- William, Lord Herbert, from Heir to Earl.
- Earl of Pembroke to the Earl Of Shrewsbury. October 16, 1604.
- The Herbert Brothers' Transition to Royal Favor.
- Dramatis Personae: the Herbert Brothers, Susan Vere and Ben Jonson.
Following Elizabeth's death, James I began a progress from Scotland. His intended eventual destination was London. All along his route he gained large numbers of English courtiers to add to his already prodigious company of Scottish retainers. Some were members of the old ruling elite. Most were young men looking to show themselves off in hopes of the various rewards monarchs were in a position to provide.
James, it turned out, loved a good party and this progress was mostly just that. Rather than end it, in fact, he choose to linger in the countryside around the capitol.
On the 29th and 30th of August, the Royal Party were entertained at Wilton, the noble mansion of William Herbert, third Earl of Pembroke1
The number of plague deaths in London were quite high. A grand funeral was being planned for Queen Elizabeth and he intended not to be present. It was likely the best choice to stay entirely out of that matter. As for his personal feelings, it was forbidden in his Court to wear black before him until well after she had been dispatched.
Just what convinced him to choose Wilton House, the Earl of Pembroke's country seat, as a home-base as he waited for London matters to be resolved is not clear. Presumably the house and environs were spacious enough to accommodate the great number that had joined his train. Sir Robert Cecil's estate at Theobalds would next become home-base ─ just before entering London ─ but it was he who was away managing the Queen's funeral.
In part, it was likely also chosen for its proximity to Winchester ─ then largely outside the effects of the plague ─ in order to begin to assemble his government. Perhaps more importantly, in James's estimation, the hunting was good in the area and nearby Basing.
The King's host, William Herbert, the Earl of Pembroke, had been exiled from the Royal Court under Elizabeth. We find him described in Anthony a Wood.
Wood says, “He was the very picture and viva effigies of Nobility. His person was rather majestic than elegant, and his presence, whether quiet or in motion, was full of stately gravity. His mind was purely heroic, often stout, but never disloyal;2
Now his seat was the Court. At the same time that he was hosting the King he must take care of his own business. He was negotiating for the hand of Lady Mary, the daughter of Gilbert Talbot, the Earl of Salisbury.
He generally joined in the King's beloved hunting parties and likely did so here. His younger brother, Philip, however, loved hunting all of his life, above all other pursuits, and was James's constant hunting companion throughout his reign. This and a buff exterior was the way to James's heart. Philip is said to have been his first favorite. As the result, he was soon made a Groom of the Bedchamber, granted a knighthood of the Order of Bath, a Barony of Shierland, the Earldom of Montgomery, various monopolies and large gifts of money.
William Herbert was also favored, but, being not as interested in sports, and much occupied with running an Earldom, he would suffice, for the time being, with the ultimate prize of a Knighthood of the Garter. Of Englishmen, only he and the Earl of Southampton received the high honor on the first go-round in 1603.
William was quietly married to Lady Mary in November of 1604. Philip was married to Lady Susan de Vere, in December of the same year, in lavish style at Court. Both Herberts were constant presences at Court but especially Philip. Mary proved maladapt as a courtier and only occasionally attended. Her marriage to the Earl was a loveless one.
Lady Susan, on the other hand, flourished at Court all of her life. While no great love match, her marriage to Philip seems to have succeeded well enough. Of her husband Wood reports,
He was quite different in nature from the aforesaid William, being a Person esteemed a very frequent swearer, and one so intolerably cholerick, quarrelsome, and offensive while he was Lord Chamberlain to King Charles I that he did not refrain to break many wiser heads than his own.3
The reports upon which Wood based this portrait all seem to have come from a disaffected groom let go from Montgomery's estate. Nevertheless, there are signs that Susan was very careful not to rouse her husband's anger, and, on at least one occasion, sought to protect one of her father's old secretaries from the possibility of his wrath.
As for how the brothers themselves got along together, each very aggressively watched out for the interest of the other. William shrank from office seeking and his brother likely played a role in his appointment, in 1610, as Lord Chamberlain. When William wished to resign the office, he refused to do so until guaranteed it would fall to Philip.
1Nichols, John. The Progresses, Processions, and Magnificent Festivities, of King James The First (1828). I.254.
2 Nichols. I.255n. citing Athenae Oxoniensis. I.796.
3 Wood, Anthony. Athenae Oxoniensis (1691). I.796.
Also at Virtual Grub Street:
- More on Thomas North as Shakespeare and author of Arden of Feversham. June 14, 2021. “This is also the reason why the title pages included the address of the shop that was selling the book.”
- A 1572 Oxford Letter and the Player’s Speech in Hamlet. August 11, 2020. “The player’s speech has been a source of consternation among Shakespeare scholars for above 200 years. Why was Aeneas’ tale chosen as the subject?”
- Gutenberg, proto-Hack Writers and Shakespeare. May 26, 2020. “A less well known effect of the Reformation was that many young Catholic men who had taken religious orders in order to receive an education began to lead lives at large from monastic discipline. Like Erasmus and Rabelais they took up the pen.”
- Shakespeare’s Funeral Meats. May 13, 2020. “Famous as this has been since its discovery, it has been willfully misread more often than not. No mainstream scholar had any use for a reference to Hamlet years before it was supposed to have been written.”
- Check out the English Renaissance Article Index for many more articles and reviews about this fascinating time and about the Shakespeare Authorship Question.
- Check out the Letters Index: Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford for many letters from this fascinating time, some related to the Shakespeare Authorship Question.
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