Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke

• Son of William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke and Anne Parr, Countess of Pembroke
• 2nd Earl of Pembroke
• Knight of the Garter
• Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, KG, KB (in or after 1538 – 19 January 1601) was a Welsh nobleman, peer and politician of the Elizabethan era. He was the nephew of Catherine Parr, and brother-in-law of Lady Jane Grey, through his first wife.

Henry HERBERT (2° E. Pembroke), by The Tudor Place

• Henry HERBERT (2° E. Pembroke)
• Born: AFT 1538
• Acceded: 1570
• Died: 19 Jan 1601, Wilton
• Buried: 5 Mar 1601, Salisbury Cathedral
• Notes: See his Biography.
• Father: William HERBERT (1° E. Pembroke)
• Mother: Anne PARR (C. Pembroke)

Married

• Married (1) Catherine GREY (C. Hertford) 21 May 1553, London - ANNULMENT 1554
• Married (2) Catherine TALBOT (C. Pembroke) 17 Feb 1562/3, Baynard Castle, London
• Married (3) Mary SIDNEY (C. Pembroke) 21 Apr 1577

Children

• 1. William HERBERT (3° E. Pembroke)
• 2. Catherine HERBERT (b. 1581 - d. 1584)
• 3. Anne HERBERT (b. 1583 - d. ABT 1606)
• 4. Phillip HERBERT (4° E. Pembroke/ 1° E. Montgomery)

Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, by Wikipedia.

He was the son of William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke, and Anne Parr. His aunt was queen consort Catherine Parr, last wife of King Henry VIII. His uncle was William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton, who was an influential man during the reigns of Edward VI and Elizabeth I. Herbert was responsible for the costly restoration of Cardiff Castle. Pembroke, like other members of his family, was a man of culture. He was a special patron of antiquaries and heralds and collected heraldic manuscripts.

Herbert was educated at Peterhouse, Cambridge, under Archbishop John Whitgift. He is also said to have studied at Douay. In 1554, while his father was entertaining the entourage of Philip II of Spain's men at Wilton House, Herbert's discreet manners caught the attention of the Marquis de las Navas and he was made a gentleman of the chamber to King Philip upon his arrival in England. In 1557, he took part in a tournament held before Queen Mary, and accompanied his father to the siege of St Quentin.

Court life

In the court intrigues of Elizabeth's reign, Pembroke was regarded as a partisan of Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, and was certainly in very intimate relations with him. He took a prominent part in the trials of the 4th Duke of Norfolk; Mary, Queen of Scots in October 1586; and Norfolk's son Philip Howard, Earl of Arundel, in 1589.

In 1586, he succeeded his father-in-law, Sir Henry Sidney, as Lord President of Wales, a position he held until his death,[2] and became at about the same time Vice-Admiral of South Wales. From thenceforth, he spent much time at Ludlow Castle, the official residence of the president of Wales where he actively discharged the duties of his office.[1]

During the 1590s, Herbert was patron of Pembroke's Men, a theatre company who were the first group to perform a number of plays including The Isle of Dogs by Thomas Nashe and Ben Jonson.

In 1595, Pembroke was described as 'very pursife and maladise' and by September 1599, 'his life was despaired of'. Herbert died at Wilton House leaving his lady 'as bare as he could and bestowing all on the young lord even to her jewels'. He was buried in Salisbury Cathedral.[1]

Marriages and issue

• He was married to Lady Katherine Grey, sister of Lady Jane Grey, on 25 May 1553, in a political match arranged by their parents in the hopes of assisting the Duke of Northumberland with his plan to secure the succession of Jane who on the same day alongside her sister married the Duke's younger son, Lord Guildford Dudley. The union was never consummated, and in 1554, Queen Mary's influence led to the consent of Herbert's father's dissolution of the marriage.
• His second wife was Lady Catherine Talbot, whom he married in 1563, in a double wedding with their siblings Francis, Lord Talbot and Lady Anne Herbert.[4] Catherine and Francis were children of George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury, and his wife Lady Gertrude Manners, daughter of Thomas Manners, 1st Earl of Rutland. Queen Elizabeth was extremely fond of Lady Catherine and when Catherine developed a fatal illness she often visited her at Baynard's Castle.[1] She died in 1575 leaving no children by Herbert.[1]
• By April 1577, Herbert married his third wife, the Mary Sidney, daughter of Sir Henry Sidney and Lady Mary Dudley, daughter of John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, thus a younger sister of Guilford Dudley. Their children included William and Philip (who both were Earl of Pembroke after their father), Katherine (who died as a small child), and Lady Anne Herbert, who died young.

Issue

• William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke (8 April 1580 – 10 April 1630) KG, PC, of Wilton House in Wiltshire, was an English nobleman, politician and courtier. He served as Chancellor of the University of Oxford and together with King James I founded Pembroke College, Oxford. In 1608 he was appointed Warden of the Forest of Dean, Constable of St Briavels Castle, Gloucestershire, and in 1609 Governor of Portsmouth, all of which offices he retained until his death. He served as Lord Chamberlain from 1615 to 1625. In 1623 the First Folio of Shakespeare's plays was dedicated to him and his brother and successor Philip Herbert, 1st Earl of Montgomery.
• Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke and 1st Earl of Montgomery, KG, KB, PC (10 October 1584 – 23 January 1650) was an English courtier, nobleman, and politician active during the reigns of James I and Charles I. Philip and his older brother William were the 'incomparable pair of brethren' to whom the First Folio of Shakespeare's collected works was dedicated in 1623.
• Lady Anne Herbert
• Katherine Herbert

References

• Dictionary of National Biography: Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke
• Haynes, Alan. Sex in Elizabethan England. Gloucestershire: Sutton Publishing Limited, 1997. ISBN 0-905-778-359
• Haynes, Alan. Sex in Elizabethan England. Gloucestershire: Sutton Publishing Limited, 1997; ISBN 0-905778-35-9
• a b c d e f g h i j Lee, Sidney, ed. (1891). "Herbert, Henry (1534?-1601)" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 26. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 189–90.
• Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Pembroke, Earls of" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 21 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 79.
• Eric Ives. Lady Jane Grey: A Tudor Mystery. John Wiley & Sons. 2009. p. 321
• "Notes to the diary: 1563 Pages 393-396 The Diary of Henry Machyn, Citizen and Merchant-Taylor of London, 1550-1563". British History Online. Camden Society, 1848. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
• "The Sidney Homepage - Biography of the Countess of Pembroke"