William Herbert (1455 - 1491)

Born 1455 in Ragland, Monmouthshire, Wales

Ancestors

Husband of Mary (Wydeville) Herbert — married Sep 1466 in Windsor, Berkshire, England

Husband of Katherine (Plantagenet) Herbert — married about 8 Mar 1484 in England

Descendants

Died 16 Jul 1491 at about age 36 in Tintern Abbey, Chapel Hill, Monmouthshire, Wales

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Biography

William Herbert, Earl of Huntingdon, born in 1455, was the heir of William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, who had been captured at the battle of Edgecote and executed on the orders of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, in 1469. Whereas Pembroke had been a powerful and valued supporter of Edward IV, gaining his earldom (and Warwick’s enmity) as a result, the younger William Herbert had enjoyed little royal favor once he reached his majority. D. H. Thomas has suggested that William was inept or, more kindly, that William was dogged by ill health. Indeed, as early as 1483, when he was only about twenty-eight, he made his will.

Herbert had no reason to regret the passing of Edward IV. Although his first wife, Mary, had been a younger sister of Elizabeth Woodville, she had died several years before, so any benefit from the connection had died with her. Indeed, for the benefit of Edward IV’s heir, Prince Edward, Herbert had been forced in 1479 to exchange his earldom of Pembroke for the less valuable earldom of Huntingdon. From the start, then, he was a natural ally of Richard III, whose coronation he attended, bearing Queen Anne’s scepter. He may have served as chamberlain to Richard’s only legitimate son, Edward.

On February 29, 1484, Richard III and William Herbert entered into an indenture arranging the marriage of William to Katherine Plantagenet. The indenture, transcribed by D. H. Thomas, reads,

This indenture made at London the last day of February in the first year of the reign of our sovereign lord King Richard the Third, between our said sovereign lord King Richard the Third on the one party, and the right noble lord William, earl of Huntingdon, on the other party, witnesseth that the said earl promiseth and granteth to and with our said sovereign lord the king that, before the feast of St. Michael next coming [September 29, 1484], by God’s grace he shall take to wife Dame Katherine Plantagenet, daughter to our said sovereign lord; and before their marriage to make or cause to be made to her behalf a sure, sufficient, and lawful estate of certain his manors, lordships, lands and tenements in England to the yearly value of two hundred pounds over all charges, to have and to hold to him and to the said Dame Katherine and the heirs of their two bodies lawfully begotten in manner and form following: [that] is to wit, remainder to the right heirs of the said earl. For the which our said sovereign lord the king granteth to the said earl and to the said Dame Katherine to make or cause to be made before the said day of marriage a sure, sufficient, and lawful estate of manors, lordship, lands, and tenements in possession to the yearly value of one thousand marks over all reprise, to have to them and to their heirs males of their two bodies lawfully begotten: that is to say, lordships, manors, lands, and tenements in possession at that day to the yearly value of six hundred marks, and manors, lordships, lands, and tenements in reversion after the death of Thomas Stanley, knight, Lord Stanley, to the yearly value of four hundred marks. And in the mean our said sovereign lord granteth to the said earl and Dame Katherine an annuity of four hundred marks yearly to be had and perceived to them from Michaelmas last, during the life of the said Lord Stanley, of the revenues of the lordships of Newport, Brecknock, and Hay in Wales by the hands of the receivers of them for the time being. And over this our said sovereign lord granteth to make and bear the cost of the said marriage at the day of the solemnization thereof. In witness whereof our said sovereign lord to that one part of these indentures remaining with the said earl hath set his signet, and to that other part remaining with our said sovereign lord the said earl hath set his seal the day and year abovesaid.

Richard III duly granted William and Katherine (referred to as “Dame Katharine Plantagenet”) the annuity of 400 marks from the lordships of Newport, Brecknok, and Hay on March 3, 1484. The next grant, in May 1484, speaks of Katherine as William’s wife. Another grant followed on March 8, 1485.

These bare financial records are all that we know of Katherine’s life during her father’s brief reign. Whether she was old enough to consummate her marriage, whether she was happy in it, and whether she was close to her father are matters that can be only guessed at. Probably she would have spent much of her married life at Raglan Castle, the Herbert family seat in Monmouthshire.

In 1485, William Herbert played no part in impeding Henry Tudor’s march through Wales, nor is he recorded as having fought for his father-in-law at Bosworth. It may be, as D. H. Thomas suggests, that he simply had no military capacity; alternatively, Thomas suggests, Herbert might have been reluctant to move against Henry, who as his father’s ward had spent some time in the Herbert household as a youth. There was also the possibility that Henry would have married William’s sister if he had been unable to marry his first choice of bride, Elizabeth of York. If William did nothing to hinder Henry Tudor, he seems to have done nothing to help him either, for William himself did not receive a pardon until September 22, 1486.

