William Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke (5 March 145116 July 1491) was an English nobleman and politician.

Early life

He was the son of William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke and Anne Devereux. His paternal grandparents were William ap Thomas and

Gwladys Saint Gwladys ferch Brychan () or St Gladys (), daughter of King Brychan of Brycheiniog, was the queen of the saint-king Gwynllyw Milwr and the mother of Cadoc "the Wise", whose ''Vita'' may be the earliest saint's life to mention Arthur. Gwl ...

, daughter of

Dafydd Gam Dafydd ap Llewelyn ap Hywel (c. 1380 – 25 October 1415), better known as Dafydd Gam, anglicized to David or Davy Gam, was a Welsh warrior, a prominent opponent of Owain Glyndŵr. He died at the Battle of Agincourt fighting for Henry V, Ki ...

, and his maternal grandparents were Walter Devereux,

Lord Chancellor of Ireland The Lord High Chancellor of Ireland, commonly known as the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, was the highest ranking judicial office in Ireland until the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. From 1721 until the end of 1800, it was also the hi ...

and Elizabeth Merbury. He succeeded his father in the

earldom Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. In modern Britain, an earl is a member of the peerage, ranking below a marquess and above a viscount. A feminine form of ''earl'' never developed; instead, ''countess'' is used. The titl ...

in 1469. In 1479, he was forced by

Edward IV Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483) was King of England from 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470, then again from 11 April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in England ...

to surrender the earldom with its accompanying lands in Wales to Edward's son, the future

Edward V Edward V (2 November 1470 – ) was King of England from 9 April to 25 June 1483. He succeeded his father, Edward IV, upon the latter's death. Edward V was never crowned, and his brief reign was dominated by the influence of his uncle and Lord ...

, and was created

Earl of Huntingdon Earl of Huntingdon is a title which has been created several times in the Peerage of England. The medieval title (1065 creation) was associated with the ruling house of Scotland ( David of Scotland). The seventh and most recent creation dates t ...

. William had hoped to restore to his family the Earldom of Pembroke. Awarding lands in the south-west of England meant that Edward had moved the family influence out of Wales. A

Yorkist The House of York was a cadet branch of the English royal House of Plantagenet. Three of its members became kings of England in the late 15th century. The House of York descended in the male line from Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, th ...

, he married

Mary Woodville Mary Woodville, Countess of Pembroke (c. 1456–1481) was a sister of Edward IV of England, Edward IV's Queen consort, Elizabeth Woodville, and of Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers. She later became the first wife of William Herbert, 2nd Earl ...

, sister of the queen,

Elizabeth Woodville Elizabeth Woodville (also spelt Wydville, Wydeville, or Widvile; c. 1437Karen Lindsey, ''Divorced, Beheaded, Survived'', p. xviii, Perseus Books, 1995. – 8 June 1492), known as Dame Elizabeth Grey during her first marriage, was Queen of Engla ...

, and they had one daughter,

Elizabeth Herbert, 3rd Baroness Herbert Elizabeth Herbert, 3rd Baroness Herbert (c. 1476 – 27 August 1507) was the sole heir and daughter of William Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, and his first wife, Mary Woodville. Her father died on 16 July 1491, and she inherited extensive ...

Later career

Herbert remained loyal to

Richard III Richard III (2 October 1452 – 22 August 1485) was King of England from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the Plantagenet dynasty and its cadet branch the House of York. His defeat and death at the Battle of Boswor ...

. After the

rebellion of 1483 Buckingham's rebellion was a failed but significant uprising, or collection of uprisings, of October 1483 in England and parts of Wales against Richard III of England. To the extent that these local risings had a central coordination, the pl ...

he received the post of Chief Justice of South Wales, which had been the

Duke of Buckingham Duke of Buckingham, referring to the market town of Buckingham, England, is an extinct title that has been created several times in the peerages of England, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom. There were creations of double dukedoms of Bucki ...

's. After his marriage to his second wife, Katherine, an illegitimate daughter of Richard III in 1484, he received an annuity of some £1,000 a year, nearly doubling his income.Charles Ross, ''Richard III'', (University of California Press, 1981), 158. Katherine is presumed to have died by 1487, because when William participated in the coronation of his first wife's niece,

Elizabeth of York Elizabeth of York (11 February 1466 – 11 February 1503) was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England from her marriage to King Henry VII of England, Henry VII on 18 January 1486 until her death in 1503. She was the daughter of King E ...

, he was noted to have been a widower. When Henry of Richmond landed in south Wales in 1485 Herbert's position forced Henry to take a roundabout route into England. It is likely that a Herbert agent first notified Richard III of Henry's landing.Charles Ross, ''Richard III'', 211. Herbert did not, however, fight at Bosworth.

Death and succession

When he died, his only child, Elizabeth Herbert, received the Herbert lands, including

Raglan Castle Raglan Castle () is a Late Middle Ages, late medieval castle located just north of the village of Raglan, Monmouthshire, Raglan in the county of Monmouthshire in south east Wales. The modern castle dates from between the 15th and early 17th cent ...

, but not his title. However, his earldom did not pass to his younger brother, Walter Herbert, as it had already been merged into

the Crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...

. The earldom would however be granted again to the Herbert family in 1551 as the tenth creation to his nephew, Sir William Herbert, the son of Sir Richard Herbert, an illegitimate son of William's father. The Herbert family today still retains the earldom of Pembroke, among others.

Notes

References

*Cokayne, George E. ''Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct, or Dormant.'' London: G. Bell & Sons, 1887. (p. 207
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Retrieved May 4, 2008 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pembroke, William Herbert, 02nd Earl Of 1451 births 1491 deaths William Herbert, 02nd Earl of Pembroke 2

William William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...

15th-century English people People of the Tudor period Earls of Huntingdon