Herbert. Herbert Fitz-Herbert was chamberlain and treasurer to King Henry I. Seven or eight generations later, we find the Herberts diverging into several distinct branches, including the lines of the Earls of Powis (now extinct in the male line), of the Lords Herbert of Cherbury (also extinct), the Herberts of Muckross, and also several untitled branches which have flourished upon their ancestral lands in England, Wales, and Ireland. In the reign of Henry V. Sir William Herbert of Raglan Castle, County Monmouth, received the honour of knighthood in reward of his valour in the French wars. His eldest son, a staunch adherent of the House of York, was created Earl of Pembroke by Edward IV. in 1468, but fell into the hands of the Lancastrians after the battle of Danesmoor, and was beheaded the following day. His son became Earl of Huntingdon.
The title of Earl of Pembroke was restored to the Herberts in 1551 in the person of the son of an illegitimate son of the first earl. The new earl was one of the most influential noblemen of his age, and one who took an active part in public affairs, both as a statesman and a soldier. By his wife, who was a sister of Catharine Parr (the last queen of Henry VIII.), he had a son Henry, second earl, to whose countess, Mary ('Sidney's sister, Pembroke's mother'), Sir Philip Sidney dedicated his Arcadia. It has been attempted to identify Shakespeare's 'W. H.,' the 'only begetter' of the Sonnets, with the third earl, who succeeded in 1621. The fourth earl, some time Lord Chamberlain to Charles I., and Chancellor of the university of Oxford, was also Earl of Montgomery. The eighth earl held several high offices under Queen Anne, including that of Lord High Admiral. Lord Herbert (q.v.) of Lea was a younger son of the eleventh earl; and his son became (1862) thirteenth Earl of Pembroke, and tenth Earl of Montgomery. The Earls of Carnarvon, more than one of whom have gained celebrity in the field of literature, descend from the eighth Earl of Pembroke mentioned above. The recent Earls of Powis are descended from the same stock maternally, the only child and heiress of the last Earl of Powis of the Herbert stock having married the eldest son of the illustrious Lord Clive, in whose favour that title was renewed in 1804.