Philip Herbert KG KB PC (1584 - 1650)

Born 10 Oct 1584 in Wilton House, Wilton, Wiltshire, England

Ancestors

Husband of Susan (de Vere) Herbert — married 27 Dec 1604 in London, Middlesex, England

Husband of Anne (Clifford) Herbert — married 3 Jun 1630 in Chenies, Buckinghamshire, England

Descendants

Died 23 Jan 1650 at age 65 in Westminster, London, Middlesex, England

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Biography

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Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke and 1st Earl of Montgomery was an English courtier, nobleman, and politician active during the reigns of James I, Charles I, and the Civil War.

Ancestry and Family

Philip Herbert was the second son of Henry Herbert KG, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, and his wife Mary Sidney, daughter of Sir Henry Sidney KG and sister of the poet Sir Philip Sidney. ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]} He was born on 10 October 1584 at the Herbert family seat of Wilton ^[5], which had been granted in 1544 by Henry VIII to his grandfather William Herbert KG, 1st Earl of Pembroke. This family was rooted in the area of Glamorganshire, where they retained lands for many generations and frequently represented it in Parliament.

The young Philip Herbert was close to his elder brother William Herbert KG, who succeeded their father as 3rd Earl of Pembroke on 19 January 1600/1. ^[2] He followed him to Oxford, entering New College at age 9 on 9 March 1592/3, but did not matriculate, although in 1605 he was award an honorary MA. ^[6] Together, in 1623, the "incomparable pair of brethren" were noted on the dedication page of Shakespeare's First Folio (although William was the truly literary brother, and Philip was sometimes called "illiterate" ^[4]). After William's succession to the peerage, 16-year old Philip followed him to court, where he was quickly noticed: "Mr Philip Harbert is here (at court), and one of the forwardest courtiers that ever I saw in my time, for he had not been here two houres, but he grew as bold as the best." (Rowland White to Sir Robert Sidney, 26 April 1600) ^[3] Queen Elizabeth, by that time, had lost her interest in forward young men, but at the accession of James I in 1603, the Herbert brothers acquired new honors, in particular Philip, who became one of the king's first court favorites, owing, it was said, "to the comeliness of his person." ^[7]

While Philip was named a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber and created Knight of the Bath by James I at his coronation on 25 July 1603, by the next year he had become so greatly favored that the king himself gave away the bride at his marriage to Susan de Vere, 3rd and youngest daughter of Edward de Vere 17th Earl of Oxford, and his wife Anne Cecil, daughter of William Cecil, Lord Burghley. Both were granted substantial royal marriage portions. ^[1] The event took place on 27 December at Whitehall, with celebratory revels, the king himself putting the newlywed couple to bed. Witnesses wrote that the bride "in her tresses and trinkets brided and bridled it so handsomely, and indeed became herself so well, that the king said, if he were unmarried, he would not give her, but keep her himself. ^[3]

This union, begun so auspiciously, was a fruitful one for the next 24 years, while ten children were born, three daughters and seven sons, most of them at Enfield House, Middlesex, a royal manor of which Herbert had been appointed keeper in 1616, and which he purchased in 1641. ^{[8] [2]}

Mary - d. 1616

Catherine - possible daughter - d. young

Anna Sophia - b. abt 1610; m. 1625 Robert Dormer 1st Earl of Carnarvon; d. 1643

James - b. 1616; d. 1617

Henry - b. & d. 1618

Charles - b. 1619; m. 1634 Mary Villiers; d. sp 1635

Philip - heir - b. 1620/1; m. (1) 1639 Penelope Naunton, (2) 1649 Catherine Villiers; d. 1669

William - b. 1622; d. by 1649

James - b. 1622/3; m. 1646 Jane Spiller; d. 13 April 1677

John - b. 1625; m. 1651 Penelope Bayning; d. sp 1659

Of these children, only two sons survived their father to leave heirs of their own: Philip, 5th Earl of Pembroke, and James, MP for Queenborough. Daughter Anna Sophia Dormer left one son, Charles Dormer, 2nd Earl of Carnarvon.

Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke, with his Family

While Herbert was know to have had mistresses, they apparently did not bear him any children. ^[7]

Following the death of Susan Herbert, Philip married secondly in 1630 to Anne Clifford, daughter of George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland and widow of Richard Sackville, 3rd Earl of Dorset. This marriage had no surviving issue. ^[9] Lady Anne survived him to die in 1676, at age 87, although they had been separated within five years of the marriage. ^[1] Also at about 1630, following the death of his brother and his own accession as Earl of Pembroke, Philip Herbert established his seat at Wilton, his birthplace. ^[5]

Courtier

Philip Herbert's place as a comely young favorite of the king was not a lasting one, as new young men continued to arrive at court, culminating with George Villiers, who eventually reigned as Duke of Buckingham, and with whom Herbert remained on good terms, so that he continued to accumulate honors and rewards in the king's service. ^[3] He was not especially ambitious, having no desire to conduct foreign policy or lead armies and fleets. Clarendon wrote, "He pretended to no other qualification than to understand dogs and horses... and received the king's bounty with more moderation than others who succeeded him...." ^[3] This suited James quite well, and during the next 20 years of his reign, his favor to Herbert continued, even despite the quarrels he instigated within the court. ^[7] On 4 May 1605, the king created him Baron Herbert of Shurland (which would be used as a courtesy title for his successive sons) and Earl of Montgomery, later confiscating the castle of Montgomery to bestow it on him. In 1604, Herbert briefly sat as MP for Glamorgan, but as Lord Montgomery, he was raised to the House of Lords.

Montgomery was installed as a Knight of the Garter in 1608. Among numerous other offices, he was named Gentleman of the Bedchamber, high steward of Oxford University, Councillor for the Colony of Virginia. The Second Charter of Virginia; May 23, 1609 ^[4] By 1624, when he made Montgomery a Privy Councillor, James' life was fading, and he recommended him to his heir Charles. Accordingly, Montgomery was sent as part of the embassy to bring Charles' queen Henrietta Maria to England, bore the spurs at Charles' coronation, and succeeded his brother as Lord Chamberlain of the Royal Household. ^[7] The court of Charles I was a much different place from that of his father, but the king and Montgomery bonded over a shared love of art and architecture, Montgomery eventually acquiring the largest collection of the works of Van Dyke in existence. ^[4] Charles for some time made an annual visit to the Herbert seat at Wilton after Philip Herbert succeeded in 1630 to his brother's estate and title of Earl of Pembroke.

it was the religious differences then dividing the country that came between the puritan-inclined Pembroke and his king, who supported, William Laud, the persecutor of all things puritan, whom he would soon make Archbishop of Canterbury. Pembroke's brother William had been Chancellor of Oxford University, and he regarded the post as his by right. Laud, with good reason, believed he was unqualified and stood for it himself, successfully. The consequence was lasting emnity. ^[7]

When in 1638/9, the king attempted to force a Laudian prayer book on the presbyterian Scots, Pembroke, as Lord Chamberlain, was commissioned Captain-General of a regiment of Life-guard of Horse "for the safeguard and defence of his Majesty's person in his intended expedition to the northern parts." His son Philip, Lord Herbert, and his son-in-law, Robert Earl of Carnarvon were officers in this regiment. ^[10] The expedition failed, and Pembroke urged the king to make peace with the Scots, which advice Charles rejected, instead calling on Parliament to raise funds for another attempt. This was the first Parliament that Charles had called in eleven years, and the first that Philip Herbert would attend as the Earl of Pembroke.

