The Heir

Abstract

For all Wriothesley’s early death and the frustration of his career’s full effect — if he had lived out the normal span he would have been a leading figure in the kingdom again under Mary — nevertheless he had established his family in the peerage. His son, in accordance with custom, became a Crown ward; but in 1551, the year after his father’s death, the wardship of the boy was sold to Sir William Herbert for £1,000.¹ Herbert was one of the inner Edwardian circle, who became first Earl of Pembroke; this was a profitable grant for him and it was made in consideration of his personal service to the King. The value of the young heir’s lands was something over £1,300 a year — a fairly usual figure for a new peerage, nothing exorbitant such as Protector Somerset or Northumberland had grabbed for themselves. There is no evidence of Pembroke having interested himself in the boy; he seems to have grown up in the care of his mother, and she brought him up a Catholic. This was important for the future, for under Elizabeth he became a malcontent, whose conduct deviated into treason, and in consequence spent some time in prison.