Until recently, the Wikipedia article on Richard III claimed that following the battle of Stoke in June 1487, Katherine was “almost certainly arrested at Raglan Castle.” The Wikipedia editor gave no supporting evidence for this assertion, nor have I found any. Indeed, there is no evidence that either the earl or the countess was involved in the rebellion or that they were out of favor with the king at this point.

William Herbert attended Queen Elizabeth’s coronation in November 1487. The herald who recorded the event noted that “at that time the substance of all the earls of the realm were widowers or bachelors,” and named William, Earl of Huntingdon, as one of the widowers. When Katherine had slipped out of the world is unknown, as is so much else about her. It has been speculated that she died in childbirth, but if she did bear her husband any children, none survived the earl, who himself died in the summer of 1490 “in ye flower of his age.”

ETA: Erika Millen on Facebook pointed out that Horrox suggests in her Oxford Dictionary of English Biography entry on Richard that rather than Katherine dying, Herbert might have repudiated his marriage after Henry VII came to power. In that case, the “widower” would refer to Huntington’s first marriage, to Mary Woodville.^[1][2]

Marriage

Katherine married William HERBERT 2nd Earl of Pembroke, son of William HERBERT K.G., 1st Earl of Pembroke and Anne DEVEREUX. (William HERBERT 2nd Earl of Pembroke was born about 1455 in Raglan Castle, Usk, Monmouthshire, Wales 11064, died on 16 Jul 1491 in S.p.m. 11064 and was buried in Tintern Abbey, Monmouthshire, Wales.)^[3]

William HERBERT 2nd Earl of Pembroke

He married, 2ndly, between 3 March and 29 September 1483/4, Katharine, illegitimate daughter of RICHARD III (a). He died s.p.m., 16 July 1491, and was buried at Tintern Abbey. On his death the Earldom of Huntingdon became extinct, but the Barony of Herbert, according to modern doctrine, devolved on his daughter and heir Elizabeth, who married, in 1492, Sir Charles Somerset, who was created Earl of Worcester. [Complete Peerage X:402-3, (transcribed by Dave Utzinger)]^[4]

(a) On 8 Mar 1484/5 an annuity was granted to the King's kinsman William, Earl of Huntingdon, and Katharine his wife, until they should have grants to themselves and the heirs of their bodis of lordships, &c. to the same value. This proves that the marriage took place, which was doubted by Dugdale and in the 1st edition of this work. ^[5]

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.^[6]

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.

Sources

1. ↑ History Refreshed by Susan Higginbotham A Historical Novelist's New Perspectives on Old Times, https://www.susanhigginbotham.com/posts/katherine-plantagenet-richard-iiis-illegitimate-daughter/
2. ↑ Sources: Calendar of Patent Rolls Emma Cavell, ed., The Heralds’ Memoir 1486-1490. Peter Hammond, “The Illegitimate Children of Richard III,” in J. Petre, ed., Richard III: Crown and People. Michael Hicks, Anne Neville. Rosemary Horrox, Richard III: A Study in Service Rosemary Horrox and P. W. Hammond, eds., British Library Harleian Manuscript 433. D. H. Thomas, “The Herberts of Raglan as Supporters of the House of York,” Ph.D. dissertation, 1967.
3. ↑ Complete Peerage of England Scotland Ireland Great Britain and the United Kingdom, by G. E Cokayne, Sutton Publishing Ltd, 2000, X:402-3.
4. ↑ G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume X, page 402. Hereinafter cited as The Complete Peerage.
5. ↑ Jim Weber <jim.weber at nwintl.com>, WorldConnect at Rootsweb: http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=PED&db=jweber&id=I18172.
6. ↑ Ross, Charles (1981). Richard III. Methuen. ISBN 0-413-29530-3, page 151.

• Royal Ancestry;; by Douglas Richardson Vol. III page 280; Vol. V p. 460
• Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, Royal Ancestry series, 2nd edition, 4 vols., ed. Kimball G. Everingham, (Salt Lake City, Utah: the author, 2011), p 389, #13, William Herbert
• Medieval Lands, Charles Somerset

Acknowledgements

Magna Carta Project

William Herbert appears in Magna Carta Ancestry in a Richardson-documented trail from Gateway Ancestor Mary Johanna Somerset to Magna Carta Surety Barons Hugh le Bigod and Roger le Bigod (vol. II, pages 388-390 HERBERT), that needs further development by the Magna Carta Project. This trail is set out in the Magna Carta Trails section of the Gateway's profile.

• Needs Development: This profile was just put under management of the Magna Carta Project and needs development against the project's checklist to bring it up to current project standards. ~ Thiessen-117 16:58, 22 September 2020 (UTC)

See Base Camp for more information about identified Magna Carta trails and their status. See the project's glossary for project-specific terms, such as a "badged trail".