Earl of Pembroke

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The Earldom of Pembroke, associated with Pembroke Castle in Wales, was created by King Stephen of England. Several times the line has become extinct, and the earldom has been re-created, starting the count over again with a new first Earl. On 1 September 1533 King Henry VIII created his queen Anne Boleyn Marchioness of Pembroke in her own right, a signal honor, because his great-uncle Jasper Tudor had been the earl of Pembroke, and because Henry's own father, Henry VII, had been born there.

The current Earl also holds the title Earl of Montgomery (1605), created for the younger son of the 2nd Earl before he succeeded as 4th Earl, as well as the subsidiary titles Baron Herbert of Cardiff, of Cardiff in the County of Glamorgan (1551), Baron Herbert of Shurland, of Shurland in the Isle of Sheppey in the County of Kent (1605), and Baron Herbert of Lea, of Lea in the County of Wilts (1861). All are in the Peerage of England except the Barony of Herbert of Lea, which is in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.

The family seat is at Wilton House in Wiltshire.

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History in the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica

The title of earl of Pembroke has been held successively by several English families, the jurisdiction and dignity of a palatine earldom being originally attached to it. The first creation dates from 1138, when the earldom of Pembroke was conferred by King Stephen on Gilbert de Clare (d. II48), son of Gilbert Fitz-Richard, who possessed the lordship of Strigul (Estrighoiel, in Domesday Book), the modern Chepstow. After the battle of Lincoln (1141), in which he took part, the earl joined the party of the empress Matilda, and he married Henry I's mistress, Isabel, daughter of Robert de Beaumont, earl of Leicester.

RICHARD DE CLARE, 2nd earl of Pembroke (d. 1176), commonly known as Strongbow, son of the first earl, succeeded to his fathers estates in 1148, but had forfeited or lost them by 1168. In that year Dermot, king of Leinster, driven out of his kingdom by Roderick, king of Connaught, came to solicit help from Henry II. He secured the services of Earl Richard, promising him the hand of his daughter Eva and the succession to Leinster. The earl crossed over in person (1170), took both Waterford and Dublin, and was married to Eva. But Henry II., jealous of this success, ordered all the troops to return by Easter I 171. In May Dermot died; this was the signal of a general rising, and Richard barely managed to keep Roderick of Connaught out of Dublin. Immediately afterwards he hurried to England to solicit help from Henry II., and surrendered to him all his lands and castles. Henry crossed over in October 1172; he stayed in Ireland six months, and put his own men into nearly all the important places, Richard keeping only Kildare. In 1173 he went in person to France to help Henry II., and was present at Verneuil, being reinstated in Leinster as a reward. In 1174 he advanced into Connaught and was severely defeated, but fortunately Raymond le Gros re-established his supremacy in Leinster. Early in 1176 Richard died, just as Raymond had taken Limerick for him. Strongbow was the statesman, as the Fitzgeralds were the soldiers, of the conquest. He is vividly described by Giraldus Cambrensis as a tall and fair man, of pleasing appearance, modest in his bearing, delicate in features, of a low voice, but sage in council and the idol of his soldiers. He was buried in the cathedral church of Dublin, where his effigy and that of his wife are still preserved.

Strongbow having died without male issue, his daughter ISABEL became countess of Pembroke in her own right, and the title was borne by her husband, SIR WILLIAM MARSHAL, or Le Marchal, seccnd son of John le Marchal, by Sibylle, the sister of Patrick, earl of Salisbury. John le Marchal was a partisan of the empress Matilda, who died about 1164.

The date of Sir William Marshals birth is uncertain, but his parents were married not earlier than 1141, and he was a mere child in 1152, when he attracted the notice of King Stephen. In 1170 he was selected for a position in the household of Prince Henry, the heir-apparent, and remained there until the death of his young patron (1183). He undertook a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, where he served as a crusader with distinction for two years. Although he had abetted the prince in rebellion he was pardoned by Henry II. and admitted to the royal service about 1188. In 1189 he covered the flight of Henry II. from Le Mans to Chinon, and, in a skirmish, unhorsed the undutiful Richard Coeur de Lion. None the less Richard, on his accession, promoted Marshal and confirmed the old kings licence for his marriage with the heiress of Strigul and Pembroke. This match gave Marshal the rank of an earl, with great estates in Wales and Ireland, and he was included in the council of regency which the king appointed on. his departure for the third crusade (1190). He took the side of Prince John when the latter expelled the justiciar, William Longchamp, from the kingdom, but he soon discovered that the interests of John were different from those of Richard. Hence in 1193 he joined with the loyalists in making war upon the prince. Richard forgave Marshal his first error of judgment, allowed him to succeed his brother, John Marshal, in the hereditary marshalship, and on his death-bed designated him as custodian of Rouen and of the royal treasure during the interregnum. Though he quarrelled more than once with John, Marshal was one of the few English laymen who clung to the royal side through the Barons' War. He was one of Johns executors, and was subsequently elected regent of the king and kingdom by the royalist barons in 1216. In spite of his advanced age he prosecuted the war against Prince Louis and the rebels with remarkable energy. In the battle of Lincoln (May 1217) he charged and fought at the head of the young kings army, and he was preparing to besiege Louis in London when the war was terminated by the naval victory of Hubert de Burgh in the straits of Dover. He was criticized for the generosity of the terms he accorded to Louis and the rebels (September 1217); but his desire for an expeditious settlement was dictated by sound statesmanship. Self-restraint and compromise were the key-notes of Marshals policy. Both before and after the peace of 1217 he reissued Magna Carta. He fell ill early in the year 1219, and died on the I4th of May at his manor of Caversham near Reading. He was succeeded in the regency by Hubert de Burgh, in his earldom by his five sons in succession.

