Marquess of Pembroke was a title in the

Peerage of England The Peerage of England comprises all peerages created in the Kingdom of England before the Act of Union in 1707. In that year, the Peerages of England and Scotland were replaced by one Peerage of Great Britain. There are five peerages in t ...

created by

King Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disag ...

for his future spouse Anne Boleyn.

Background

The then extinct title of Earl of Pembroke had been very significant for the

House of Tudor The House of Tudor was a royal house of largely Welsh and English origin that held the English throne from 1485 to 1603. They descended from the Tudors of Penmynydd and Catherine of France. Tudor monarchs ruled the Kingdom of England and it ...

. It was held by Henry VIII's grand-uncle, Jasper Tudor, and it referred to the birthplace of

King Henry VII Henry VII (28 January 1457 – 21 April 1509) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizure of the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death in 1509. He was the first monarch of the House of Tudor. Henry's mother, Margaret Beaufort ...

. Henry VIII decided to raise his lover to the dignity of a marquess prior to finally marrying her. He chose to grant her the Marquessate of Pembroke.

Creation

On Sunday, 1 September 1532, Anne Boleyn was granted the Marquessate of Pembroke and land, mostly in Wales, worth over £1,000. The investiture ceremony was performed by Henry VIII himself in Windsor Castle. The ceremony was an elaborate affair, witnessed by the highest ranking peers and clergy in the kingdom, including Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire and Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, Anne's father and uncle respectively; Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk (Henry's brother-in-law); Edward Lee, Archbishop of York;

John Stokesley John Stokesley (8 September 1475 – 8 September 1539) was an English clergyman who was Bishop of London during the reign of Henry VIII. Life Stokesley was born at Collyweston in Northamptonshire, and became a fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, ...

, Bishop of London; and Stephen Gardiner,

Bishop of Winchester The Bishop of Winchester is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Winchester in the Church of England. The bishop's seat (''cathedra'') is at Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire. The Bishop of Winchester has always held ''ex officio'' (except dur ...

. The French ambassador was also present. The Bishop of Winchester read the patent of creation while Anne knelt before the King who then invested her with the coronet, the robe of estate and the charters of creation and of the lands. The sixteenth-century spelling of her title was often ''marquesse'' or ''marquess'', sometimes ''lady marquesse''; a feminine, like duchess, of the relatively rare title ''marquys''.''OED'' "Marquis" sense 3.; compare the quotation under "Marchioness": ''Cum‥Domina Anna, tunc Marchionissa Penbrochiæ, nunc vero Regina.'' See also Complete Peerage Vol. V, App. H

Succession

The marquessate was granted to Anne and her heirs male, but the patent did not include the usual provision that the said heirs male had to be of legitimate birth, thus enabling the title to pass to any illegitimate son Anne might have had. The attending peers did not fail to notice this unusual omission.

End of the Marquessate

It is not clear how the Marquessate of Pembroke ceased to exist. The latest it could have become extinct is upon Anne's death, without male heirs, on 19 May 1536. However, it could have become extinct earlier, either: *by merging with the Crown (i.e. became indistinct from other property of the Crown) on Anne's marriage to the King on 28 May 1533 (similar to the way titles held by the heir to the throne merge into the crown upon accession); or *by forfeiture of the title upon Anne's 15 May 1536 conviction for high treason. The effect of the marriage of a peer to a reigning monarch is unclear. Likewise, although forfeiture of titles was a common form of punishment for peers at this time, the historical record is unclear.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pembroke Extinct marquessates in the Peerage of England Noble titles created in 1532