Parliamentarian

Clarendon ^[11] wrote that Pembroke did not at first believe that Parliament would rebel against the king, but out of weakness went along with what more forceful voices proposed, notably William Fiennes, Lord Saye and Sele. He supported the indictments of the king's primary advisors, Laud and Strafford Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, and called in 1641 for Strafford's execution. ^{[12] [7]} As the conflict between king and Parliament escalated into civil war and peers left the House of Lords to join him at Oxford, Pembroke began to play an increasing role among the dwindling remainder. ^[13] In 1642, he pledged a thousand pounds and forty horses to the cause of Parliament. ^[14] Notably, he remained of the Parliamentarian party until his death at the end of 1649, although he was at first a member of the peace faction that sought accommodation with the king. ^{[15] [16]}

In January 1645, Pembroke voted for the attainder and execution of his old enemy Archbishop Laud, ^{[17] [18]} and in 1647, when the army of Parliament had taken Oxford from the king, they appointed him, at last, Chancellor of the university, after which he conducted a purge of the heads of the houses ^[19] and was reviled for it by the royalists. ^[7]

In 1648, when the captive King Charles had been surrendered into the hands of Parliament by his erstwhile allies the Scots, the majority of Parliament, including the House of Lords, remained set on finding some way to reconcile with him. Pembroke, with four other peers, was a commissioner for one last negotiation attempt held from September to November at Newport on the Isle of Wight , when one of the primary issues was the independence of the House of Lords. ^[20] This Treaty of Newport appeared to stand a good chance of acceptance by the majority in Parliament, but the Army intervened and purged the House of Commons, leaving only their own supporters, who then passed an Act establishing a High Court of Justice to try the king for treason. The Lords - reduced to twelve in number - refused their assent. ^[21] In the first version of the Act, there had been six peers, including Pembroke, among the proposed judges of the king. ^[22]

Shortly after the execution of the king and the abolition of the monarchy, the government of England was re-established as a Commonwealth, with no House of Lords, it being eliminated on 6 February 1649, by an Act proclaiming "That the House of Peers in Parliament is useless and dangerous, and ought to be abolished." ^[23] The executive function was established in a Council of State, in which, after some compromise, four peers - Pembroke, Salisbury, Denbigh and Fairfax - were seated. On 19 February 1649, Pembroke stood for and won a by-election as MP for Berkshire and was received into the House on 16 April - a circumstance which amused the usual royalist wits. He died within a year, on 23 January 1649/50, in his chambers at Whitehall. ^{[24] [1] [7]}

He was succeeded by his son Philip, as 5th Earl of Pembroke.

Legacy

Philip Herbert's Will ^{[25] [26]} was dated 1 May 1649. In it, he requested internment in the Cathedral Church of Salisbury, Wiltshire, near his family seat of Wilton, where his father and brother had been laid. He named:

Anne Countess of Pembroke "my loving wife", from whom he had been separated, to retain the jewels she had at her marriage

James Herbert "my son", previous grant of lands in Kent confirmed and granted an annuity from property in Monmouthshire in the hands of Anne Herbert

Son John Herbert granted the profits from the Office of the Court of Common Pleas, plus the amount of £5000.

Eldest son Philip, Lord Herbert, to receive life interest in "castles messuages and lands in the counties of Wilts, Dorset, Somerset, Glamorgan and Monmouth, the same to remain to William Herbert, son of the said Philip."

Grandson William Herbert - a codicil grants him an annuity of £500 until the age of 14, and afterwards £1000, with the power to distrain for nonpayment.

No mention was made of his orphaned grandson Charles Dormer, who had already succeeded to his father's title and estate. The Will of Philip, Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery, was proved 1 March 1649/50.

Contrary to his expressed desire in his Will, Parliament on 4 February 1649/50 ordered its members to accompany his corpse as it was carried out of town for burial. ^[27] He was interred in the Herbert family vault in the choir of Salisbury Cathedral, where the inscription is to his mother. ^[28]

Lord Pembroke's posthumous reputation is largely negative, but he was a contentious man in contentious times, when public opinion was afterward in the hands of his political opponents. He was a favorite target of royalist satirists. ^[29] As Chancellor of Oxford, he was described variously: ^[7] "the extreme weakness of his understanding and the miserable compliance of his nature." "better fitted by ‘his eloquence in swearing to preside over Bedlam than a learned academy.’" "He would make an excellent chancellor for the mews were Oxford turned into a kennel of hounds." Clarendon ^[11] wrote that "his understanding being easy to be imposed upon, and his nature being made up of very strong passions." His second wife, who was separated from him by the end of their marriage, granted him "very quick apprehension, a sharp understanding, very crafty withal and of a discerning spirit, but extremely choleric by nature, and that he was, in all respects, one of the most distinguished noblemen in England, and well beloved throughout the realm." ^[30]

