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Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke

Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke.
By Van Dyck, c.1634.
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia.
From here.

Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke,
and 1st Earl of Montgomery, K.G.,
born 16th Oct 1584.
See wikipedia and thepeerage and historyofparliamentonline.
His father died 1601.
His older brother became 3rd Earl of Pembroke.

He mar 1stly, 27th Dec 1604, to Susan de Vere [born 26th May 1587, descendant of Edward I].

Earl of Montgomery 1605-30:
Philip was created 1st Earl of Montgomery, 4 May 1605. Memorial on grave incorrectly says 4 May 1621.
He was made Knight of Order of the Garter (K.G.) 1608.
From 1616 to 1623 he occupied Elsyng Palace (also called Enfield House), Enfield, Middlesex, N of London.
The Countesse of Mountgomeries Urania (1621) refers to Susan de Vere. It was written by the 4th Earl's 1st cousin (and lover of his brother) Lady Mary Wroth.

Susan dies, 1629:
Susan was bur 1 Feb 1629 [new style year] with her mother in Cecil tomb at Westminster Abbey, age 41 yrs.
She never became the Countess of Pembroke. She was the Countess of Montgomery.

Earl of Pembroke and Earl of Montgomery 1630-50:
Philip succ as 4th Earl of Pembroke when his older brother died, Apr 1630.

He mar 2ndly, 1 June 1630 [her age 41], to Anne Clifford [born 30th Jan 1589].
She was widow of Richard Sackville, 3rd Earl of Dorset.

See the famous group portrait of 4th Earl and family (about 1634-1635) in the Double Cube Room, Wilton.
As Earl of Pembroke, he employed Inigo Jones to spectacularly rebuild Wilton House, starting 1635.
He laid out formal gardens at Wilton in the 1630s, to the S of the house, on both the near and far banks of the river.
He planted the Cedars of Lebanon in the grounds in the 1630s.
There is a family bible dated 1638.
He was Chancellor of Oxford University 1641-1643 and 1648-1650.
Wilton was described by Charles I [executed 1649] as "One of the loveliest Houses in England".
Much of Wilton House was destroyed in a fire about 1647. It is thought that all earlier family papers were lost in this fire.
The 4th Earl carried on building.
Neither the 4th Earl nor Inigo Jones [died 1652] lived to see the completion of the work in 1653.

4th Earl dies, 1650:
He fell ill in May 1649.
He died after a long illness, 23 Jan 1650 [new style year], age 65 yrs, at his lodgings in the Cockpit, Westminster, London.
He was buried 9 Feb 1650 in Salisbury Cathedral, Wiltshire.
Anne died 22 Mar 1676 [at the time regarded as the end of 1675], age 87 yrs.
The 4th Earl had issue by 1st wife:

Anna Sophia Herbert, born est c.1610.
She mar 27th Feb 1625 to Robert Dormer, 1st Earl of Carnarvon [and here, born 1610] and had issue.
He was 2nd Baron Dormer.
He was cr 1st Earl of Carnarvon 1628.
He was a Royalist. He was killed in First Battle of Newbury 1643.
See images at [NPG].
She died 1694, age est c.84 yrs.
Catherine Herbert, died young.
Mary Herbert, died unmarried.

James Herbert.
Heir apparent.
Died in infancy, bur 1617.
Henry Herbert.
Heir apparent.
Died in infancy, bur 1618.
Charles Herbert,
bapt 19 Sept 1619.
Heir apparent.
He mar 8 January 1634 [him age 14, her age 12] to Mary Villiers [born 1622].
He died of smallpox, at Florence, Jan 1636 [new style year], age 16 yrs.
Mary remarried.
Philip Herbert, 5th Earl of Pembroke,
bapt 21 Feb 1621 [new style year] at Enfield, Middlesex.
William Herbert.
James Herbert (second James).
He mar Jane Spiller.
He died 1677.
John Herbert.

Anne Clifford, "circa 1650 (circa 1646)".
After Sir Peter Lely.
From NPG. See terms of use.

Baptism of 5th Earl, 21 Feb 1621 [new style year] at Enfield, Middlesex
It says Philip Herbert, son of Philip, Earl of Montgomery, baptised 21 Feb 1620 [old style year].
From England, Middlesex, Parish Registers. See details.

