The title of Earl of Pembroke has been held successively by several English families, the jurisdiction and dignity being originally attached to the county palatine of Pembrokeshire.

Being effectively disinherited by the king (for the first but not the last time in his life) and with mounting debts, Richard welcomed the opportunity to restore his fortunes that presented itself in 1168.

In that year, he was chosen to lead a Norman expedition to Ireland in support of Diarmait Mac Murchada, the deposed King of Leinster.

In August 1189, at the age of 43, William Marshal, held by many to be the greatest knight in Christendom, was given the hand of Isabel de Clare, and, in 1199, was created the 1st Earl of Pembroke by King John.

Upon John's death in 1216, the seventy-year-old Marshal was named Regent of the kingdom and protector of the young King, Henry III.

[3] His brother Richard Marshal (died 1234), 3rd Earl, came to the fore as the leader of the baronial party, and chief antagonist of the foreign friends of Henry III.

He crossed to Ireland, where Peter des Roches had instigated his enemies to attack him, and in April 1234, he was overpowered and wounded, and died a prisoner.

As a result, he was unpopular, and was heavily involved in the Second Barons' War, supporting the King and Prince Edward against the rebels led by Simon de Montfort.

William's eldest surviving son, Aymer (c. 1275 – 1324), succeeded to his father's estates, but was not formally recognized as Earl of Pembroke until after the death of his mother Joan in 1307.

He was appointed guardian of Scotland in 1306, but with the accession of Edward II to the throne and the consequent rise of Piers Gaveston to power, his influence declined.

He became prominent among the discontented nobles, but in 1312, after the Earl of Warwick betrayed him by executing the captured Gaveston, he left the allied lords and joined the King.

His wife, Marie de St Pol, a descendant of King Henry III, was the founder of Pembroke College, Cambridge.

His son John (died 1376) married Margaret, daughter of King Edward III, and on the death without issue of his grandson in 1389, the Earldom of Pembroke reverted again to the Crown.

[4] Perhaps mindful of its earlier Tudor holder, the second earl surrendered his title to Edward IV ten years after acceding and received, in lieu, the Earldom of Huntingdon.

On 1 September 1532, a few months prior to her marriage to Henry VIII, Anne was granted the Marquessate of Pembroke; she was found guilty of treason and executed in May 1536, at which point the title became either forfeit or extinct at her death without male children.

An executor of Henry VIII's will and the recipient of valuable grants of land, Herbert was a prominent and powerful personage during the reign of Edward VI, with both the protector Somerset and his rival, John Dudley, afterwards Duke of Northumberland, angling for his support.

Pembroke's loyalty was at times suspected by Mary and her friends, but he was employed as governor of Calais, as president of Wales and in other ways.

The Earl retained his place at court under Elizabeth until 1569, when he was suspected of favouring the projected marriage between Mary, Queen of Scots, and the Duke of Norfolk.

When the great sorrow of her brother's death came upon her she made herself his literary executor, correcting the unauthorized editions of the Arcadia and of his poems, which appeared in 1590 and 1591.

[4] The Countess's other works include A Discourse of Life and Death, translated from the French of Plessis du Mornay (1593), and Antoine (1592), a version of a tragedy of Robert Garnier.

Robin Williams' book Sweet Swan of Avon published by Wilton Circle Press, USA, documents the Countess's fascinating life as well as those of her two sons (see below).

He was Chancellor of the University of Oxford in 1624 when Thomas Tesdale and Richard Wightwick refounded Broadgates Hall and named it Pembroke College in his honour.

He and his brother Philip (the second Herbert son who, for some profitable time, was the adored object of "bisexual" King James I's affections) are the "incomparable pair of brethren" to whom the First Folio of Shakespeare is inscribed.

[6] His brother, Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke (1584–1650), was for some years the chief favourite of James I, owing this position to his comely person and his passion for hunting and for field sports generally.

[6] Although Philip's quarrelsome disposition often led him into trouble he did not forfeit the esteem of James I, who heaped lands and offices upon him, and he was also trusted by Charles I, who made him Lord Chamberlain in 1626 and frequently visited him at Wilton.

Trusted by the popular party, Pembroke was made governor of the Isle of Wight, and he was one of the representatives of the parliament on several occasions, notably during the negotiations at Uxbridge in 1645 and at Newport in 1648, and when the Scots surrendered Charles in 1647.

From 1641 to 1643, and again from 1647 to 1650, he was Chancellor of the University of Oxford; in 1648 he removed some of the heads of houses from their positions because they would not take the Solemn League and Covenant, and his foul language led to the remark that he was more fitted "by his eloquence in swearing to preside over Bedlam than a learned academy".

In 1649, although a peer, he was elected and took his seat in the House of Commons as member for Berkshire, this "ascent downwards" calling forth many satirical writings from the royalist wits.

He was succeeded by his eldest son Sidney, 16th earl, who spent time in the service of the Duke of Kent and served as a trustee of the National Gallery.