William Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, Earl of Huntingdon

See Peter Bartrum, http://cadair.aber.ac.uk/dspace/bitstream/handle/2160/5005/GODWIN%2... (February 1, 2018; Anne Brannen, curator)

(The Welsh Genealogies does not list Katherine Plantagenet, with whom he had no children, as his wife.)

William Herbert,

• 2nd Lord Herbert [E., 1461] on 27 July 1469.
• 2nd Earl of Pembroke [E., 1468] on 27 July 1469.
• Resigned as Earl of Pembroke before 4 July 1479.
• 1st Earl of Huntingdon [England] on 4 July 1479.

Links:

Thepeerage: http://thepeerage.com/p10736.htm#i107359

Geneall: http://www.geneall.net/U/per_page.php?id=2203

Wikipedia:

English: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Herbert,_2nd_Earl_of_Pembroke

William Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, 2nd Baron Herbert (5 March 1451 – 16 July 1491) was the son of William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke and Anne Devereux. His maternal grandparents were Walter Devereux, Lord Chancellor of Ireland and Elizabeth Merbury.

He succeeded his father in the earldom in 1469. In 1479, he surrendered the earldom, and was created Earl of Huntingdon. A Yorkist, he married Mary Woodville, sister of the queen, Elizabeth Woodville, and they had one daughter, Elizabeth Herbert, 3rd Baroness Herbert.

He was the least wealthy of the earls of his time, and after his marriage to his second wife, Katherine, an illegitimate daughter of King Richard III of England, he received an annuity of some 600 pounds a year, nearly doubling his income.[1] Katherine was presumed to be dead by 1487, because when William participated in the coronation of his first wife's cousin, Elizabeth of York, he was noted to have been a widower.

Herbert remained loyal to Richard III. After the rebellion of 1483 he received the post of Chief Justice of South Wales, which had been the Duke of Buckingham's.

When Henry of Richmond landed in south Wales in 1485 Herbert's position forced Henry to take a roundabout route into England.[1] It is likely that a Herbert agent first notified Richard III of Henry's landing.[2] Herbert did not, however, fight at Bosworth.

When he died, his only child, Elizabeth Herbert, received the Herbert lands, including Raglan Castle, but not his title. However, oddly, his earldom did not pass to his younger brother, Walter Herbert.

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From Medlands: http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/ENGLAND,%20Kings%201066-1603.htm#Ri...

KATHERINE Plantagenet .

• m ([3 Mar/29 Sep] 1484) as his second wife, WILLIAM Herbert Earl of Pembroke, son of WILLIAM Herbert Earl of Pembroke & his wife Anne Devereux ([1455]-16 Jul 1491, bur Tintern Abbey). He resigned the Earldom of Pembroke in 1479, and was created Earl of Huntingdon 4 Jul 1479.

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From the Dictionary of the National Biography page on his father, William Herbert (d. 1469)

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Herbert,_William_(d.1469)_(DNB00)

The oldest legitimate son, William Herbert, second Earl of Pembroke, and afterwards Earl of Huntingdon (1460-1491), born on 5 March 1460, succeeded his father as second earl of Pembroke in 1469, and undertook in 1474 to serve Edward IV in war in France and Normandy, with forty men-at-arms and two hundred archers.

On 4 July 1479 he gave up the earldom of Pembroke in exchange for the earldom of Huntingdon at the request of the king, who desired to bestow it on his son Edward.

He was captain of the army in France, June to September 1475; was appointed justice of South Wales on 15 Nov. 1483, and acted as commissioner of array in Wales, Monmouth, and Herefordshire.

He died in 1491.

On 28 Feb. 1484 he covenanted to marry Catherine, daughter of Richard III; but the princess died before the time appointed for the marriage, and Huntingdon married Mary, fifth daughter of Richard, earl Rivers. By her he had an only child, Elizabeth, who married Charles Somerset, earl of Worcester, the ancestor of the Dukes of Beaufort.

• 'Sir William Herbert1,2
• 'M, b. circa 1468, d. 1524
• Father Sir William Herbert, 1st Earl Pembroke, 1st Lord Herbert, Sheriff of Glamorgan & Morgannock, Chief Justice of North & South Wales1 b. c 1423, d. 27 Jul 1469
• Mother Frond ferch Hoesgyn1 b. c 1440
• ' Sir William Herbert was born circa 1468; He was illegitimate.1 He married Blanche Milbourne, daughter of Simon Milbourne, Esq., Sheriff of Herefordshire and Jane Baskerville, after 1500.2,3 Sir William Herbert died in 1524 at of Troy Parva, Mitchell Troy, Monmouthshire, England.1
• 'Family Blanche Milbourne b. c 1474
• Citations
• 1.[S61] Unknown author, Family Group Sheets, SLC Archives.
• 2.[S11588] Some Early English Pedigrees, by Vernon M. Norr, p. 145.
• 3.[S5] Douglas Richardson, Plantagenet Ancestry, p. 500.
• http://our-royal-titled-noble-and-commoner-ancestors.com/p1948.htm#...
• ______________
• 'William HERBERT of Troye (Sir)
• 'Born: ABT 1448 / 1452, Troye, Monmouthshire, Wales
• 'Died: Apr 1524
• Father: William HERBERT (1º E. Pembroke)
• Mother: Frond Verch HOESGYN
• 'Married 1: Jane DUNN
• 'Married 2: Blanche MILBOURNE ABT 1499
• Children:
  • 1. Charles HERBERT (Sir Knight)
  • 2. Thomas HERBERT
  • 3. Son HERBERT
• http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/HERBERT3.htm#William HERBERT of Troye (Sir)
• ________________

