He was ordered to Windsor, and placed under arrest in September 1509. He at once admitted sympathy with the scheme, but denied the charges of disloyalty to Elizabeth. On 5 Dec., when the Earls of Northumberland and Westmorland were in open revolt in the north of England, Pembroke wrote to the queen that they had wickedly and falsely used his name to his discredit; vehemently denied that he had ever thought of acting against Elizabeth or the protestant religion, and begged to be allowed to prove his words in action. He was appointed captain of an army of reserve, but his services were not required. He died at Hampton Court on 17 March 1569-1570. He was buried (18 April), as he desired, in St. Paul's Cathedral, where an elaborate monument was erected to his memory. His will was dated 28 Dec. 1569, and his son and heir was sole executor. His friends Leicester, Sir Walter Mildmay, Sir Nicholas Throgmorton, and Sir Gilbert Gerard were the overseers, and to these a codicil (16 March 1569-70) added Sir Nicholas Bacon, Sir James Croft, and Cecil. To the queen he left his 'best jewel, named the Great Ballace,' and his richest bed. On 26 March Elizabeth sent his widow a sensible letter of condolence.
A silver medallion-portrait, dated 1562, by Stevens, a Dutch medallist, is in the British Museum. A painting of Pembroke with a dog is at Wilton House, and Pembroke also appears in Streetes's picture of Edward VI at Bridewell Hospital. Other portraits belong to Earl Beauchamp and Charles Butler,esq.(Cat. Tudor Exhibition, 1890). An engraved portrait is in Holland's 'Herωologia.' A stained-glass window in Wilton Church contained portraits of Pembroke and his first wife. The latter is extant, but the existing portrait of himself is a modern restoration. Aubrey, who preserves many anecdotes of the earl, describes him as 'strong sett, but bony, reddish favoured, of a sharp eye, stern look.' He adds that Pembroke could neither read nor write, but documents with his signature in capital letters are extant. The favourite 'cur-dog,' which appears in the Wilton picture, is said by Aubrey to have died on his hearse. Aubrey declares that he was regarded by the Wiltshire gentry as an 'upstart,' and his retainers were constantly engaged in brawls with the retainers of neighbouring noblemen. Lord Stourton and he were certainly on very bad terms. Pembroke belonged to the new aristocracy, which the Tudor sovereigns created and encouraged, and his views in politics and religion were largely moulded by his personal interests; but he was a brave soldier, and faithfully served those with whom he allied himself. Of his buildings at Wilton the east front, much altered, alone survives, together with an elaborate porch, traditionally known as Holbein's porch, and now standing by itself in the gardens of the house. The porch cannot be from the designs of Holbein, who died in 1543 before Herbert was granted Wilton. A drawing of Wilton House, dated 1563, is engraved in Mr. Nightingale's 'Notices.'
Pembroke's first wife, Anne, was buried in St. Paul's Cathedral, 28 Feb. 1551. By her he had two sons, Henry, second earl [q. v.], his heir, and Edward, and a daughter Anne. The daughter married Francis, lord Talbot, son and heir of George, sixth earl of Shrewsbury, in February 1562. At the same time, the bride's elder brother, Henry, married the bridegroom's sister Catherine (Wright, Queen Elizabeth, i. 130). Pembroke's second wife was Anne, sixth daughter of George Talbot, fourth earl of Shrewsbury, and widow of Peter Compton. By her he had no issue; she was buried at Erith, Kent, on 8 Aug. 1588.
[Some Notices of William Herbert, first Earl of Pembroke of the present creation, by J. E. Nightingale, F.S.A.. 1878; Camden's Annals; Froude's Hist. of England; Aubrey's Lives, ii. 478; Dugdale's Baronage, ii. 258; Collins's Peerage, ed. Brydges, iii. 116 sq.; Doyle's Baronage; Lit. Remains of Edward VI, ed. Nichols (Roxb. Club); Machyn's Diary (Camden Soc.); Wriothesley's Chronicle (Camden Soc.); Chronicle of Queen Mary and Queen Jane (Camd. Soc.); Cal. State Papers, Dom.; Hoare's Modern Hist. of South Wiltshire, vol. ii. pt. i. pp. 140 sq.; Aubrey's Topographical Collections for Wiltshire, ed. Jackson, 1862.]
HERBERT or HARBERT, Sir WILLIAM (d. 1593), Irish 'undertaker' and author, was son of William Herbert of St. Julians, an estate in Monmouthshire lying between Caerleon and Newport. His mother was Jane, daughter of Edward Griffith of Penrhyn or Anglesea. He claimed to be 'heir in blood of ten earls.' He was undoubtedly sole surviving legitimate heir-male of William Herbert, earl of Pembroke (d. 1469) [q. v.], being great-grandson of Sir George Herbert of St. Julians, that earl's second son. Born after 1552, he was a pupil of Laurence Humphrey [q. v.], president of Magdalen College, Oxford (cf. Croftus), but none of the many William Herberts whose names appear on the Oxford University register can be identified with him, and if he studied at Oxford at all, it must have been as Humphrey's private pupil. He seems to be the William Herbert who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth at Richmond on 21 Dec. 1578