Marshal's eldest son, WILLIAM MARSHAL (d. 1231), 2nd earl of Pembroke of this line, passed some years in warfare in Wales and in Ireland, where he was justiciar from 1224 to 1226; he also served Henry III. in France. His second wife was the kings sister, Eleanor, afterwards the wife of Simon de Montfort, but he left no children, and was succeeded by his brother, RICHARD MARSHAL (d. 1234). His brother GILBERT (d. 1241), who became the 4th earl, was a friend and ally of Richard, earl of Cornwall. When another brother, Anselm, the 6th earl, died in December 1245, the male descendants of the great earl marshal became extinct. The extensive family possessions were now divided among Anselms five sisters and their descendants, the earldom of Pembroke reverting to the Crown.

The next holder of the lands of the earldom of Pembroke was William de Valence (d. 1296), a younger son of Hugh de Lusignan, count of La Marche, by his marriage with Isabella of Angoulme (d. 1246), widow of the English king John, and was born at Valence, near Lusignan. In 1247 William and his brothers, Guy and Aymer, crossed over to England at the invitation of their half-brother, Henry III. In 1250 Aymer (d. 1260) was elected bishop of Winchester, and in 1247 Henry arranged a marriage between William and Joan de Munchensi (d. 1307) a granddaughter of William Marshal, 1st earl of Pembroke. The custody of Joans property, which included the castle and lordship of Pembroke, was entrusted to her husband, who in 1295 was summoned to parliament as earl of Pembroke. In South Wales cases the identification rests on very questionable evidence (see SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM). He and his brother Philip are the " incomparable pair of brethren " to whom the first folio of Shakespeare is inscribed. The earl left no sons when he died in London on the joth of April 1630. Clarendon gives a very eulogistic account of Pembroke, who appears, however, to have been a man of weak character and dissolute life. Gardiner describes him as the Hamlet of the English court. He had literary tastes and wrote poems; one of his closest friends was the poet Donne, and he was generous to Ben Jonson, Massinger and others.

His brother, PHILIP HERBERT, was the 4th earl (1584-1650). In 1605 King James I of England created him Earl of Montgomery and Baron Herbert of Shurland, and since 1630, when he succeeded to the earldom of Pembroke, the head of the Herbert family has carried the double title of earl of Pembroke and Montgomery. His eldest surviving son, Philip (1621-1669), became 5th earl of Pembroke, and 2nd earl of Montgomery; he was twice married, and was succeeded in turn by three of his sons, of whom Thomas, the 8th earl (c. 1656-1733), was a person of note during the reigns of William III. and Anne. From 1690 to 1692 he was first lord of the admiralty; then he served as lord privy seal until 1699, being in 1697 the first plenipotentiary of Great Britain at the congress of Ryswick. On two occasions he was lord high admiral for a short period; he was also lord president of the council and lord-lieutenant of Ireland, while he acted as one of the lords justices seven times; and he was president of the Royal Society in 1689-1690. His son Henry, the gth earl (c. 1689-1750), was a soldier, but was better known as the " architect earl." He was largely responsible for the erection of Westminster Bridge. The title descended directly to Henry,loth earl (1734-1794), a soldier, who wrote the Method of Breaking Horses (1762); George Augustus, nth earl (1759-1827), an ambassador extraordinary to Vienna in 1807; and Robert Henry, i2th earl (1791-1862), who died without issue. George Robert Charles, the i3th ear (1850-1895), was a grandson of the nth earl and a son of Baron Herbert of Lea (q.v.), whose second son Sidney (b. 1853) inherited all the family titles at his brother's death.

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Earls of Pembroke, first Creation (circa 1138)

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Earls of Pembroke, second Creation (1189)

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Earls of Pembroke, third Creation (1247)

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Earls of Pembroke, fourth Creation (1339)

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Earls of Pembroke, fifth Creation (1414)

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Earls of Pembroke, sixth Creation (1446)

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Earls of Pembroke, seventh Creation (1452)

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Earls of Pembroke, eighth Creation (1468)

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Earls of Pembroke, ninth Creation (1479)

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Marchioness of Pembroke (1533)

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Earl of Pembroke, tenth Creation (1551)

Image:Earl of Pembroke coa.png

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Other use

There is a tall ship named Earl of Pembroke, which has been used in a number of historical films and see also HM Bark Endeavour

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Sources and references

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition{{#if:{{{article|}}}| article {{#if:{{{url|}}}|[{{{url|}}}}} "{{{article}}}"{{#if:{{{url|}}}|]}}{{#if:{{{author|}}}| by {{{author}}}}}}}, a publication now in the public domain.

  • G. T. Clark, The Earls, Earldom and Castle of Pembroke (Tenby 1880)
  • J. R. Planche, "The Earls of Strigul " in vol. x. of the Proceedings of the British Archaeological Association (1855)
  • G. E. C(okayne), Complete Peerage, vol. vi. (London, 1895).
  • Giraldus Cambrensis, Expugnatio hibernica
  • the Song of Dermot, edited by G. H. Orpen (1892).
  • the metrical French life, Histoire de Guillaume le Marchal (ed. P. Meyer, 3 vols., Paris, 1891-1901)
  • the Minority of Henry III., by G. J. Turner (Trans. Royal Hist. Soc., new series, vol. xviii. pp. 245295)
  • W. Stubbs, ConstitutIonal History, chs. xii. and xiv. (Oxford, 1896f 897).
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