Blanche Herbert, Lady Troy, (previously Blanche Milborne, then Blanche Whitney) was the Lady Mistress in charge of the upbringing of Queen Elizabeth I, Edward VI and also of Queen Mary when she lived with the younger Tudor children. She was twice married, and widowed; first to James Whitney then 'Sir William Herbert of Troy Parva, an illegitimate son of William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke and one of his mistresses'. She had five children. Lady Troy died c. 1557 before Queen Elizabeth I’s accession.

Early life

Blanche Milborne was one of the eleven co-heiresses (a son and daughter died young) of Simon Milborne and Jane (Baskerville) of Burghill, Herefordshire. Her eldest sister, Alice married Henry Myles and they were the parents of Blanche Parry.[1] The family had widespread gentry connections; Sir William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke (1st creation) married Ann Devereux, the niece of Simon Milborne’s mother, Elizabeth Devereux.

First marriage

Blanche Milborne married James Whitney of Whitney and Pen-cwm; her dowry was the manor of Icomb in Gloucestershire which had belonged to her father and was inherited by their eldest son, Robert. James Whitney died on 30 July 1500, leaving Blanche with Robert aged thirteen years,[2] and James, Watkin and Elizabeth who were younger. Elizabeth's daughter, Ann Morgan of Arkstone, Herefordshire, married Henry Carey, later Lord Hunsdon by licence on 21 May 1545, and the son of Mary Boleyn.

Second marriage

'Between July 1500 and August 1502 Blanche remarried, becoming the second wife of Sir William Herbert of Troy Parva, an illegitimate son of Sir William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke and one of his mistresses, Frond verch Hoesgyn. It was a Welsh household; although Blanche was English she would have also been Welsh-speaking. Lewys Morgannwg states that she and her husband welcomed King Henry VII, his Earls and possibly his Queen to Troy House, Mitchel Troy near Monmouth in August 1502. Blanche and Sir William had two sons Charles and Thomas, both of whom were eventually knighted and served as sheriffs of Monmouthshire. (Sir William also had an illegitimate son, Richard.) Thomas married Anne Lucy of Charlecote.

'In 1505, Sir William Herbert of Troy gave an undertaking to keep the peace with his half-brother, Sir Walter Herbert of Raglan, and with Henry Myles, his brother-in-law. He is recorded as being an annuitant of Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham at Thornbury Castle in 1508, Sheriff of Herefordshire in 1515 and was knighted between Easter and Michaelmas 1516; thereafter Blanche Herbert was usually called Lady Troy. He died in 1524; Blanche and their son Charles were executors of his Will, in which Blanche was well provided for.[3] A clause of the Will trusted that Henry Somerset (then Lord Herbert but succeeded as 2nd Earl of Worcester in 1526/7) would be "a good lord to my wife and children." Sir William also requested that "Blanche will keep herself sole."

Royal court

By the 1530s, Lady Troy was in the Royal Household as shown by a later report, author not named (on the subversive activities of the Earl of Essex and Roger Vaughan in 1601) which has the preamble "My mother was chosen and brought to the Court by my Lady Herbert of Troy, to have been her Majesty's (Queen Elizabeth I's) nurse and had been chosen before all other had her gracious mother (Queen Anne Boleyn) had her own will therein…"[4] Lady Troy is mentioned at the christening of Prince Edward in 1537; when the procession reformed at the conclusion of the ceremony it was noted that, "Lady Elizabeth went with her sister Lady Mary and Lady Herbert of Troy to bear the train."[5]

Lady mistress ca. 1537 to ca. 1546

Margaret Bryan was in charge of Princess Elizabeth when she was a baby but she transferred to Prince Edward when he was born. The evidence shows that Lady Bryan was succeeded by Lady Troy; Prince Edward was also placed in her charge when he grew older for Lewys Morgannwg states that she was "in charge of his (Prince Edward’s) fosterage." Lady Troy’s position is confirmed by lists of personnel for Lady Elizabeth in the Letters and Papers of Henry VIII. Internal evidence suggests a range of dates for these lists from before 1536 to 1546. Lady Troy’s name heads the earlier lists, followed by Kate Champernon who was appointed in 1536 as a governess. In 1545 Roger Ascham (whose page was John Whitney, possibly a relation of Lady Troy) wrote to Champernon asking that she commend him to "my good Lady Troy and all that company of gentlewomen."[6] However, the c.1546 household list for Lady Elizabeth does not mention Lady Troy indicating that she retired from her position in late 1545 or early 1546; Elizabeth was then twelve years old.

In 1549, Sir Robert Tyrwhitt wrote that "Ashley…was made her mistress (Lady Elizabeth’s) by the king her father… But four of her gentlewomen confess that Ashley first removed Lady Troy…and then her successor (Blanche) Parry…".[7] Lady Troy had evidently intended her niece Blanche to succeed her but the post of Lady Mistress was given to Champernon (Blanche Parry remained as second in the household, succeeding Champernon when the latter died in 1565.)

Retirement

Lady Troy retired to her own furnished apartments at Troy House[8] where she was cared for by her son Charles and his wife, Cicill. The Household Accounts of Princess Elizabeth (1551–1552, Hatfield) show that Elizabeth sent her a regular half-yearly pension "by warrant" which was about half the amount she would have received while in post; a servant of the Knights Marshall was paid to deliver it.[9]

Death

Lady Troy died an honoured lady, probably in 1557 and certainly before the accession of Queen Elizabeth in November 1558.[10] If she was buried as her second husband had intended in the tomb in Monmouth parish church, now lost, it would have been adorned by the three effigies of Lady Troy, 'Sir William and his first wife'.

Her funeral elegy,[11] composed by the bard Lewys Morgannwg,[12] includes the lines:

• Arglwyddes breninesau,..................(She was a) Lady (in charge) of Queens,
• Gofrner oedd ban oedd yn iau...........A governess she was in her youth.
• Hi a wyddiad yn weddus..................She knew in a fitting manner
• Wybodau iarllesau'r llys,.................The accomplishments of the ladies of the court,
• Gorcheidwad cyn ymadaw...............(And she was the) guardian, before she passed away,
• Tŷ Harri Wyth a'i blant draw.............Of Henry VIII’s household and his children yonder.
• I Edwart Frenin ydoedd,...................To King Edward she was a true
• Uwch ei faeth, goruchaf oedd,..........(And) wise lady of dignity,
• Waetio yr oedd at ei Ras,.................In charge of his fosterage (she was pre-eminent),
• Gywirddoeth wraig o urddas.............(And) she waited upon his Grace.
• Arglwyddys plas a gladden',.............(She, whom) they buried, the Lady of the palace of Troy,
• Troe, a'i llew lletyai'r ieirll hen............And her lion (i.e. William), gave hospitality to the old Earls.
• Bu i frenin, bu fawr unwaith,..............A welcome was given to the King, Henry VII,
• Roeso, a'i ieirll, Harri Saith................And his Earls; he was great once.
• Gweddu y bu tra fu fyw......................She gave service all her life,
• Hon sydd frenhines heddiw................To the one who is Queen today (i.e. Mary I)….

References

• 1.^ Richardson 2007, p 26-27 & 39-46
• 2.^ Inquistion Post Mortem of James Whitney transcribed and translated by Michael A. Faraday
• 3.^ Will of Sir William Herbert of Troy, National Archives, Kew
• 4.^ MSS of the Most Hon. the Marquis of Salisbury part XI, Richardson 2007, p 37 & 171,
• 5.^ Letters & Papers King Henry VIII 1537 no 911, Richardson 2007, p 39 & 172
• 6.^ 'Letters of Roger Ascham', translated Maurice Hatch & Alvin Vos, Richardson 2007, p 44 & 172
• 7.^ Calendar State Papers Edward VI 1549, Richardson 2007, p 44 & 172
• 8.^ 1552 Will of Sir Charles Herbert, National Archives Kew
• 9.^ 'Household Accounts of the Princess Elizabeth 1551-1552' reprinted in The Camden Miscellany LV, Camden Old Series vol II 1853
• 10.^ Richardson 2007 for discussion of date based on the internal evidence and people named
• 11.^ Richardson 2007, 'Mistress Blanche, Queen Elizabeth I's Confidante' by Ruth Elizabeth Richardson, p 39-41 elegy given in full, in modern Welsh and English translation, also on www.blancheparry.com
• 12.^ 'Elegy to the Lady Blanche' by Lewys Morgannwg, Llansteffan MS 164, 118,in National Library of Wales, first published in A. Cynfael Lake, editor 'Gwaith Lewys Morgannwg' vol 1, Aberystwyth 2005; Richardon 2007 has a very slightly changed translation approved by Dr. Lake and Professor Gruffydd Aled Williams of the University of Wales, Aberystwyth
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blanche_Herbert,_Lady_Troy
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