Research Note:

The profiles previously attached as sons Walter Herbert and Richard Herbert have now been detached.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Cokayne, George E. The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant, Vol. 10, p. 419. London: The St Catherine Press, 1945. FamilySearch
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Cracroft's Peerage: Pembroke, Earl of. Cracroft
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4} Collins, Arthur and Brydges, Edgerton. Peerage of England, vol. III, p. 122 ff. London: F.C. and J. Rivington, Otridge and Son, 1812. Collins
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3} History of Parliament Online: HERBERT, Sir Philip (1584-1650), of Wilton House, Wilts HOP
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} "Wilton: Manors and lesser estates." A History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume 6. Ed. Elizabeth Crittall. London: Victoria County History, 1962. 8-9. British History Online. Web. 19 February 2023. BHO
6. ↑ "Hawten-Hider." Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714. Ed. Joseph Foster. Oxford: University of Oxford, 1891. 679-705. British History Online. Web. 19 February 2023. BHO
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 7.8} Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 26: Herbert, Philip (1584-1650) by Sidney Lee DNB
8. ↑ Lysons, Daniel. "Enfield." The Environs of London: Volume 2, County of Middlesex. London: T Cadell and W Davies, 1795. 278-334. British History Online. Web. 19 February 2023. BHO
9. ↑ Williamson, p. 172. p. 172
10. ↑ "Charles I - volume 414: March 1-20, 1639." Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Charles I, 1638-9. Eds. John Bruce, and William Douglas Hamilton. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1871. 522-588. British History Online. Web. 20 February 2023. BHO
11. ↑ ^{11.0 11.1} Hyde, Edward, 1st Earl of Clarendon, The History of the Rebellion, vol.II, pt. 1, p. 207. Clarendon
12. ↑ Firth, Charles Harding. The House of Lords During the Civil War p. 76. London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1910. p. 76.
13. ↑ Firth, pp. 115-166. p. 115
14. ↑ Firth, p. 121 p. 121
15. ↑ Gardiner, Samuel Rawson. History of the Great Civil War, 1642-1649 vol 1, p. 53 & p. 80. p. 53 p. 80
16. ↑ Firth, p. 132 p. 132
17. ↑ "January 1645: Ordinance for the Attainder of the Archbishop of Canterbury." Acts and Ordinances of the Interregnum, 1642-1660. Eds. C H Firth, and R S Rait. London: His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1911. 608. British History Online. Web. 21 February 2023. BHO
18. ↑ Gardiner, vol 2, p. 102. p. 102
19. ↑ "House of Lords Journal Volume 10: 21 April 1648." Journal of the House of Lords: Volume 10, 1648-1649. London: His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1767-1830. 213-219. British History Online. Web. 21 February 2023. BHO
20. ↑ Firth, pp. 199 ff p. 199
21. ↑ Gardiner, Vol. 4, p. 307. p. 307
22. ↑ Firth, p. 207. p. 207
23. ↑ Firth, p. 213. p. 213
24. ↑ Firth, p. 223. p. 223
25. ↑ PCC 1 Pembroke
26. ↑ Williamson, George Charles. Lady Anne Clifford, Countess of Dorset, Pembroke & Montgomery, 1590-1676: Her Life, Letters and Work S R Publishers, 1967. Appendix, "Summary of the Will of the Earl of Pembroke", p. 462. p. 462
27. ↑ "Volume 5: February 1-15, 1650." Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Interregnum, 1649-50. Ed. Mary Anne Everett Green. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1875. 500-516. British History Online. Web. 20 February 2023. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/domestic/interregnum/1649-50/pp500-516 BHO]
28. ↑ Salisbury Cathedral Burial
29. ↑ Anon., "The last vvill and testament of the Earl of Pembroke", 1650? Text Creation Partnership
30. ↑ Coleridge, Hartley. The Worthies of Yorkshire and Lancashire, p. 281. Whittaker, 1836. p. 281

See Also:

• Wikipedia: Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke.