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HERBERT (FAMILY)

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Originally appearing in Volume V13, Page 339 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HERBERT (See also:FAMILY) . The sudden rising of this See also:English family to See also:great See also:wealth and high See also:place is the more remarkable in that its See also:elevation belongs to the 15th See also:century and not to that See also:age of the Tudors when many new men made their way upwards into the ranks of the See also:nobility. Earlier generations of a See also:pedigree which carries the origin of the Herberts to Herbert the See also:Chamberlain, a Domesday See also:tenant, being disregarded, their See also:patriarch may be taken to be one Jenkin ap See also:Adam (temp. See also:Edward III.), who had a small See also:Monmouthshire See also:estate at Llanvapley and the See also:office of See also:master sergeant of the lordship of See also:Abergavenny, a place which gave him See also:precedence after the steward of that lordship. Jenkin's son, Gwilim ap Jenkin, who followed his See also:father as master sergeant, is given six sons by the border genealogists, no less than six See also:score pedigrees finding their origin in these six See also:brothers. Their See also:order is uncertain, although the Progers of Werndee, the last of whom sold his ancestral estate in 1780, are reckoned as the See also:senior See also:line of Gwilim's descendants. But See also:Thomas ap Gwilim Jenkin, called the See also:fourth son, is ancestor of all those who See also:bore the surname of Herbert. Thomas's fifth son, See also:William or Gwilim ap Thomas, who died in 1446, was the first See also:man of the family to make any figure in See also:history. This Gwilim ap Thomas was steward of the lordships of See also:Usk and See also:Caerleon under See also:Richard, See also:duke of See also:York. See also:Legend makes him a See also:knight on the See also:field of See also:Agincourt, but his See also:knighthood belongs to the See also:year 1426. He appears to have married twice, his first wife being See also:Elizabeth Bluet of See also:Raglan, widow of See also:Sir See also:James See also:Berkeley, and his second a daughter of See also:David Gam, a valiant Welsh See also:squire slain at Agincourt. Royal favour enriched Sir William, and he was able to buy Raglan See also:Castle from the See also:Lord Berkeley, his first wife's son, the See also:deed, which remains among the See also:Beaufort muniments, refuting the pedigree-maker's statement that he inherited the castle as See also:heir of his See also:mother " See also:Maude, daughter of Sir See also:John See also:Morley." His sons William and Richard, both partisans of the See also:White See also:Rose, took the surname of Herbert in or before 1461.

Playing a See also:

part in English affairs remote from the Welsh See also:Marches, their lack of a surname may well have inconvenienced them, and their choice of the name Herbert can only be explained by the See also:suggestion that their See also:long pedigree from Herbert the Chamberlain, absurdly represented as a See also:bastard son of See also:Henry I., must already have been discovered for them. Copies exist of an alleged See also:commission issued by Edward IV. to a See also:committee of Welsh bards for the ascertaining of the true ancestry of William Herbert, See also:earl of See also:Pembroke, whom " the chiefest men of skill " in the See also:province of See also:South See also:Wales declare to be the descendant of "Herbert, a See also:noble lord, natural son to See also:King Henry the first," and it is recited that King Edward, after the creation of the earldom, commanded the earl and Sir Richard his See also:brother to " take their surnames after their first progenitor Herbert fitz See also:Roy and to forego the See also:British order and manner." But this commission, whose date anticipates by some years the true date of the creation of the earldom, is the See also:work of one of the many genealogical forgers who flourished under the Tudors. Sir William Herbert, called by the Welsh Gwilim Ddu or See also:Black William, was a See also:baron in 1461 and a Knight of the Garter in the following year. With many manors and castles on the Marches he had the castle, See also:town and lordship of Pembroke, and after the See also:attainder of See also:Jasper Tudor in 1468 was created earl of Pembroke. When in See also:July 1469 he was taken by Sir John Conyers and the See also:northern Lancastrians on Hedgecote, he was beheaded with his brother Sir Richard Herbert of Coldbrook. The second earl while still a See also:minor exchanged at the king's See also:desire in 1479 his earldom of Pembroke for that of See also:Huntingdon. In 1484 this son of one whom See also:Hall not unjustly describes as See also:born" a mean See also:gentleman " contracted to marry Katharine the daughter of King Richard III., but her See also:death annulled the See also:contract and the earl married See also:Mary, daughter of the Earl See also:Rivers, by whom he had a daughter Elizabeth, whose descendants, the Somersets, lived in the Herbert's castle of Raglan until the See also:cannon of the See also:parliament See also:broke it in ruins. With the second earl's death in 1491 the first Herbert earldom became See also:extinct. No claim being set up among the other descendants of the first earl, it may be taken that their lines were illegitimate. One of the See also:chief difficulties which beset the genealogist of the Herberts lies in their See also:Cambrian disregard of the See also:marriage tie, bastards and legitimate issue growing up, it would seem, See also:side by side in their patriarchal households. Thus the ancestor of the See also:present earls of Pembroke and See also:Carnarvon and of the Herbert who was created See also:marquess of See also:Powis was a natural son of the first earl, one Richard Herbert, whom the restored inscription on his See also:tomb at Abergavenny incorrectly describes as a knight. He was See also:constable and See also:porter of Abergavenny Castle, and his son William, " a mad fighting See also:fellow " in his youth, married a See also:sister of See also:Catherine See also:Parr and thus in 1543 became nearly allied to the king, who made him one of the executors of his will.

The earldom of Pembroke was revived for him in 1551. It is worthy of See also:

note that all traces of See also:illegitimacy have long since been removed from the arms of the noble descendants of Richard Herbert. The honours and titles of this See also:clan of marchmen make a long See also:list. They include the marquessate of Powis, two earldoms with the See also:title of Pembroke, two with that of Powis, and the earldoms of Huntingdon and See also:Montgomery, See also:Torrington and Carnarvon, the viscountcies of Montgomery and See also:Ludlow, fourteen baronies and seven baronetcies. Seven Herberts have worn the Garter. The knights and See also:rich squires of the stock can hardly be reckoned, more especially as they must be sought among Raglans, Morgans, Parrys, Vaughans, Progers, Hugheses, Thomases, See also:Philips, Powels, Gwyns, Evanses and Joneses, as well as among those who have See also:borne the surname of Herbert, a surname which in the 19th century was adopted by the Joneses of Llanarth and Clytha, although they claim no descent from those sons of Sir William ap Thomas for whom it was devised. (0.

End of Article: HERBERT (FAMILY)

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HERBERAY DES ESSARTS, NICOLAS DE (d. about 1557)
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