her brother for protection. Spenser dedicated his Ruines of Time to her, called her "Urania" in Colin Clout's come home againe, and named her "Clorinda" in Astrophel. In 1599, Queen Elizabeth was her guest at Wilton, and the Countess wrote a pastoral dialogue in praise of Astraea for the occasion. Her other works include A Discourse of Life and Death, translated from the French of Plessis du Mornay in 1593, and Antoine, a 1592 version of a tragedy by Robert Garnier. After her husband died, she lived mainly in London at Crosby Hall, where she died. Certain scholars conjecture that she may have been the true author of the plays attributed to William Shakespeare.
In the dedication to Shakespeare's sonnets, the publisher Thomas Thorpe thanks a "Mr W. H." as "the onlie begetter" of the poems. Some Shakespearian commentators have identified him as William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke, born in 1580. They have also cast his mistress, Mary Fitton, as the "dark lady" of the sonnets. The source stresses that both identifications rest on very questionable evidence. William and his brother Philip are, however, the "incomparable pair of brethren" to whom Shakespeare's First Folio is inscribed.
William was a conspicuous figure at the court of James I. He sometimes opposed the schemes of the Duke of Buckingham, and he took a keen interest in the colonization of America. He was Lord Chamberlain of the royal household from 1615 to 1625 and Lord Steward from 1626 to 1630. He wrote poems, counted the poet Donne among his closest friends, and was generous to Ben Jonson, Massinger and others. Clarendon gave a eulogistic account of him, yet he seems to have been weak in character and dissolute in life. Gardiner called him "the Hamlet of the English court". He died in London on the 10th of April 1630, leaving no sons.
His brother Philip, born in 1584, had been the chief favourite of James I for years. He owed that place to his handsome looks and his passion for hunting and field sports. In 1605, James created him Earl of Montgomery and Baron Herbert of Shurland. When Philip succeeded to Pembroke in 1630, the head of the Herbert family began carrying the double title of Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery, as it has done ever since.
Philip's quarrelsome temper often got him into trouble, yet he kept James's esteem, and the king heaped lands and offices upon him. Charles I trusted him too, made him Lord Chamberlain in 1626, and often visited him at Wilton. Philip worked for peace between the king and the Scots in 1639 and 1640. When the quarrel with parliament flared again in 1640, he deserted Charles, who stripped him of his chamberlain's office. Trusted by the popular party, he became governor of the Isle of Wight. He represented parliament at the Uxbridge negotiations in 1645 and at Newport in 1648, and when the Scots surrendered Charles in 1647.
Philip served as Chancellor of the University of Oxford from 1641 to 1643 and again from 1647 to 1650. In 1648 he removed some heads of colleges because they refused the Solemn League and Covenant. His coarse language prompted a sneer that he was better suited "by his eloquence in swearing to preside over Bedlam than a learned academy". In 1649, though a peer, he was elected to the House of Commons as member for Berkshire. Royalist wits mocked this "ascent downwards" in many satirical writings. He was also a great collector of pictures and had some taste for architecture.
Philip's eldest surviving son, another Philip, born in 1621, became 5th Earl and was succeeded in turn by three of his sons. Of these, Philip, the 7th Earl, was notorious for bouts of homicidal mania. Thomas, the 8th Earl, born around 1656, became a person of note under William III and Anne. From 1690 to 1692 he was first Lord of the Admiralty, and he then served as Lord Privy Seal until 1699. In 1697 he was Great Britain's first plenipotentiary at the congress of Ryswick. He also held the posts of Lord High Admiral twice for short periods, Lord President of the Council and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. He acted seven times as one of the Lords Justices, and he was President of the Royal Society in 1689-1690.
His son Henry, the 9th Earl, born around 1693, was a soldier but is better remembered as the "architect Earl". He was largely responsible for the building of Westminster Bridge. Henry, the 10th Earl, born in 1734, was also a soldier and served as a Lord of the Bedchamber to George III. In 1762 he wrote "The Method of Breaking Horses". George Augustus, the 11th Earl, born in 1759, was ambassador extraordinary to Vienna in 1807.
Robert Henry, the 12th Earl, born in 1791, died in France without issue and was buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. The next earl, George Robert Charles, born in 1850, was a grandson of the 10th Earl. His father was Sidney Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Lea. When George died in 1895, his younger brother Sidney, born in 1853, inherited all the family titles after a career as a Member of Parliament. Sidney's eldest son Reginald became the 15th Earl in March 1913.