Westminster Abbey

Burial entry of Susan de Vere, 1 Feb 1629, Westminster Abbey.
From p.128 of [Westminster Abbey Registers].

The three girls on the Cecil tomb at Westminster Abbey are the three surviving daughters of Anne Cecil (Elizabeth, Bridget and Susan de Vere).
Susan de Vere is the youngest (on far right).
Photo 2012. See full size and other shot.

Bridget de Vere (left) and Susan de Vere (right) on the Cecil tomb at Westminster Abbey.
Photo 2013. See full size.

The formal gardens at Wilton

The now vanished formal gardens at Wilton House were laid out by the 4th Earl in the 1630s.
Designed by Isaac de Caus.
These were to the S of the house, on both the near and far banks of the river.
Later replaced by landscaped gardens by 9th Earl.

Design for the formal gardens at Wilton House.
Made for the 4th Earl by Isaac de Caus, c.1640.
Note the river flows through the middle.
See full size. From The Met.

Wilton House gardens.
From Les Delices de la Grande Bretagne & de l'Irlande, by Pieter van der Aa, 8 vols, 1707 (reprinted 1727).
From here.

Wilton House, showing the formal gardens to the S of the house (left here).
From a 1725 view.
See full size.

1647 signature

Signature of 4th Earl, "Pembroke&Mont", on document of 30 Nov 1647.
Order addressed to Thomas Fauconberg, to pay Sir Dudley Carleton £50. Also signed "Northumberland" by Algernon Percy, Earl of Northumberland, "Salisbury" (must be William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Salisbury), "Hen: Mildmay" by Sir Henry Mildmay and "Cor: Holland" by Cornelius Holland. With Signed receipt on the reverse by Dudley Carleton.
For sale here in Spink auction, 9 July 2019.
Notes on dating:

The front has:
- Date in the body of the text of apparently 1643 altered to 1623.
- Signature date of apparently 30 Nov 1647 altered to 1627.
The back has:
- Date of Dec 1647 (not altered).
A 1627 signature does not make sense, since the 4th Earl was only "Montgomery" at this date and not "Pembroke and Montgomery".
The back shows that 1647 is the correct date for the signature. What probably happened was the date in the body of the text was wrong and someone corrected it, and accidentally corrected the signature date too.

Connections with Shakespeare

The Herbert family had a number of connections with William Shakespeare.

It is reputed that Shakespeare and his players first performed As You Like It (1600) and perhaps Twelfth Night (prob. 1601) at Wilton. (Though nearby Salisbury town, Wiltshire, also claims a particular spot as the place where As You Like It was first performed.)
Shakespeare's sonnets were dedicated to "Mr. W. H." in 1609. This has been identified with William Herbert, the 3rd Earl. See the short story The Portrait of Mr. W. H. in Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories by Oscar Wilde.
Some people have suggested that the 3rd Earl of Pembroke is the model for the "Fair Youth" in Shakespeare's sonnets, and that his lover Mary Fitton is the "Dark Lady".
The First Folio edition of Shakespeare's plays (published posthumously 1623) is dedicated to the 3rd and 4th Earls of Pembroke.

The Herbert family also had a number of connections with Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford.
Some fringe people have claimed Oxford is the real Shakespeare. (Most professional historians and academics reject this theory.)
But it is interesting that the Herberts have links to both.

De Vere's unhappy wife Anne Cecil had once been intended for Lady Pembroke's brother Sir Philip Sidney. Anne married de Vere in 1571, and he treated her badly.
Sidney (still then unmarried) and de Vere had a famous quarrel in 1579.
In 1597 it was proposed that William Herbert (the future 3rd Earl of Pembroke) would marry de Vere's daughter Bridget. Terms were not acceptable to Herbert and he withdrew. He married another in Nov 1604.
The 4th Earl married de Vere's daughter Susan in Dec 1604.

The First Folio edition of Shakespeare's plays (published posthumously 1623) is dedicated to the 3rd and 4th Earls of Pembroke.
From here. See also p.2.
See many more images.

Portraits of Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke

Group portrait of 4th Earl and family