Pausing a minute in the copyedits to highlight something poignant that I can only mention in the article. It's about the Tudor William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke.
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He gets sort of a bum rap among the celebrity Tudor court, for some reason. But he married Ann Parr, was brother-in-law to Henry VIII, survived flirting with supporting Queen Jane, and was among those identified as worth maintaining by King Philip. He tangled w/Elizabeth and lived through it.
He was clearly a survivor politically, and not just militarily. This may be the heart of the Tudor pop canon misunderstanding, bc Herbert was Welsh and soldier, and did not ever stop being either. He fought for Henry VIII in France, for Edward VI in the west country, and more.
Pembroke owned a big psalter-hours that may've been his grandfathers. My article is about other additions to it, but in 1557, as Pembroke prepared to head to war, again, he had one prayer added, his sister-in-law's translation of Erasmus' "Prayer for Men Entering Battle."
And yeah yeah I get we dig into things trying to determine whether N Tudor Courtier was REALLY Catholic or REALLY Protestant but I think that entirely misses the point here--
His paternal grandfather? Another figure whose significance is rather underplayed (not in Welsh descriptions, perhaps, but he is someone BADLY in need of a proper biographical treatment which I would love to have the time to do...).
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And that's part of why we miss this tiny story about an aging soldier, buckling on armor once more at age 50.
But as he had every time an English ruler asked, Herbert stepped up. This time, god help him, with his son.
But first, he prayed.