Reginald's eldest son Sidney, the 16th Earl, spent time in the service of the Duke of Kent and was a trustee of the National Gallery. His son Henry Herbert, the 17th Earl, succeeded in 1969 and built a significant career as a documentarian and film director. On his death in 2003, the title passed to William Herbert, the 18th Earl, who is also the 15th Earl of Montgomery. His son Reginald Henry Michael Herbert, Lord Herbert, is the heir apparent.
The present earl carries three subsidiary titles. These are Baron Herbert of Cardiff, created in 1551, Baron Herbert of Shurland, and Baron Herbert of Lea, created in 1861. Only the barony of Herbert of Lea belongs to the Peerage of the United Kingdom. He is also the hereditary visitor of Jesus College, Oxford, and Wilton House in Wiltshire has been the family seat for the past 400 years.
In 1347, Marie de St Pol, Countess of Pembroke, founded Pembroke College, Cambridge, and the college carries her title. She lived from 1303 to 1377 and was the wife of Aymer de Valence, the 2nd Earl of the third creation. Pembroke College, Oxford, honours William Herbert, the 3rd Earl of the tenth creation. He was Chancellor of the University of Oxford in 1624, when Thomas Tesdale and Richard Wightwick refounded Broadgates Hall and renamed it after him.
Pembroke College at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, takes its name from the Cambridge college. Cambridge was the alma mater of Roger Williams, the Puritan founder of Providence Plantations. The city of Pembroke Pines, Florida, is thought to be named after the Earl of Pembroke, an early landowner in Broward County. Pembroke, New Hampshire, was named after the 9th Earl by Governor Benning Wentworth.
Pembroke, Kentucky, is often said to honour an earl, but it does not. Its name comes from Pembroke Somerset, a character in the popular 1803 novel Thaddeus of Warsaw, which described the 1790s uprisings in Poland. A dormitory called Pembroke Hall at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, is named after that Kentucky town, because an original trustee of the building came from there.
Pembroke, Ontario, honours Sidney Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Lea, who served as Secretary of State for the Colonies and was a younger son of the 11th Earl. Pembroke Parish in Bermuda is named for William Herbert, the 3rd Earl of the tenth creation. Pembroke in Malta was named for Robert Herbert, the 12th Earl, and its naming was authorised in 1859 by his younger brother Sidney Herbert, who was then Secretary at War.
Updated
Common questions
Who created the first Earl of Pembroke?
King Stephen of England first created the title of Earl of Pembroke in the 12th century. The first definite creation came in 1138, when Gilbert de Clare was made earl and Pembrokeshire became a county palatine.
How many times has the Earl of Pembroke title been created?
The Earl of Pembroke title has been recreated ten times from its original creation. The current holder, William Herbert, 18th Earl of Pembroke, belongs to the tenth creation, made in 1551.
Who was William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke?
William Marshal was held by many to be the greatest knight in Christendom and was created Earl of Pembroke by King John in 1199. He was present at the signing of Magna Carta in 1215 and served as Regent for the young Henry III from 1216.
Why was Anne Boleyn made Marquess of Pembroke?
Henry VIII made Anne Boleyn Marquess of Pembroke on the 1st of September 1532, a few months before their marriage. The honour recognised his great-uncle Jasper Tudor and his father Henry VII, who was born at Pembroke Castle in January 1457.
Is the Earl of Pembroke linked to Shakespeare?
William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke, and his brother Philip are the "incomparable pair of brethren" to whom the First Folio is inscribed. Some commentators have identified William with the "Mr W. H." of the sonnets, though that rests on very questionable evidence.
Where does the Earl of Pembroke live today?
Wilton House in Wiltshire has been the family seat of the Earls of Pembroke for the past 400 years. The original seat, Pembroke Castle, is no longer attached to the title.
All sources
10 references cited across the entry
- 1BookAn Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in GlamorganRoyal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales — 1981
- 2BookDebrett's Peerage of England, Scotland, and IrelandDebrett's — 1840
- 3BookA History of Wales: From the Norman Invasion to the Edwardian ConquestJ. E. Lloyd — Barnes & Noble — 2004
- 4BookA History of WalesJohn Davies — Penguin — 1994
- 7BookCobbett's complete collection of state trials and proceedings for high treason: and other crimes and misdemeanor from the earliest period to the present time ... from the ninth year of the reign of King Henry, the Second, A.D.1163, to ... George IV, A.D.1820William Cobbett et al. — R. Bagshaw — 1816
- 8Book... The Bulstrode Papers: Volume I (1667-1675)Sir Richard Bulstrode — private circulation — 1897
- 10JournalThe Earls of StrigulJ. R. Planche — 1855