William Herbert

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 30 Jul 1469, Northampton, Northamptonshire, England

Notes:

Also called William ap Gwilym. Nicknamed "Gwilym ddu," Black William. 1st Earl of Pembroke of the eighth creation. Knighted in 1452, he was the first full-blooded Welshman to enter the English peerage. Summoned to Parliament by writs dated 26 Jul 1461 to 28 Feb 1467.

From Wikipedia (accessed 3 Sep 2020):

William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke KG […] known as "Black William", was a Welsh nobleman, soldier, politician, and courtier. He was the son of William ap Thomas, founder of Raglan Castle, and Gwladys ferch Dafydd Gam, and grandson of Dafydd Gam, an adherent of King Henry V of England.

His father had been an ally of Richard of York, and Herbert supported the Yorkist cause in the Wars of the Roses. In 1461 Herbert was rewarded by King Edward IV with the title Baron Herbert of Raglan (having assumed an English-style surname in place of the Welsh patronymic), and was invested as a Knight of the Garter.

Soon after the decisive Yorkist victory at the Battle of Towton in 1461, Herbert replaced Jasper Tudor as Earl of Pembroke which gave him control of Pembroke Castle - and with it he gained the wardship of young Henry Tudor. However, he fell out with Lord Warwick "the Kingmaker" in 1469, when Warwick turned against the King. Herbert was denounced by Warwick and the Duke of Clarence as one of the king's "evil advisers". William and his brother Richard were executed by the Lancastrians, now led by Warwick, after the Battle of Edgecote Moor, near Banbury.

Family/Spouse: Maude. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Richard Herbert was born in of Ewyas, Monmouthshire, Wales; died on 12 Sep 1510; was buried in Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, Wales.

Notes:

Also called Gwilym ap Thomas. Long said to have fought at Agincourt, but contemporary records do not include his name. He was certainly in the retinue of Henry V in his first French campaign, and in numerous capacities later. He was knighted in 1426.

William married Gwladus Gam. Gwladus (daughter of Dafydd Gam) died in 1454; was buried in Priory church, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, Wales. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Patron of Abergavenny Priory. Maid of honor to both wives of Henry IV. Described by the Welsh poet Lewys Glyn Cothi as “Gwladus the happy and faultless” and “like the sun--the pavilion of light.”

Thomas married Maud Morley. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Full pedigree name, Dafydd Gam ap Llywelyn ap Hywel Fychan ap Hywel ap Einion Sais.

He is supposed variously, without proof, to have been married to a Gwenllian, daughter of a wealthy gentleman named Gwilym ab Howel; or to a Gwladys, daughter of Gwilym ap Hywel Crach. The latter man certainly existed; he was bailiff of Pencelli in the lordship of Brecon, 1374–6.

He may have been a model for Shakespeare's burlesque Welshman, Fluellen, in Henry V.

"Dafydd Gam was the son of Llywelyn ap Hywel Fychan, a Brecknock landowner of the stock of Einon Sais, whose castle stood at Pen-pont on the river Usk. His byname signified that he squinted or had lost an eye. Tradition averred that he fled from his homeland after killing his relative, Richard of Slwch, in the High Street of Brecon. He first appears, as a king's esquire, in April 1400; in this capacity he was to receive forty marks a year (Cal. Close Rolls, 79). Since Henry had been for some years, through his marriage to Mary Bohun, in control of the lordship of Brecknock, the association was probably not new; Dafydd, at any rate, remained a loyal Lancastrian until his death. In November 1401 he was rewarded out of rebel lands (Cal. Pat. Rolls, 11), and, according to the Scottish historian, Walter Bower, he had a part in the royal victory over Owain Glyn D?r at Pwll Melyn, near Usk, on 5 May 1405 (Scotichronicon ed. W. Goodall, 1759, ii, 452). This date throws doubt upon the familiar story of his treacherous attack upon Owen at the parliament of Machynlleth in 1404; it has other doubtful features, and, in any case, is not heard of until the time of Robert Vaughan, Hengwrt (died 1667). That Dafydd fell into the hands of Glyn D?r is certain, but that was at a much later date; it was in June 1412, when the revolt was nearing its collapse, that the seneschal and the receiver of Brecon, with the assent of Llywelyn ap Hywel, the prisoner's father, were empowered to treat with Owen as to the ransom of ‘David Gamm,’ tenant in the lordship of Brecon (Cal. Pat. Rolls, 406). The release was effected, and the final scene came in 1415, when David went with his royal master to France, to meet his death on the field of Agincourt. Legends gathered round the end of this puissant fighter; in particular, it was believed that he was knighted on the fatal day. An influential posterity kept up his reputation; for two centuries and a half the Games clan were prominent in Brecknock affairs, at Aberbrân, Newton (near Brecon), Tre-gaer, Buckland, and Penderyn, until the male line died out and the surname disappeared. The last sheriff to bear it was Hoo Games of Newton (1657). Through the marriage of his daughter Gwladus to Sir William ap Thomas of Raglan, died 1469), Dafydd Gam was forefather of all the Herberts." [Dictionary of Welsh Biography, citation details below]