Cylchgronau Cymru

Sir Richard Herbert (d. 1539) of Montgomery:Part 1 W.R.B. ROBINSON In his autobiography written in the early seventeenth century, Edward (d. 1648), Lord Herbert of Chirbury, gave the following description of his great-grandfather, Sir Richard Herbert of Montgomery: My Great Grand-father Sir Richard Herbert was Steward in the time of King Henry the Eight of the Lordships, and the Marches of North-Wales, East-Wales, and Cardeganshire, and had power in a Marshal Law to execute Offenders; in the using thereof he was so just, that he acquired to himself a singular Reputation, as may appear upon the Records of that time, kept in the paper Chamber at White-Hall, some touch whereof I have made in my History of Henry 8th; of him I can say little more than that he likewise was a great Suppressor of Rebells, Thievs, and Outlaws, and that he was just and conscionable, for if a false or cruel person had that power committed to his hands, he would have rais'd a great Fortune out of it where of he left a litle, save what his Father gave him unto prosterity. He lyeth buried likewise in Montgomery; the upper Monument of the two placed in the Chancell being erected for him. Lord Herbert's autobiography remained in manuscript until 1764, but as he indicated in the passage quoted above, he included a commendatory reference to his ancestor in his important historical study, The Life and Reign of King Henry VIII, the first published in the year after his death in 1648. 2 In it he referred to the situation in the marcher lordships before the enactment of Henry VIII's legislation for Wales, and commented that in the king's marcher lordships of east, west and north Wales administered by his great- grandfather Sir Richard Herbert, such justice was used as he found him highly commended to the king's Council by Rowland Lee, President of Wales. This probably refers to Bishop Lee's comment in his letter dated 24 May 1539 to Thomas Cromwell. After reporting that Sir Richard had died the previous day, Lee continued: 'I have as greate losse of him as thoughe I had lost oone of myne armes in the governaunce of these partyes as in Powes, Kery, Kedewen and Cloones lande'.3 Sir Richard's prominent role in mid Wales is 'J.M. Shuttleworth (ed.), The Life of Edward, First Lord Herbert of Cherbury written by himself, (Oxford, 1976), hereafter cited as Life of Lord Herbert, pp. 4-5. The article on Lord Herbert in the Dictionary of National Biography uses the spelling 'Cherbury', but The Complete Peerage, comp. G.E. Cokayne and others (13 vols in 14, 1910-59), hereafter cited as Complete Peerage, uses the spelling 'Chirbury', which is used in this article. 2The Life and Reign of King Henry VIII, by Edward, Lord Herbert of Chirbury. The reference in the next sentence is on p. 322 of the 1740 London edition. 3Public Record Office (PRO), SP1/151, fo. 155, calendared in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII, hereafter Letters and Papers, vol. 14, pt i, no. 1020.